Smooth Jazz, contemporary Jazz, Adult contemporary Jazz. Jazz Pop

11 MP3 Songs
JAZZ: Cool Jazz, JAZZ: Smooth Jazz



Details:
Pianist and keyboardist Eddie Gip Noble, a music veteran of both the jazz and rhythmânâblues scenes for the past three decades, has released his debut album, Love T.K.O., titled after the huge hit he wrote for a Teddy Pendergrass Platinum album. Although Nobleâs primarily-instrumental CD will appeal to smooth jazz enthusiasts, its unique style comes from the blending of R&B and funk rhythms with jazz soloing on acoustic and electric pianos.

An admitted fan of Herbie Hancockâs keyboard work (especially his classic Sixties and Seventies performances), Noble on this new recording specifically attempted to capture that historic jazz-funk fusion sound, although updated with his own contemporary embellishments. The result is frisky, funky beats masterfully blended in select spots with melodic improvisation. Gip is featured on piano and various synthesizers, and is joined by several special guest musicians including female singers on the choruses of a couple of tunes.

Nobleâs CD, on Sonido Noble Records, can be purchased online at his website (personalized and autographed copies available at www.eddiegipnoble.com), major web-stores such as www.amazon.com and www.cdbaby.com, and many digital download locations including iTunes and Rhapsody.

Noble is a former child prodigy turned jazz patriarch. Because of his extensive musical background playing with top R&B, blues and jazz artists, Gip brings a lot of variety to his own music.

He has toured extensively supporting such R&B notables as Brothers Johnson (serving as musical director as well), Gladys Knight & The Pips, Patti Austin, Barry White, Shalamar, Mary Wells, the Marvelettes, Teena Marie, The Drifters, The Platters, Brenton Woods, Arpeggio, The Jones Girls, Mona Raye Campbell, Munyungo (Stevie Wonder, Patti LaBelle), Ricky Minor (Whitney Houston, Lionel Richie), Tisha Campbell (Lenny Kravitz), Gil Askey (Diana Ross, The Temptations) and others. Gip also has played with top blues artists including Johnny âGuitarâ Watson (they toured for four years and Gip served as musical director), Etta James (as her musical director), Albert Collins and blues-rocker Joe Walsh.

In addition, Noble has extensive credentials in the jazz field having performed with saxophonist Gerald Albright, saxophonist Plas Johnson (Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald), trumpet and flugelhorn player Rahmlee Michael Davis (Earth Wind & Fire, Ramsey Lewis), bassist Larry Gales (Thelonious Monk, Herbie Mann), bassist Henry âThe Skipperâ Franklin (Freddie Hubbard, Archie Shepp), bassist Andy Simkins (The Three Sounds, George Shearing), drummer James Gatson (Norman Connors), saxophonist and singer Pamela Williams (Teddy Pendergrass, Patti LaBelle), singer Linda Hopkins (Jackie Wilson), singer Debra Laws (Dianne Reeves, Ronnie Laws), guitarist Ronald Muldrow (Eddie Harris, Maceo Parker), bassist Hilliard Wilson (Dionne Warwick, Paul Taylor), and singer Ernie Andrews (Harry James Orchestra, Gene Harris), among others.

Gip has recorded with Randy Crawford, Noel Pointer, Wayne Henderson, David Oliver, Johnny âGuitarâ Watson, Etta James, Womack & Womack, Shalamar, Stacye Branche, Charles Brown, Amos Garrett and Hilliard Wilson. Noble has appeared in numerous films as an actor playing a musician â the Clint Eastwood-directed âBirdâ (the Charlie Parker biography), âCity Heatâ with Eastwood and Burt Reynolds, âAnimal Houseâ in Chuck Berryâs band, Richard Pryorâs âJo Jo Dancer,â Eddie Murphyâs âThe Nutty Professor,â âAgainst All Oddsâ with Jeff Bridges, âInspector Gadgetâ and âThe Tina Turner Story;â and Gip also made appearances in television shows such as âDallas,â âKnotâs Landingâ and Julia Louis- Dreyfusâs â12 Minutes of Fameâ and âWatching Ellie.â

âLove T.K.O.,â co-written by Noble and Cecil Womack, not only was a major R&B and pop hit for Pendergrass (amazon.com called the song his âgreatest of the greatâ), the tune also has been covered by Hall & Oates, Bette Midler, Womack & Womack, Regina Belle, The Nylons, Boz Scaggs, Clive Griffin, Rory Block, Jacksoul, Sarah Jane Morris and Eric Darius, and has been sampled for recordings by Mila J and Comptonâs Most Wanted. Additionally, Noble has co-written songs for Brothers Johnson (the hit âIâm Giving You All Of My Loveâ), Johnny âGuitarâ Watsonâs Watsonian Institute (âFunk If I Knowâ), Etta James (âYou Send Meâ and two others), and Pamela Williams (âTemperatureâs Risingâ).

