vivian sessoms: blog

"They tell me that our brothers over there refuse to work in the mines,
They may not get the news but they need to know we're on their side.
Now sometimes distance brings
misunderstanding,
but deep in my heart I'm demanding;
Somebody tell me what's the word?
Sister/woman have you heard
'bout Johannesburg?
What's the word?
Tell me brother, have you heard
from Johannesburg? "
- Johannesburg - Gil Scott Heron
__________

"Please don’t change your uniform
And start to mourn the thousands dead.
And please wear what you’ve always worn,
And don’t be drawn by what I’ve said."
- Johannesburg - Housemartins
__________


Well..

I'm finally here..
I've dreamed of coming here my whole life.
There are many places in Africa I dream of seeing, The Ivory Coast, Egypt, Somalia (the place where people ask constantly if I am from), but South Africa has always been #1 on my list.

This longing is probably an extension of my mother and grandmothers dream that was passed down to me (both of whom were African Studies majors, enthralled with African culture).

When you dream of something, the real life experience rarely ends up being like your dreams.
I've read a lot about Africa especially South Africa.
I've seen many films.
I wrote a blog some months back (Jan, I think) about Oprahs new school which got me thinking a lot about South Africa, but nothing really prepares you.

I am sad to say it is has been a very sobering experience and sometimes difficult to digest everything I've seen.
There are many forces at work here.
I am in what must be a 4 or 5 star hotel, and I am speaking of old world charm with all the amenities and then some.
Pure english butler type service, which is lavish and a treat to the senses. In fact, all of the accomodations, service and treatment on this tour have been excellent, it's just that when it's in such stark contrast to such abject poverty, the kind you commonly see in South Africa, it stings, and it is heartbreaking to say the least.

It leaves you spent to pass some of the poorer places where there are nothing but shantytowns (row upon row of tin shacks).

I'm only here for about 5 days and there is so much to see and take in, on the other hand there's only so much you can absorb in the way of subtlety in 5 days.

I can't help myself, I just have to ask my people (at least that's how I feel about them) what it's like to live here in the aftermath of apartheid, hotel workers, restaurant staff, maids (not many in managerial or executive positons, although this aspect did seem better in Jo-burg). Many were very friendly but shy about answering such questions, but who would know better? A few just smiled with a hollow look like "why do you ask, what can you do?"

The ones that do answer tell me they are instructed not to discuss such things but speak honestly and say that nothing has changed really, racism is rampant, which I have the opportunity to witness firsthand when a white South Afrikaan skips ahead of me in line at a hotel. When I inform him that I was ahead of him in line, he speaks with such authority and condescension, "You were not", without even looking in my direction. You know the attitude, entitlement, birth right, that sort of thing. Of course, being one to never back down, he got a piece of me and was put firmly in line.

Overall, they seem to still be operating on a caste system here (though I'll bet the South African gov't would deny this) so I'm sure the 'gentleman' thought I was African.

They run Human Rights public announcements regularly on television so that should tell you something. I tried to post this e-mail while I was there and it was censored so THAT should tell you something else.

Against all of this, you have the magnificent backdrop of the South African countryside whispering to you. It is overwhelming and majestic and...simply breathtaking.
Hills and mountains for as far as the eye can see..
I feel blessed to have the chance to be here and have to thank God for giving me this incredible opportunity. I feel as though I visit the land of my forefathers.
It is sentimental, I know, but it's how I really feel.

We went on safari and had elephants walk right up to our caravan, so close you could reach out and touch them and I know within myself at moments like this, there is a God.
I want to ask him why in the midst of such beauty do we have atrocities like Rwanda and Darfur, and aids and apartheid.

The BBC reports that by the year 2000, half the world's poor were in Africa.
Deep huh?
They continue on to say it is the only continent to have become poorer in the past 25 years and list the following reasons:

-Borrowing money
-Growing cash crops
-Dictatorship
-Fighting
-Population growth
-Land ownership
-Climate change
-Dirty water

My friends say we have racism and extreme poverty in America and it is true, we do, and never more evidenced than in the aftermath of Katrina, but somehow, this is worse, much worse. It's dismal..
And the most awful part seems to me, to be treated as a second class citizen in your own country which is very different from racism in America. Though America belongs to all its citizens, America did not belong to my ancestors, they were taken to America.
Africa BELONGS to black African people and it has always been so.
To see South Africa ruled by white Afrikaans is just wrong, and that is not a racist comment it is just a hard truth.

I feel like I need to do something, to get involved, to help make it better.
I will think on this.
Still, I wouldn't trade this experience ever, the people here are beautiful, truly beautiful.
Graceful and dignified.
I hope to come back soon, again and again.
The following is a poem by my Grandmother, she never got here, I am here in her stead

'Mama said music can change the world'
look mama, music took me all the way to South Africa...

Thank you for reading
________

Oh Africa..

Oh Africa, most ancient land
where pyramids were built by strong black hands

in your dense and mysterious jungles I yearn to be
for mother nature over there has beckoned unto me

Remember how they snatched our kings and queens
and deliberately scattered all of our dreams?

Why, they treated our people like cattle, it's true
and dared us to become homesick for you,

Some day I plan to return to you,
the land of milk and honey where our forefathers grew

can't you see the ship drifting in?
Even the animals shall greet us and say 'where have you been?'

The Queen of Sheba may rise from her grave
and whisper 'dear children you have been brave'

Vivian Cora Albright Sessoms

Hey Guys,
Below is the transcript of an interview we did @ weeks ago with Dwight Barrett of Justsoul.net.
Enjoy..


"Vivian Sessoms and Chris Parks formed the group Albright and recorded the new album entitled "Sunny One Day", which will be officially released on October 9th.

Dwight: I first want to thank you for doing this interview with me and also congratulations on your new album: “Sunny One Day”.

Vivian Sessoms: Thank you for having us and for a really wonderful review. It was our first and we were really excited to read it, so thank you for your good words.

Dwight: How difficult was it for you to produce this album?

Vivian Sessoms: I’d say it was pretty hard, I think the next time will be easier, first of all, we’ve done it before with this one, so we’ve now got some experience of what to look for and what to expect. Also, I lost my mom, my grandmother and a really good friend while making this one, so that kept me low for a while. The record took on a few different underlying tones at times. Then we watched in shock with the rest of the world as Katrina unfolded. That was a real wake-up call which also brought up
a lot of emotions, but toward the end of making the record some time had finally passed between losing my mom and grandmom. I started feeling more like my self again, more uplifted, and more positive. We wrote a few new songs and the record kind of took on a new direction.

Dwight: Vivian, you come from a highly musical background. Your mother was a session/jingle singer and your father was a percussionist/flautist for artists such as James Brown. What is it like to come from such a highly musically oriented background?

