New York, NY (Top40 Charts) The NYC based singer/songwriter's 2019 single "Thoughts and Prayers" boldly addressed America's gun violence. Continuing to emerge as an impactful, socially conscious voice for her generation, Rebecca Angel, meets our apprehensive collective moment of awakening with a soulful twist on Stephen Stills' timeless protest classic "For What It's Worth."
The soulful, jazz-inflected re-imagining is produced by veteran jazz/R&B keyboardist/producer, Jason Miles, and is anchored by an array of top session musicians - including guitarist, Dean Brown, bassist Reggie Washington, drummer Gene Lake, and percussionist, Bashiri Johnson. It features powerful soloing by Brown and Rebecca's father,
Dennis Angel, on trumpet, as well as dynamic voice texturing accompanied by singer Maya Azucena.
Stylistically, Rebecca's take was inspired by a brilliant, somewhat obscure Brazilian flavored recording of the song by
Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 from their 1970 album "Stillness" featuring
Karen Phillip on vocals. Miles has produced projects for Rebecca over the years, including Rebecca's 2018 debut EP "What We Had". "Seeing as how I know that Rebecca takes to heart social issues and activism, I thought she might want to check out this recording. During these incredibly difficult times, Rebecca and I felt the moment was ripe to bring the song back in this way," says Miles.
For Rebecca, the song hit both a personal and universal chord connected to the protests against systemic racism that have taken hold of
America and many other countries in the wake of the murder of
George Floyd.
"I've learned when singing a cover of an older song, it's important to come up with your own story so you can better relate," says Rebecca. "In my case, I didn't have to search too hard because living in Manhattan, the story was happening in front of my eyes. I've seen protests in my neighborhood every night these past few months." "With the current climate of socio-political divisiveness, staying silent when I have a platform to speak out is simply not an option for me. As a universal language, music has the ability to get messages across and inspire people in meaningful ways."