Born Gip Edward Noble, Jr. in Chicago, his earliest musical memory is his father playing piano frequently in their home. âMy dad played a lot of jazz and standards, and began giving me lessons when I was four. I lived at the corner of 43rd and South Park, and right there was the 400 Liquor Store that played jazz loud all day long, and just down the block a jazz night club, the Rose Room, so I heard music all the time. I was too young to get into the clubs, but I remember standing outside one time listening to Smokey Robinson sing.â Gipâs earliest influences were all the Motown pop-soul acts and the more bluesy Etta James, Ray Charles and Bobby Blue Bland. âMy life changed when a friend gave me a single by The Three Sounds with Gene Harris on piano,â Gip remembers. âI immediately started looking for jazz piano teachers and found Don James, who was a friend of Herbie Hancockâs. Don told me I should be listening to Herbie so I started buying his albums and every recording I could find with Herbie on it, and that led me to a lot of other great jazz like Miles Davis, Wes Montgomery, Kenny Burrell and Wayne Shorter.â

Noble went into the Air Force and was stationed in Germany where he hung out with members of the postâs military band and played in their experimental jazz group before starting his own jazz trio to perform in German clubs. Gip saw two influential concerts in Germany, Miles Davis (âhis stuff became my musical bibleâ) and Grand Funk Railroad (âI have always listened to all types of music from Jimi Hendrix to Stevie Wonderâ). Back in Chicago, Noble studied avant-garde jazz with Muhal Richard Abrams (Dexter Gordon, Max Roach), president of the influential Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians. Noble began composing, and his tune âDesert B.C.â received airplay in Chicago.

Gip moved to Los Angeles in 1976 to further his musical pursuits and quickly became a sought-after accompanist for top R&B and blues acts. âOne time I was hired by Gladys Knight and it was intense because they gave me her music at 10 p.m. and we started tour rehearsals the next morning. In the show she sang âI Will Surviveâ and I accompanied her alone on piano. When I toured Japan with Patti Austin, we did âA Song For Youâ and she told me she wanted me to play it with a different ending every night. That was quite a challenge.â In his spare time, Noble put together jazz trios and quartets to play Southern California gigs doing material by Chick Corea, Dave Grusin, Noel Pointer, Earl Klugh, Lee Ritenour and other popular contemporary jazzsters. âI always tried to be innovative with my arrangements and add my own twist to them.â

On his Love T.K.O. album, Gip brought in special guests: drummer and co-producer David Williams (The OâJays, Patti LaBelle), bassist Andre Berry (Brothers Johnson), saxophonist Louis Taylor (Ray Charles, Michael Bolton), trumpet player Jon Barnes, and vocalists Mona Raye Campbell (Tisha Campbell) and Zuri (Chaka Kahn, Brenton Woods). Nobleâs version of âLove T.K.O.â is mostly-instrumental (âI had just left a relationship when I wrote it so I could relate to the idea of a âtechnical knock-outâ.â). Noble wrote a half-dozen other tunes for this recording including âNoble Causeâ (âmaking music is the most noble cause I knowâ), âNite Songâ (âI envisioned two lovers walking hand-in-hand in the moonlight along the oceanâ), the goodtimey âCarouselâ and the urban beats of âGip Hop.â Noble does a seven-minute-plus version of Burt Bacharachâs âTrains & Boats & Planesâ (made famous by Dionne Warwick) full of piano soloing (âI first arranged this in 1970â), and a smooth jazz version of the big pop hit âSailing.â Noble also covers âChristo Redentorâ (âI was inspired by the version with Herbie Hancock playing piano behind trumpet player Donald Byrdâ).

âIâm still influenced by the amazing, funky, electric piano sounds that Herbie Hancock created 35 years ago. I try to instill my playing with that same drive and energy.â