Vivian Sessoms: It was just a way of life for me. Most of what I knew about music up to a certain age I’d learned from my mother and father. I studied piano and voice as a kid and was in the Eubie Blake/ Amas repertory company which was a lot of fun, but that was later when I was a teenager. As a little girl I just remember how my mom sang in the house all day, everyday. She loved music and so did my father. In fact, even the people in my family who weren’t musically inclined had such great love for music, so I think it was inevitable that I ended up in music.
I was very proud of my mother & father but particularly of my father because I didn’t get to see my mom sing that much, except around the house, but everyone in the neighborhood knew my dad and there are still people in Harlem today, and in Philly (my dad was a gypsy y’all) that remember him as the conga player that walked the streets of the city and parks in the summertime stopping to play here and there, collecting money and then moving on. He had a drumming partner named Poobie. Sometimes my dad would pull out his Fife or Flute and play that while Poobie played drums or sometimes they’d play conga’s together.
I can remember my dad tuning his drums at night and practicing. He had the biggest hands I’ve ever seen, to this day I haven’t seen many men with hands that span the size of my dads when he opened his hand with his fingers splayed (he was about 6’ 4” or so). His hands felt like leather or carved wood.
I don’t know if I can ever really convey what it was like to be a little girl growing up in a household where almost every weekend our apartment would be crowded with relatives, musicians and artists, writers, photographers, sometimes politicians, Jehovahs Witnesses, Moonies, really, my grandmother did not discriminate. If you let it be known that you had any kind of talent or ability, even being a good speaker, you were invited to participate in the goings on, which was usually a very entertaining mayhem. Everyone was encouraged and supported. All ideas were given creedence and a chance to be debated on and music was always a big part of those evenings.
Actually, you’d think all this activity would have made me a much more outgoing person, but I grew up an only child to my mom (though I do have brothers & sisters by my dad), so it made me more shy being around so many people. What it did do though, was make me appreciate different cultures, art and literature, film... It made me worldly and it made me dream bigger and long to see outside the walls of my own little world. It made me appreciate people’s differences.

Dwight: How was it like to work with legends such as Michael Jackson and Donna Summer and Sinead O'Connor?

Vivian Sessoms: It was an honor. Actually doing the session for Michael Jackson was through Kaygee of Naughty By Nature. I was signed to Kaygee as an artist at that time but I was also a writer for him and he kind of took me under his wing. He was very kind to me and taught me a lot, I have nothing but respect and admiration for him. He tried to keep me involved in a lot of things he was doing so I got a lot of experience. One of the things he was asked to do was a remix for Michael Jackson, and I got to go along to sing backing vocals but Michael wasn’t at the session when I was recording so I didn’t get to meet him personally, still it was a great experience.
Sinead O’Connor I found to be very lovely. I’ve always been a fan and it was another shaping experience. She sang great and she looked beautiful. I remember my sister and I seeing the make-up artist Kevin Aucoin there to do Sinead’s make up. We were like ‘Kevin, Kevin, Kevin…we love you, come in here and talk to us’ and would you believe? He did?! He was so sweet and warm and friendly, he probably sat in there with us for 15 minutes or so while we oohed and ahhed over him.
With Donna Summer, I had been asked to sing bv’s at a birthday party for a talent broker. Some of the guests at this party were Dionne Warwick, Ashford & Simpson, Bebe Winans, Natalie Cole, Tony Bennet, Stevie Wonder, and Donna Summer, all of whom were scheduled to perform. So you could say that was a tremendous experience working with all those people!

Dwight: And Sean "P.Diddy" Combs? How did that come about?

Vivian Sessoms: Well my sister, another friend and I had auditioned for Mary J. Blige a short time before and her manager also managed Sean Combs so when he needed someone for Sean he called us again.

Dwight: Chris, you've worked with artists such as Brandy, Regina Carter and Tamia just to name a few. Tell us how your experience was to work with these artists.

Chris Parks: The experience was amazin because I had just moved back to New York (after being in Boston for 10 years), and I was doing at lot of producing and also remixes for different singles, which was the case for Brandy and Tamia. I had been hanging out with Keith Crouch (whom I had met through Lalah Hathaway) and I was a huge fan of his beats and musicality so to get a chance to do a remix for one of his songs was huge for me. Remember, Brandy had just come out, and I had been in LA, hearing her stuff through Keith. Then I got back to Brooklyn and heard her on the radio, and the buzz was electrifying. She had a very fresh sound at that time. I didn’t get to meet her, I just got a dat of the vocals , and did the remix, which was a dancehall vibe for the song “Best Friend”.
It was a different story with Regina Carter. I had just finished working on a couple of albums with guitarist extradonaire Rohn Lawrence for Atlantic Records, and Eulis Cathey (who is now on the air at WBLS - the NY area station) was A&R for Rohn as well as Regina. Eulis liked the work I’d done with Rohn in the past, so he set it up for Regina to work with me at my studio in Brooklyn. Although Regina is probably best known for her straight ahead and traditional jazz material, the tracks that we did were more suited for radio, more contemporary jazz.

Dwight: You also did some music for commercials as well right?

Chris Parks: Yes, I’ve been a freelancer writing jingles for houses such as Fluid Post, Hell’s Kitchen Music, Elias Arts and Tom’n’Andy. I’ve played guitar and bass on many national spots too.

Dwight: Chris, you have had a lot of musical influence too. How did music become a huge part of your life and career?

Chris Parks: For some reason as a kid, I had a burning desire to play the drums, but I lived in an apt building in a quiet neighborhood, and there was absolutely no way my parents were going to let me have a kit in our apt, so my dad took me down to 48th street in Manhattan, and got me an acoustic guitar, and I just kind of took to it, started having lessons, playing and singing. I was really into Paul Simon, John Denver and Cat Stevens.
Then through my adolescence I had a variety of teachers, eventually progressing into jazz, but I always had friends that I jammed with, and was in a few bands that would occasionally play a show at school or something. At that time I was heavily influenced by Jimi Hendrix, Rush, Aerosmith, Queen, and others, in addition to whatever was on the radio at the time.
My stepmother was East-coast publicist at Mercury Records , and she took me to my first concert when I was about 8 yrs old, Bachman Turner Overdrive and Little Richard at the Fillmore East and many other shows after that as well, so I was hooked after experiencing all this great music at such a young age.
When I got into high school I joined the jazz band, but they had a guitarist already, so the leader, Mr. Benjamin, who was a huge influence on my development both musically and spiritually, told me that they didn’t have a bassist and that if I played the bass guitar for one semester, that I could switch over to guitar, the following year, so he let me borrow the school’s bass, and I took it home and had 2 weeks to get it together.
At the time I had just started to get into jazz-fusion, listening to the likes of Larry Carlton, Lee Ritenour, Return To Forever, Weather Report and Stanley Clarke. From that day forward, I was just as intrigued by the bass as I had been by the guitar, and I put a lot of time in, in local bands, honing my chops and building my stamina, until I was ready for college, and I just knew that I had to continue this journey, to try and make a career out of music. It wasn’t until later on after school that I graduated to writing and producing and out of necessity taught myself engineering.

Dwight: How did this album project start?

Vivian Sessoms: Well Chris and I started working together on a solo project for me which back then was more of a rock or rock funk project. Over the years we kept writing and producing and eventually I thought I would like to do a more soulful kind of record, not that rock can’t be soulful but we just got more into a groove and felt like we wanted to go in another direction although we do have plans to release the rock cd at some point in the not too distant future.

