Marina Del Rey, CA. (Top40 Charts/ Great Scott Productions) - The tape was rolling one special spring night in 1995 when multidimensional guitarist Les Sabler led his six band members onto the Sarasota Opera House stage for a magical program comprised of contemporary jazz, rock fusion, adult pop, blues and Latin rhythms. The inspired performance will finally be made available
September 1st when Les Sabler Live is released by The
Music Force Media Group. Sabler's haunting instrumental rendition of Sting's "
Fragile" that was captured that evening was serviced to radio stations for airplay.
At the time of the concert, Sabler, a four-time Canadian Smooth Jazz Awards nominee, had just released his second album, Time For Love, and the show took place in his then adopted hometown of Sarasota, Florida. Sabler had conceived the idea of doing a special concert providing him the opportunity to reunite on stage with percussionist Iraj Lashkary (Ahmad Jamal) with whom he used to play in Miami.
Other accomplished musicians who infused the evening with passion and spontaneity included drummer Kenny Crawley (Dickey Betts), bassist Ruben Drake, keyboardist Rob Satori, then 20-year-old pianist Clay Perry (Julio Iglesias), and saxophonist/flautist Steve Gould. While Sabler toyed with the idea of releasing the recording over the years, the tapes sat in a vault until Gould's recent passing reignited the drive to share the performance with fans.
The disc opens with Sabler's first-ever vocal recording, a faithful version of Chris Rea's sophisticated cool "On The Beach." Sabler often performs vocals in concert, but never on any of his four albums. One vocal number that he performed at the concert, his original song "Some Things," was revamped in the studio with Sim Wilson, who attended the concert, recording new lead vocals. Studio finesse was also applied to "Fragile," which was performed in concert as a vocal song. Sabler, who produced the live disc, removed the vocals in favor of nylon and 12-string guitars allowing his instruments to sing with eloquence and elegance.
"I am pleased to finally complete this project after putting it aside for many years. It is a great representation of what my group was doing at the time with a subtle blend of current sounds to balance it out," said Sabler. "The band was exceptionally tight on this memorable night. We had fun improvising and stretching out on extended jams."
Presently Sabler is ensconced in the recording studio putting the finishing touches to his next album, which is due out by the end of this year or early next year. His most recent recording, the Brian Bromberg-produced Sweet Drive (2007), delivered a master's class level of musicianship, performance and production featuring Jeff Lorber, Eric Marienthal, Ricky Peterson, Vinnie Colaiuta, Alex Acuna, Gary Meek and the Jerry Hey horn section. The album placed top 50 in the 2008 Smoothjazz.com yearend chart. Smooth jazz radio program Cafe' Jazz named Sabler the No 1 most played Canadian artist in 2007 while Sweet Drive was the No 1 most played album by a Canadian artist, and "Club Street" was the No 2 most played single by a Canadian artist.
Additional information about Sabler is available at www.lessabler.com.
The songs contained on Les Sabler Live are:
"On The Beach"
"Neptune's Waltz"
"The Big Push"
"Fragile"
"Some Things"
"Winter Fiesta"
"The Messiah Will Come Again"
"Skylight"
