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| Elijah Rock Today Releases - Matters of The Heart! Tradition, Style and Romance meet at the audio crossroads of Ageless & Timeless boulevards on Matters of The Heart, the 10-song sophomore recording of baritone crooner Elijah Rock. And it's well worth the wait. Herein, Rock continues his impassioned excavations of love's seductive soundtrack and even contributes several sparkling originals to the brew. Rock lyricized the title track, "Matters of The Heart, " in the throes of a romantic breakup while shooting a music video in Thailand. Dripping in a wee hours mood with a lyric all who have lost love will melt into like butter, the ballad proves Rock's studied kindred spirit, not only via his vocalizing, but also the writing. These roots are evident in another Rock composition, "Gershwin For My Soul, " co-penned with Jazz piano great Kevin Toney of The Blackbyrds when they were both working in the stage production, "Words by Ira Gershwin, " about the life of The Great American Songbook lyricist. Rock absorbed the lessons exquisitely. "My goal with this project, as always, is to pay homage to and further the legacy of American Classical Jazz heritage, " Rock states. "To make this vital music more meaningful and universal to audiences young…and young at heart." Among the 7 first class gems Rock elected to excavate this time around are the album's single, "All I Need is The Girl, " (the wistful yet snappy number from the musical "Gypsy"), "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" (complete with a video lensed in his longtime strolling grounds of the Las Vegas Strip), the dreamy movie ballad "The Shadow of Your Smile, " (arranged by Les Rogers) and "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" (recorded twice as a solo and again as a duet with singer/actress Dominique Toney as a playful bonus duet). The standards "Around the World" and "The Good Life" round out the program. The A-list musicians are pianist Uli Geissendoerfer (who co-composed the title track with Elijah and arranged the charts for many of the other songs), percussionist Pepe Jimenez, and bassists John B. Williams and Mario Suraci (in among his final recordings). Of special note is the sexy and breezy bossa nova "Whispers in the Night, " brought to Rock by songwriting duo Joel Evans & Adryan Russ after seeing him perform and opening their songbook to him. It worked so well that the singer is also including it in a 4-song companion EP to Matters of The Heart…En Espanol. Cleveland-born Elijah Rock is a former boy soprano classically trained in Bel canto (beautiful singing) and now a profound baritone, classical jazz vocalist. His passion for timeless songcraft and all-around entertaining (he is also a world-class tap dancer) launched a career flight that now includes hosting his Las Vegas-based digital entertainment program "The Elijah Rock Variety Show, " lighting up the screen on television's "Masters of Sex" and authoring the men's handbook "The Fine Art of Romance." Rock's latest album Matters of The Heart was produced by Suzi Reynolds who focused on expanding his jazz voicings, the art of storytelling in song by being present and at his most vulnerable when caressing a song to bring out the full spectrum of emotions lurking beneath the words... a la Rock's highly esteemed heroes Johnny Hartman, Billy Eckstine and Arthur Prysock on the Jazz side, and Franco Corelli and William Warfield on the operatic side. The result is aces of hearts and diamonds…tamed, yet tastefully wild. For further information, visit elijahrock.com. write your comments about the article :: © 2021 Jazz News :: home page |