Chris Parks: It kind of grew out of some songs we were writing for other artists, as well as some others written for ourselves that were more quirky, yet they all kind of fit together. We formulated the concept of a band or group who could contribute ideas, and build the project together. Although we had many a hiatus due to work and touring, we kept on plugging away until we had almost 30 songs, that we chose the 14 from.

Dwight: Where do you get inspirations to write your songs?

Vivian Sessoms: Life experiences mostly, mine or other peoples, things I read about in books, in the newspaper. Some days I just wake up with a song in my head. Chris on the other hand writes 3 or 4 tunes a day sometimes, he is a very prolific writer, I am much less so.

Chris Parks: When I’m in the groove of writing on a daily basis, and have the time and freedom to get in the studio or pick up an instrument, writing comes very naturally and is an extension of all the music I digest on a daily basis combined with my own spontaniety and creativity. I think this stage is my most favorite of all, when an idea happens and is documented, and repeated listening just gets me excited about what direction to take a song in, or what melodies will complete it and make it a finished song.

Dwight: Vivian, are there any other artists who you would like to collaborate with?

Vivian Sessoms: Oh yes, too many… ?uestlove & James Poyser, D’Angelo, Lewis Taylor, Raphael Saddiq, Brendan O’Brien, Rufus Wainwright, Jon Brion, Kaygee. I’d love to sing with Peter Gabriel, Eric Clapton, James Taylor, or Billy Joel… tall list

Dwight: And Chris?

Chris Parks: Van Hunt,Squarepusher, Amon Tobin, Lewis Taylor, David Ryan Harris, ?uestlove & James Poyser, D’Angelo, Common, Jeff Lee Johnson, Vikter Duplaix, Mark De Clive Lowe, Jill Scott, Chaka Khan, Sia, Zero 7, Prince, Me’shell Ndege Ocello, John Mayer, I could go on for a long time.

Dwight: I really enjoy your remake version of Tainted. What was the inspiration of doing this? Has Slum Village or Dwele ever got a chance to hear this?

Vivian Sessoms: No I don’t think so, man I sure hope they approve… It’s just a song we both loved by Slum Village, it may be the first song we worked on for the record. I had an idea that I’d like to do something with the track, I thought maybe write new lyrics then one day I said to Chris “wouldn’t it be funny if I sang the ‘Tainted Love’ lyrics by Soft Cell (the track from SOS used by Rihanna) over this music”? So I started singing it in the studio and then I was like “umm, let me go home and work on this some”. Came back in a few days later and laid it down and that’s how the whole record began, really.

Dwight: Do both of you feel because you have worked with such legendary musical artists that there is a lot of pressure for you to produce not only high quantity but high quality music?

Vivian Sessoms: Absolutely! But I think we both also have incredibly high standards to begin with. Between the 2 of us, our tastes are pretty varied and broad, so there’s a lot of ground we’d like to cover and a lot of exploring and experimenting we like to do. We try to please ourselves first, with an eye toward the listener. Still, if we don’t agree something is good we keep working.

Dwight: Vivian, besides R&B music what other kind of music do you like to listen to or enjoy?

Chris Parks: I like a lot of music from the 70’s however obscure whether it be funk or classic rock, a lot of dance music, bluegrass, blues, folk, latin, and lately getting into more classical and third stream.

Vivian Sessoms: I listen to a lot of rock, and artsy folks, Radiohead, Aqualung Rufus Wainwright, Seal. But I also listen to Jill and Erykah, Dwele. I’m a huge fan of Lauryn Hill. I listen to classic soul and classic rock. Hip hop naturally, and house music, and Ella and Nina, Sarah. I loooove finding new music or being turned on to new stuff through other people.

Dwight: Any final words to our justsoul listeners?

Vivian Sessoms: We hope this music speaks to you and that you’ll grow to love our cd as much as we do. We especially hope you’ll come and check us out when we’re playing in your town. We love to hear from you.
Thanks so much for your support and encouragement.
Dwight, thank you for an awesome review.
Peace.

Alright y'all,

Check it out..

It's time for all our people's to get involved!
The good folks at Soul Tracks are conducting a contest to help us decide what our first single should be.
You can check it out on SoulTracks.com (or click on the link below).
If you wanna' be down you can go there and cast your vote today.


Go on, take part, get involved.
And stay tuned for our cd release on October 9th and the cd release party in October too.
We love you and we'll be back
soon!
Remember..
keep supporting indie music..

peace&luv
Miss V

http://www.soultracks.com/soul_vote_albright

Photos courtesy of Chip Williford (more in the photo section).


Hey everybody,

Just wanna take this time to say how much it meant to us to see all your beautiful faces in tha' house last Tuesday evening!
It was just an incredible turnout and there was sooo much love in the room, I can't even tell you!!
We had a ball, and you guys were right there with us tearin' it down :)
The band was in awesome form (which is why I adore them) and even the newcomers Meku (percussion), Yatta Beasley (trumpet) & Keith Loftis (sax) were killing it dead!

So many of you wrote e-mails, posted comments and took photos,
btw, I wanna give a special thank you to Chip Williford, & Michael Cuthberston for the awesome photographs.
You guys made the evening a smash and we just want to say thank you.
We love you guys, you're the best.

If you missed it, hang tight, 'cause we're doing it again in September with another show for the official release of the cd.


Below is a review by our buddy Tom Paul (thanks Tom, *check his website, Chris is co-producing his new cd), who was at the show on Tuesday.

In other news,
I just arrived here on the Pink tour (joinin' Jenny) and I can already tell it's gonna be a blast!

The band is incredible, AND they're really nice too (which is hard to find) plus the music is slamming and P!nk is mad cool, very down to earth.

Signing off now..
but before I go, thank you to all of you once again for showing your love and support.
'til we see you again, be good to one another..
keep supporting indie music..
thanks for reading.
peace
v
_______________________________________________________________

Y'All,

Last night I saw Vivian Sessoms and Chris Parks new band 'Albright' at The Village Underground and the show was off tha hook!!!

If you were not there, then Yes U missed it big time. I wished everyone who
knew Vivian and Chris were up in the room to see this show.

First of all the room was packed just like you'd want for your CD Release Party with their fans who came out in love and support of the new CD 'Sunny One Day' from all around the Northeast.

Sherrod Barnes opened up with a great set of songs, killin' guitar playing and gritty vocals backed by the Albright band.

The band:
Chris Parks: Bass/MD
Sherrod Barnes - Guitar
Eric Brown - Drums
Meku - Percussion
Casey Benjamin - Keys
Kenyatta Beasley - Trumpet
Keith Loftis - Tenor Sax

When Vivian took the stage she was joined by background vocalists Keith Fluitt, Keesha Gumbs, and Darius Booker doing an accapella
version of Back To Life from Soul II Soul which had the whole room up in a deep lather.

The band then dropped some of the nastiest funk out of a rhythm section I've heard in a long time with crafty backup vocal arrangements on "Tainted",
"Dunno' know", "Searchin", & "Ghettoland."

All the while Vivian sang like it was her last show on Earth. She put her
whole style, personna, and vocal expertise out there on a rope and served it up to the audience song after song for an hour and half,
with hoots and holla's from the many heavy backup singers in audience urging Vivian on..."Sang Vivian!!! You know what...she did...Viv brought the house
down on several occasions throughout this amazing evening of music.

