Jeff Healey Signs With Stony Plain Records

LOS ANGELES (Stony Plain Records) - Guitarist and trumpet player Jeff Healey has signed an international recording deal with Edmonton-based roots music label Stony Plain Records.

The first project to be released under the arrangement is an album with his band The Jazz Wizards, being recorded during three live performances between August 19 and 23, when the band's guest will be British traditional jazz pioneer and trombonist Chris Barber.

Preliminary plans call for the release of the Jazz Wizards collaboration with Barber in early 2006.

Stony Plain will also re-release two earlier CDs recorded by Jeff Healey next year. They are the 2002 "Among Friends" (with appearances by US trad jazz figures Dick Sudhalter and Vince Giordano, as well as the late John R.T. Davies from the UK), and 2004's "Adventures in Jazzland."

Said Stony Plain's Holger Petersen: "Jeff built a huge reputation as a rock/blues guitarist, but his passion has always been jazz recorded between the early '20s and the early '40s. His Jazz Wizards band recreates a varied selection of jazz and pop material from an era when jazz was the exciting, hip music of its day - and Jeff's vocals and work on trumpet and guitar are both powerful and passionate."

As for Healey, he's pleased that the label will market his music in Canada (where Stony Plain is distributed by Warner Music), as well as in the UK, the United States, Europe, Australia and other territories.

Stony Plain also releases recordings by Maria Muldaur and Duke Robillard on an international basis, as well as recordings by the late Long John Baldry, Corb Lund, Amos Garrett and many other Canadian roots music artists.