Recording information: Citrus Studios, Glendora, CA. With Every Touch, Blake's first CD release, features David Benoit, Eric Marienthal and Tony Guerrero on a collection of hip, passionate, and energetic "smooth jazz" originals with flavors of R&B, Latin, "Old school" funk, Blues, and Gospel not to be missed. The album also features a beautiful R&B vocal ballad and a very soulful rendition of Stevie Wonder's "Overjoyed." We had a great time recording this CD! It was recorded at Saban Entertainment in Westwood and produced by Michael Whittaker. For those of you who don't know Mike, he is the main keyboard player on our live gigs and a film composer for the Fox network. You can hear a great solo from him at the end of "And Then I Saw Her." I was also fortunate to be a guest artist on a great new upcoming CD from him in a couple months. We'll have more info about his new CD on our website soon. It was really great to have David Benoit, Eric Marienthal and Tony Guerrero play on this CD. All three musicians are the absolute best at what they do and a real pleasure to work with. You can hear David and Tony on "One Moment With You" with a really nice solo from David in the middle and "trading fours" between Tony and me at the end. You can hear Eric almost through the entire CD with two really burning Alto Sax solos from him on "Anything She Wants" and "It's Gonna Be Alright." Jeff Gonzales has been a good friend of mine for many years. Those of you in Southern California know what an amazing soprano saxophone player he is and that soon he will be topping the jazz charts. We have played "Rumblefish" at gigs together for a long time, so I thought it fitting to feature a great solo from him on this one. I was also very fortunate to have Ronnie Gutierrez on percussion and Andre Berry on bass play on almost all of the songs on this CD. They are two fantastic musicians who were featured on this last summer's "Guitars and Saxes" tour and the first call players in LA. When Mike and I wrote the vocal tune "Whenever I Breathe," he told me that he had a perfect gospel singer for the song in mind by the name of Alafons George. After I met him and heard him sing, I knew Mike was right. Alafons sounds kind of like a cross between Luther Vandross and George Benson and soulful doesn't even begin to describe his voice, you'll have to hear him. He's featured on track 3. Again, I feel I need to really thank Peter Vidmar, Suzan Smith, and Michael Whittaker for their incredible investment of time, finances, and faith in me. www.blakeaaron.com/withevery.html All Music Guide
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