There were some amazing arrangements of cover songs that got the audience excited over the classic tunes. The first full band cover was the Curtis Mayfield gem "Move On Up", followed by Alice Smith's "Woodstock" (amazing CD
go buy it...now!!!), then a stripped down version of Sheryl Crow's "Stong Enough" and closing out the eve with a cover of my favorite version of "Stop On By" written by Bobby Womack, which Rufus featuring Chaka Khan made
famous. Keith Fluitt on backing vocals nailed the Tony Maiden (Rufus) like harmonies just as if it was Rufus droppin' the funk up in the spot.

The band played their asses off song after song, they were tight and were taking amazing solo's throughout the evening. The most memorable was by the fine percussionist Meku on "Move On Up" and Tenor Saxist Keith Loftis on "Stop On By", which Vivian called him over to the center of the stage and proceeded to sing Jazz standard melodies one after the other over the killin' groove.

This brought the audience to their feet as Sessoms was scatting her ass off trading licks with Loftis as the band grooved deep.

For me the most beautiful moment of the evening was Vivian singing a song she professed she wrote about her husband Chris called "Love can turn you around".
I wish every singer could have been there to hear how she delivered this song with such passion and depth of soul. I think after that song everyone
was feelin' the love that needs to transcend within all of us on a daily
basis.

As usual Albright left us wanting more, more, more, but until the next show we will all have to wait.

Soooooo...the next time Albright is playin' get yo ass down to the show.

If you were there, I'm glad we all took in that Experience, 'cos it was
something else.

Peace and One Love,
Tom Paul

Alas....
It is time to announce..
Finally..
The cd is here,
almost..
Just kidding, :)

Seriously though, here's what's going on.
Albright is having a listening party for 'Sunny One Day', June 19th at The Village Underground where we will also do a live performance.
If you haven't seen us play live before, this is your chance 'cause it will be one of our only shows this year.
We WILL have advance cd's for sale (YAAYYYYY!!) but you better come early if you wanna get one 'cause we won't have a whole lot and thats for real!

Now let me clue you guys in on all that's been happening with us.
Btw, sorry I've been so bad about keeping you guys up to snuff with latest, it's been kinda hectic around here..
So we wrapped up the 'Sunny' cd and were in the midst of mixing it when I got a few interesting calls. One, from my friend Mads Baerentzen from Denmark to do a tour in the fall.
You might remember me talking about Mads, I did 5 songs with Mads & his trio on their latest cd 'The New York Project'.
The next was from Chris Botti (jazz trumpeter) to do some dates, which I did write about a few weeks back (see? I haven't been so bad), and the last call was from Pinks management to tour this summer (with Jenny, yayyy!).

Naturally they needed me to come out a few months BEFORE the release date was originally planned.
This meant we had to move everything up and go into warp speed, however, did I mention we just hired 2 incredible PR people?
Yeah, we're pretty fancy.. (in our
minds anyway).
Glenn Miller from Coup De Grace PR & Katrina Boswell from Kat Walk Media Inc.
Glenn concentrates on local media, college media & radio, and the internet.
Katrina concentrates on national & international media
(ps shout out to my girls Kateria, Abby, Shirlise & Sussan for all the extra pr work, graphic design, etc).

Anyway, our PR people wanna do it up big for us and that means really getting the promo buzz circulating so they requested that we push the release date back to give them time to promote, promote, promote, Which means THE OFFICIAL RELEASE DATE IS SEPTEMBER 10, 2007.
However, since I'm leaving to go on the road for the rest of the year, we figured we'd do a little something to catch up with all of you, give you a slammin' ass show, leak a few cd's and just strut our stuff one good time before I hit the road!
We reasoned that since we'll pretty much be doing one show (maybe one more later this year, still working it out) we should at least leave you guys with some music to remeber us by, right?
So, like I said, if you wanna get your copy of 'Sunny', we'll see you on June 19th.

More News...
On another note, we're just finishing up the follow up cd 'Sundown' and I will say this much, it has far surpassed any expectations I had when we started it. The musicianship, the comraderie all come through in the music. We're ecstatic about the whole thing.
We're going to shop it to a few labels so keep your fingers crossed and we'll keep you posted.

There's so much more we wanna' tell you guys, like how we're gonna be featuerd on Billboard.com's Artist To Watch in September and lots of other good stuff, but for now I think I'll save some for later.
Be back with more news soon,
Thanks for reading..
Peace&Love

Look out for Chris Parks featured on the new Amel Larrieux cd of classic jazz standards entitled 'Lovely Standards'.
Chris is playing guitar on the 'Shadow of Your Smile' track but the whole cd is truly a beautiful selection of ballads with sultry arrangements and warm vocals from Amel.
Release Date 05.22.07

Ok..
So I know this is tad bit late but we were featured on one of the 'Afternoon Groove' podcasts last month along with a few other talented types like Musinah, Bilal, Floetry & Angela Johnson, volume # 88.
Hopefully you'll be able to click on the link below to go to the exact spot on the website to download.
Enjoy!

PS Keep supporting independent music.
Here we come..

http://nusoulautomation.podomatic.com/

It's coming soon,
Stay Tuned..

So check this out, we hired a new pr person about a week ago, and he was surfing around the internet and found this little tidbit on 'The Rock Boat - Rockin' Women Thread'..

'I can't believe I forgot to mention her but a few weeks back I saw Julian Velard and he had this opener - Vivian Sessoms. Blown away does not even begin to describe my reaction to this girl. I'm not a fan of Norah Jones, but Vivian did a cover of a song from Norah's newest album..and it made me want to be a Norah Jones fan. Her voice is absolutely gorgeous.'

Awesome huh?
I gotta thank this girl..
really..
anyhoo,
thanks for reading
Peace

Hey everbody,
Viv here with the latest happenings.
First, did I mention that I did bv's for Rob Thomas on a single for the up coming Disney movie 'Meet The Robinson's'? I think it's gonna' be released this summer so watch out for it. We had a blast, Frankie (for those of you who don't know Frankie, he's the guitarist in Rob's band) drove down from philly, we had lots of japanese, and good wine. It was a party as a always.

Next up, Chris and I wanna' thank everyone who came out to the Julian Velard extravaganza. He was absolutely amazing in every way AND he sang his ass off. I just love him to bits, he had some suit types down to check out his show and I think he really knocked them out, so outstanding all around.
His audience was so warm and receptive to Chris and I as the opening act, really wonderful, thanks again Jules.
To find out more about that show keep reading, there's a review at the end of this blog posted by our good buddy Marshall (Thanks Marshall).

BTW, if you haven't already, be sure to pick up the latest Amel Larrieux cd 'Morning', Chris is all over that little gem on guitar.

Lastly, I posted a bunch of video clips on Youtube last month, and we're getting a lot of hits on them. I have some posted here in the music section too, so stop by and have a look. Some of them are a little jumpy, but we're learning as we go, they'll get better, we promise.
We're gonna shoot a high end video
this summer, we'll keep you posted on that.

Last but not least...(drumroll please!)
It's coming, sooner than you think,
'SUNNY ONE DAY'!!!
We'll be mixing in less than a month.
Stay tuned..
Thanks for reading

Artists: Julian Velard / Vivian Sessoms
Performance: February 22, 2007 at Joe's Pub, New York, NY
Written by Marshall Shephardson.

Fully bedecked in faux-'60s regalia (complete with pomade-aided coiffure-quash), and backed up by his gang of none-too-rough-looking henchmen, Julian Velard rolled into Joe's Pub on Thursday to annex it to his turf, once and for all. With a one-two combo of powerhouse sets, he knocked out a gang off geezers eyein' him at seven, and an uppity crowd of wiseguys who tested him at ten. Looking (almost) as cool as the giant likeness of Steve McQueen floating above and the theater-lobby stand-up James Dean on stage left, Velard floored everyone in his path.

His moves were roundly spectacular. "Little Demons" had equal punch in its spare, solo form as it did in its racing, full-band version. "Joni" and "Gonna Do It Alone" were sterling-perfect in both sets. And, of course, "Jimmy Dean and Steve McQueen" bumped humongously—especially in the first set, where it concluded with a funktastic breakdown outro. Plus, each performance was sprinkled with unique surprises, like the first set's "Darker Shade of Love" (one of the best lyrics/song titles I've ever heard) and the second set's fan-commanded "Way You Make Me Feel."

The most pleasing of the night's surprises was the level of presence by Mr. Velard's beautiful frequent collaborator, Vivian Sessoms, who sang several duets with the bandleader, as well as the oh-so-crucial backup parts in songs like "Joni." In between Julian's shows, Vivian also did a solo set, accompanied only by her other half, Chris Parks, on guitar. As usual, she spent equal time plugging other artists (giving instant interpretations of their newest work) and showing off her own tunes, including "Don't Go," which would be devastatingly heartbreaking if the words weren't couched in such an irresistibly fun Sesame Street bounce. She ended her brief time in the spotlight with the absolutely precious "Heart," the unmistakable Parks/Sessoms classic. It's one of those songs that you feel you've known your whole life the first time you hear it, and as soon as it's over you want to hear it again.

Peace&Luv
V

I find glory in a golden sky..

The seed was planted in stealth with great care and before I realized, the affair began to take shape.
It started with little things but more than anything, it was how much She loved you..adored you even.
I suppose that would make any lover infinitely more attractive, to be adored by one such as her, that was the first thing.
Oh.. how she spoke of you often & with pride, eyes gleaming as she did.
I can remember how depressing that used to seem to me, her loving you so, after all, what had you ever given her but heartache?

I now journey down a long, dark tunnel at the end of which is the smallest, faintest light hurtling toward me faster than I can control and I collide with it in a big, huge BANG!! Into nothingness...except for blinding.. white.. light.
Here, I can see everything...vividly, how is that possible?
I have these big bangs & as I grow older they seem to happen with more frequency where daydreams & nightdreams, conversations & memories, history, philosophy & bits of collective consciousness all coincide with life force.
For a split second who I am/what I am does not matter.
I am nothing and yet see all, know all, not with my mind but on my skin. The hair on my arms and the back of my neck raise in awareness that I am part and parcel of something else.
Something so large, so beyond me....and here is the key to it all..
Love.. is the Thing.. that thing that is the constant underlying thread to all humanity, and oh.. God.. how glorious are the dreams, how wonderful!
They're like a drug to me, the beauty, the peace, the souls who only visit in dreams.
I feel a warmth in the pit of my stomach, it's the feeling of coming home to a place I never want to leave... and that glorious golden sky..
I am secure as I journey through the space-time continuum..

Writer, dreamer, know thyself and from whence thy came, that you may see what you shall, and must become, for it is you who shall lead the masses.

She insisted, no demanded that I know myself at all times and in all places even when I would rather shrink from my jet black, golden brown, light skinned, ugly but beautiful self. Those times I was lost and thought I didn't care.
She said there was a place for me, for us, a time that would embrace us, & we would be guided and oh..how she loved you so..even as she mourned you and the weight she carried. The betrayals, the travesties, loved you through your suffering and so did she, suffer I mean, albeit silently.

She said I must love you as well, but then again I hated you sometimes too. I suppose you seemed all consuming to me then,
you sure sucked the life out of her and so many others before.
I often wonder if she wondered had she done all she could.

No matter, it's all over now but the shoutin' and by the way she could scream & shout too! Liked to shout about you to any & all who'd listen.
Who could deserve this much love especially when you behaved like a son of a bitch, beating her ass in the street for whatever reason, uplifting you or some such thing.

But she said I must be gentle with you and that I must know you & love you as myself for you would one day be me & mine.
The young are so impatient, so angry and impetuous, but not she.
It always comes back to her, my model, my mentor, my muse.
She believed us to be the last
vestiges of hope and faith who could remind the world of that constant, yet invisible, underlying thread.
Like her belief in God she believed in us....
and loved us so...


Happy birthday grandma,
I love you

Every now & then I like to print things here that have some meaning to me outside of music.

The following is a letter from Tyler Perry on being invited to the opening of a new school built by Oprah Winfrey in South Africa...


'It's Sunday morning. I'm sitting here in South Africa watching the sun rise.
I'm aware that the time is seven hours ahead of the east coast and that most of America is asleep, but I wish that I could wake you all up
to see this.
It is so peaceful here. In a few
hours I will be heading home and I will take from these ten days a lifetime of memories.
It started with the invitation from
Oprah to join her here for the opening of her school. I was a little reluctant to come and spend New Year's here because I have been in church every New Year's night since I can remember.

Well, I can honestly say that this was truly more spiritual than being in any watch night service that I've ever been in.
This entire trip has been unbelievable. From the time that I left, I have been having unforgettable memories. Like,
getting to have several conversations with the most eloquent man that I have ever met--Mr. Sidney Poitier. He has so much class and grace. The wisdoms that he left me with on this trip were worth the trip alone. Then getting to this continent and being greeted by African drums? WOW! And the spirit of all the invited guests.
It seemed that everybody that I spoke with left me with something that I could use in my life. I know that God was here.

The New Year's Eve bash was too much for your senses to take in. I
can't even begin to explain how beautiful it was.
It started with an African choir singing native songs and then ending with "Amazing Grace" and "Oh Happy Day". It was the clearest night that I had ever seen and with the biggest moon.
It was as if God, Himself, wanted to show off the heavens to us.
At midnight I stepped away and said a prayer.
When I turned around Mary J Blige was taking the stage and she rocked the place. Then there were several impromptu performances--Patti Labelle then Baby Face. He sang "If I Could Change The World".
This was all unsolicited mind you. Then India Arie sang, then Tina Turner closed the show with "Simply The Best".
I danced until the sun came up.

The next day we left Sun City and headed to Johannesburg. We drove through some of the townships. The poverty was heartbreaking, but the children were so happy.
Someone said to me, "I wonder what they dream about". It didn't take me long to find out. As many of you know, after educating thousands of children in America,
Oprah has opened a school here for girls. And when I saw these children, my God, you had to see their faces and hear their stories to understand.
When we got to the school, these girls (12 and 13 years old) talked about how they dreamed about not just becoming doctors and teachers, but discovering the cure for AIDS, or becoming President, or the Minister of Education. I have never in my life seen so much gratitude and so much hope.

Then the next day I got to meet Madiba Nelson Mandella! Life changing, life changing is all I can say.
I also went to Robben Island and saw where he was in prison. I stood in his cell. I don't think that my life will ever be the same after that visit.

I know that this is a long e-mail this time, but hear me when I say this--Let 20007 be the year that you follow your dream.
Don't let anybody tell you what you can't do.
With the help, grace and favor of God you can live your dream and bring it to pass.
Believe in yourself. All of you who have stopped dreaming, go find it,
dust it off, get back at it. It's never too late. That dream that has been
nagging you and won't let you rest will lead you to your destiny.
It's how God moves.
Go for it! It is possible!
Faith can take you to fruition..
when you believe.'

Tyler


Naturally (albeit unfortunately), the press is having a field day:

'Jan. 13, 2007 I
Winfrey's unguarded comments about the opening of her school revealed the degree to which arguably the most influential woman in the United States is still driven by the specter of her own beginnings as a poor, sexually abused child in Mississippi, and her seemingly endless spiral of desire to set the world right not simply for other young women, but for her own prepubescent self. For a moment, her self-spin veered out of control, and we got a brief snapshot not just of Winfrey's good intentions, but of the loneliness and solitude experienced by a woman who is historically and culturally unique in her power, wealth, life story and position in the world.

People magazine described the fluffy duvets that will cover the beds of the girls -- who will pair up in dorm rooms, each of which features a kitchen and a small balcony. CNN reported on the cafeteria's marble tabletops, and Winfrey crowed to every reporter in earshot about how she had chosen "every brick, tile, sheet and spoon" for the school. There are murals and a yoga studio, and trees under which the girls can read, and they will sleep on 200-thread-count sheets. Winfrey told Newsweek, "These girls deserve to be surrounded by beauty, and beauty does inspire."

Winfrey might have known that news of her students' swank surroundings might not wash with American critics, who don't bat an eye at white hotel heiresses dancing on banquettes, or reality shows about sweet-16 parties with budgets that could build a home for a Katrina victim. But impoverished black girls sleeping on nice-ish sheets? That didn't go over so well. The affronted sense that these girls deserved only bare-minimum accommodations and that a private citizen's money should have been used to educating them in bulk rather than in gracious individual style reflects our own beliefs that the bare minimum is all poor (black) girls need. And in part, it's surely that kind of attitude that has fueled Winfrey's obsession with aesthetics. She told several publications that South African builders initially sent plans that made the school look like a chicken coop. "It was clear that the attitude was 'These are poor African girls. Why spend all this on them?'" she told Newsweek. "It was unbelievably upsetting."

Indeed, criticism of the Leadership Academy's luxury is practically immoral. It's Winfrey's money and should she want to use it to provide six randomly selected babies with a lifetime supply of Rolos, then no one outside of the babies' families and dentists would really be in a morally sound position to object. But that Winfrey did not see this reaction coming, and thus did not temper the admittedly wacky emphasis on the aesthetic and the decorative aspects of her project, is unusually unperceptive. She walked right into this -- with the tawny bricks and embroidered O's -- and in doing so, revealed the extent to which she is still shaped by her own emotional hunger, despite all the money and influence in the world.'


Unbelievable, isn't it!?
Who gives a damn, really, what her reasons are?
I print these excerpts because I am utterly amazed at how racist and small minded people can be, how unforgiving and cruel particularly toward a country that has been through as much as Africa (Rwanda, Darfur..).
The woman is singlehandedly changing the face of a nation.

To really grasp the magnitude of poverty in South Africa, and what a school like this will mean for underpriveledged families & underserved communities, communities that have been ravaged by their lack of education, aparthied and AIDS please check out the links below:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6224001.stm http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2007-01-02-winfrey-school_x.htm?POE=LIFISVA http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0105/p01s03-woaf.html

may you all be inspired,
may God bless you Ms. Winfrey..
thank you for reading..
peace&love

**stepping down off soap box**

Ok, so....
Where to begin?
I have been BUSY...
Alright, first, did I mention that on New Years eve Chris & I went to Levon Helms Midnite Ramble up in Woodstock?
It was sooo awesome!!
If you don't know who Levon Helm is, he is one of the founders, lead singers and drummer for 70's supergroup The Band.
Martin Scorcese did a documentary on The Bands farewell tour in the 70's, called 'The Last Waltz' in which Levon talks about the Midnite Rambles of his childhood where musicians from town and neighboring towns would gather in a local barn, each person bringing an instrument and a dish and just jam 'til the mroning hours.
He started his own Midnite Rambles about 2 years ago in his recording studio/barn and they've grown out of control, never an empty seat in the house!
If you're up to making the drive up to Woodstock you won't be disappointed, there's always special guests dropping in, Dr. John, Allen Toussaint, Steel Dan, Elvis Costello, & the list goes on.
Check out Levon Helms website:

http://www.levonhelm.com
The following week my bud Julian Velard called me and said there was gonna be a hush show at Rockwood Music Hall featuring Amos Lee (I'm a big fan) so I hustled over to see the man and his music (I was in me nappies at the time), and I'm really glad I did 'cause he was beautiful.
Beautiful smile, beautiful voice, great songs.
We met my other friends Matty Beck and his lovely wife Barbara there after which we proceeded to get nice and toasty, lol.
Check me out with Amos, Julian & Matt:



Next stop, Boston, Mass. where Kim Davis, Keith Fluitt and I backed up Patti Austin for the Inaugural Ball of the first black Governor of Massachusettes, Deval Patrick.
He gave one of the most moving speeches I've ever heard.
It was a great honor to be there watching history being made.
We have come a long way..
Check out a few photos from the evening of the Governor himself and Kim, Keith & myself:



Lastly, I spent part of last week in the Bahamas at the Michael Jordan Golf Tournament.
I went there to backup the incomparable Jennifer Holiday
(the original dreamgirl) and believe me, she was nothing short of INCREDIBLE! She sang 'And I am telling you' and brought THE house down!!
While I was there I met a few awesome people including Ricky Lawson (drummer extroadinaire), Greg Philligaines (he's worked with everybody y'all), Michael Beardon (bad boy on the keys, same b'day as me :)), Alex Al (sweetie pie on the bass), Greg Moore (fawnkee guitarist) & his wife, author Toy Moore (check out her website guys), and last but not least, the lovely Lisa Vaughn, who was also there to do backups for Jennifer. Lisa has worked with Diana Ross, Chaka Khan, CeCe Winans and many others. She was the BOMB y'all!!
Loved working with her!
Stop by Toy & Lisa's websites if you get a chance, and check out the pictures below of me, Lisa & Jennifer Holiday and me Lisa & Micheal Beardon:

http://www.toymoore.com http://www.lisavaughnmusic.com


Told you I'd been busy, hahaha..
Ok, so I know I promised my next blog would be about the 'Sundown' recording like, 3 blogs ago, but I promise it's coming.

By the way, just posted some video of live perfromances on the myspace page and I'm gonna' put some on this site too in a day or so, so do be sure to stop back by & check them out.

Before I sign off I just wanna say how much we miss you guys and we promise we'll be back soon. We don't have any Albright shows for a while but I will be sitting with a few folks, and I'll keep you all posted right here.

Thanks for reading &
keep supporting independent music..
Peace&love

Beethoven meets young Liszt

"The most memorable time I experienced with Liszt was when he told me of his meeting with Beethoven. 'I was about eleven years old', he began, 'when my highly esteemed teacher Czerny introduced me to Beethoven. He had long before told him about me and had asked him to hear me play. But Beethoven had aversions against prodigies and for a long time refused to hear me. Finally though he was persuaded by my
indefatigable teacher Czerny and said: 'Then for God's sake – bring the little rascal'.

It was one morning about ten o'clock when we entered the two small rooms of the Schwarzspanierhaus, where Beethoven lived. I was somewhat embarrassed – but Czerny kindly encouraged me. Beethoven was sitting by the window at a long narrow table working. For a moment he looked at us with a serious face, said a couple of quick words to Czerny but turned silent as my dear teacher signaled to me to go to the piano.

First I played a small piece of [Ferdinand] Ries [another pupil of Beethoven]. When I had finished Beethoven asked if I could play a fugue by Bach. I chose the C minor fugue from Wohltemperiertes Klavier. 'Can you transpose this fugue', Beethoven asked.

Fortunately I could. After the finishing chord I looked up. Beethoven's deep glowing eyes rested upon me — but suddenly a light smile flew over his otherwise serious face. He approached me and stroked me several times over my head with affection.

'Well – I'll be blowed' he whispered, 'such a little devil'.

Suddenly my courage rose: 'May I play one of your pieces?' I asked with audacity. Beethoven nodded with a smile. I played the first movement of his C major piano concerto [nr. 1]. When I had finished Beethoven stretched out his arms, kissed me on my forehead and said in a soft voice:

'You go on ahead. You are one of the lucky ones! It will be your destiny to bring joy and delight to many people and that is the greatest happiness one can achieve'.

Liszt told me this with great emotion; his voice trembled but you could feel what divine joy these simple words had given him. Never did Liszt – the human being – make a greater impression on me. The flamboyant man-of-the-world, the revered artist was gone; this great moment he had experienced in his childhood still resounded in his soul. For a little while he was silent – then he said quietly:

'This was the proudest moment in my life – the inauguration to my life as artist. I tell this very rarely – and only to special friends.'"



rip jb

Hey guys,
Viv here with lots of news.
Honestly, I have so much to tell you, I don't know where to begin! Whew..
Ok let's start with our last gig at Rockwood Music Hall.
I know, i know..I shoulda posted this weeks ago.
It was beautiful..acoustic music is something I really love doing, I really do. The intimacy, being able to be heard so clearly, every word, every little breath. Songs seem to take on a new life performed that way and it's funny how well certain songs lend themselves to that setting.
A big thanks to the guys over at Rockwood, Ken & Tommy and to you guys, we had a nice crowd that evening.
I had Chris Parks on acoustic guitar & electric bass and Sherrod Barnes on acoustic & electric guitar that evening with my good friend Noam Dworman sitting in on 1 song.
You know, I never thought people cared about this stuff but a lot of people write in and ask me what the setlist was so I'll try to remember from time to time to list it here.

The setlist for that evening was as follows:
1.sundown (title track of our new cd)
2.hair of the dog (mike viola)
3.brighter than sunshine (aqualung)
4.holdin' on (ours)
5.what have I done (ours aka vivid)
6.dreamin with a broken heart (john mayer)
7.unwell (rob thomas)
8.don't go (ours)
9.here comes the sun (beatles)
10.heart (ours)

We threw in a lot of covers 'cause there's just so much great music out there now and it seems like acoustic music in particular is on a steady rise lately.
(check out the sirius radio station 'coffehouse')
Check out a couple of pics from Rockwood below..



After Rockwoods, I dashed up to the Sugar Bar and did backing vox for Black-i, our drummers band and we had a BALL, in fact we had such a good time that Nick Ashford & Valerie Simpson stopped in and wound up staying for the whole show. It's so fun playing with Black-i 'cause they're sooo funky, I told you about them already but if you don't rememeber, check out their
site www.black-i.com.
Imagine Prince x Sly Stone, add in fresh & new and there you have it,
BLACK I.
Check out a few pics from the Black-i show below with Chris Fischer, Mike Griot, Teddy Crockett, Eric Brown (whom you can't see) & me..



After that (told you I had a lot to tell you), me & the crew headed back downtown to the Bluenote to see Stokley of Mint Condition perform with Chris Dave, Sheddrick Mitchell, & Derrick Hodge where he proceeded to kick ass and believe me when I tell you he killed it!!!
Every singer worth their measure was in the house to see Stokley!!
It was a packed house.
Check out a couple pics from the evening below, the 1st one is of Queen Aaminah, Stokley & myself and the 2nd is of Melonie Daniels, Queen Aaminah, Camiile Gaynor & me..



Ok, so I know I haven't been the best at keeping this blog up to date but since we're not gonna do any shows for a while, we're gonna keep you guys updated on all the happenings with us right here, so check in often.
Next entry: 'The Sundown
Recordings'.
Peace&love

Viv & Keith Fluitt belting out their version of 'Stop On By' by Rufus & Chaka..


Hey People,

Hope your holiday was wonderful and you're all recovering nicely from the extra turkey and pumpkin pie ya couldn't pass up :)
I gained a few pounds myself so I'm sitting here dreaming about the gym, haha..
Dreaming, I say...

Just wanna take a moment to thank you all for showing
your love and support by coming out to the Cutting Room last week!

As promised it was a killing show, in fact one of our best!
We've never gotten so many e-mails before from people saying how much they enjoyed the show!
Needless to say we had a ball and you guys all made it so,
so THANK YOU SOOO MUCH!!

We wanna give a special thanks to Marlon Saunders and his crew (Arif, Biti, & Joe) for doing their thang,
and to his manager Michael Dumas, who was so awesome throughout.

Also wanna thank designer Leon Greene for the fabulous red lace dress I had on that evening, and photographer Arnold Gadson for wonderful photos he took (stop by the photo gallery & and take a look), and my buddy Tom Paul for promoting and handling the mailing list (you're awesome).

Can I just take a moment to talk about my new band?? Can I??
'Cause they are truly
OFF THA' CHAIN!!
Sherrod Barnes
Eric Brown
Casey Benjamin
Chris Parks
Queen Aaminah
Keith Fluitt
& Darius Booker

Have you ever heard of a band that has so much fun playing together, that when you try ending a song they keep right on playing!!
Have you?
Every one of 'em big uppin' each other and having a ball, lol..
They're really something else..
Sooo damn funky the only word that comes to mind is EXPLOSIVE!!

Anyhoo, we've got a lot of exciting stuff we wanna' tell you about coming soon.
The cd release, which is getting really close (we're making plans for it now), & we'll be sending out an e-mail shortly.
Also, our last gig of the year, and some dates in early January, after which we'll be taking a short break to tie up all the loose ends with the cd.

We'll be playing at Rockwood Music Hall next month on December 15th, where Chris and I will be doing an acoustic set.

We were scheduled to be at The Canal Room in December too, but that date got postponed 'til February so keep checking back on our site for that info.

Lastly, I'll be opening for my buddy Julian Velard (remember him? he played with me at the Jazz Standard last month) for a little mini tour doing more acoustic sets which is a totally new thing for me. I love doing the acoustic thing 'cause you can really stretch out and get into the music on a more intimate level.
These dates will be sometime in the beginning of January.

So stay tuned and thank you again for all your love and support throughout the year.

Lots of love
& remember to keep supporting independent music!

Happy Holidays....fa la la lah
V&C

Hey people,

Just wanted to take time to thank you all for coming out to the Jazz
Standard last Monday night.
It was such a pleasure and we really had a blast. So far the best crowd yet!

I didn't know what to expect presenting this new material which is so different from Albright but you guys put me right at ease, and I have to add that I had the most stellar band ever!!

So many people were asking for cd's after the show, we promise
they're coming soon so hang in there with us, we're really close. :)
If you didn't make it to the show there's a review posted below by our buddy Marshall Shephardson (Thanks Marshall <3)
Also, stay tuned next month for a couple shows we have in store starting with Chris and myself doing an acoustic set at Rockwood Music Hall on November 2nd where I'll be opening for Julian Velard.
In case you don't remember, Julian's the guy that sang with me last week at the Standard, where so many of you raved about his voice.
We'll follow that up with an Albright show at the Cutting Room on November 17th, where we will again be opening for the ever soulful Marlon Saunders and have as a special guest Sherrod Barnes.

Again, thank you all so much for coming out & supporting us, it was truly awesome to see so many friendly faces in the crowd.

See you soon,
and keep supporting independent music..

Peace
Vivian


'AS A TESTAMENT TO HER UNFETTERED AMBITION..'

The solo performance of Vivian Sessoms at The Jazz Standard on October 2 was a perfect testament to her unfettered ambition. While we all still salivate over the ever-postponed release of her (still!) forthcoming Sunny One Day, Vivian is already promoting that album’s follow-up: Sundown. And if the two sets at the Jazz Standard accurately predicted the timbre of Sundown, it’ll be a more acoustic, more contemplative companion to the funky groove of Sunny One Day.

Each set featured a mix of covers and originals, but Vivian as always made every song her own, turning the entire songlist into something exciting & novel. Most memorably, Vivian’s honey-slow take on the Beach Boys’ 'God Only Knows' and sweeping space-age exploration of Allison Krauss’ 'You Will Be Mine Ain' True Love' each would doubtless have brought a tear to its composer’s eye to see how wonderfully their brainchild had grown up since setting off into the world.

But no less rich and mature were Vivian’s newly-minted compositions, which are still waiting to be set free into the hearts of another generation of creative listeners…(hint, hint)

And the players were as varied and dynamic as the songs: Chris Parks, this time on guitar, seamlessly alternated between crisp acoustic plucking and slick electric sizzle; multi-stringer Matt Beck let fly with woozy lap-steel and glittering mandolin solos; Misha Tsiganov’s piano and keyboards traversed the entire terrain from tinkly trills to lush cascades, usually over the course of one song; Eric brown crisply shuffled and marched on the skins; and Carlos Henderson’s work on both stand-up and electric bass was consistently solo-worthy…no matter who was soloing.

Finally, Julian Velard stepped in to contribute deft back-up vocals and to join Vivian for some stirring duets. In the middle of it all, Vivian’s voice and presence served to draw together and focus each element into one pure musical message. She was clearly as humbled by the sterling musicianship surrounding her as she was proud that her vision had brought it all together.


http://www.julianvelard.com http://www.mattbeck-fans.com http://www.mishatsiganov.com http://www.myspace.com/blackidrumandbass (Eric Browns' band)

Hey guys..
I know this is kinda late, but check this out.
The review below was submitted by our buddy Marshall Shepardson. Marshall, whom I consider to be a real music buff, has been hanging out with us since the days of our first band 'VIVID' and is one of our most supportive & loyal friends.
Thank you Marshall for the beautiful words and for always coming out!
I also wanna thank Christian for having us at the Blue Note, my sister Sybil for contributing pictures from the show (more in the gallery), and our most awesome band!
..And if you haven't heard, Jenny just left to go on the road with pop artist Pink, go jen (she's my idol)!!
So get out to a show and show her some love :)



ALBRIGHT PLAYS THE BLUE NOTE, SEPTEMBER 1st, 2006

"It was raining, and well past midnight in New York’s Greenwich Village, and a crowd was gathered in the city’s premiere jazz venue. But, rather than the detached coolness you might expect at an event called the “Blue Note Late Night Groove Series,” the feeling at Albright’s second full-length show was as warm as a hearth-heated family reunion. Fans of all the
many projects, side-projects, and collaborations of the impossibly prolific Vivian Sessoms and Chris Parks had gathered to hear the duo take center stage. And, as you might expect, the crowd was as varied as Albright’s influences: from dapperly-clad night-outers down to your studiedly grungy village hipsters.

Apparently unaware of her own genre-transcending magnetism, Vivian was as always the consummately humble superstar, insistent upon plugging every album in the folk-soul indieverse, except her band’s own long-awaited “Sunny One Day.” Of course, nothing could sell Albright’s upcoming album better than the songs: from the shuffling bump of “A Day in the Park” to the wrenching soul of “Heroin,” each of Albright’s songs is an exquisite groove, subtly girded by dramatic storytelling. In addition to the band’s own gems, they also put their unique soul-rock twist on a handful of grateful classics, like Soft Cell’s/Slum Village “Tainted Love,” Sheryl Crow’s “Strong Enough” and Gnarls Barkley’s instaclassic, “Crazy.” Tonight’s surprise gem was a haunting rendition of Roberta Flack’s rarity, “25th of Last December”, and in its discriminating diversity, Albright’s repertoire comprised an unmistakable vision: at once darkly daring, and luminously hopeful. It’s music that acknowledges that things may not be perpetually sunny, but that always something bright waits beyond the horizon."

Marshall Shepardson--

thanks for reading..

http://www.queenaaminah.com http://www.myspace.com/jennydouglas

Ok...
so sometimes we get a little bored over here seeing the same old thing..
then again, we've got a good reason to change up our outfit, chris has got himself a new bio, so go check it out and read all about him.

by the way, i owe you all a write-up on the bluenote, i haven't forgotten. back in a jif with that.

the cover art you see above is the cd cover for my friend tim reis' latest work "the stones project" which is a refreshing and lovely re-working of some classic rolling stones tunes (with whom he is also currently touring as saxophonist).
the album features norah jones, sheryl crow, lisa fisher and a few of the stones pitching in their efforts to make this a real gem.
i've been performing these songs with tim over the last year and in fact we played the Iridium Jazz Club last week. i've had a splendid time meeting all the brilliant musicians tim keeps company with.
whether you're a stones fan or not, i promise you will love this cd so treat yourselves to something new when you get a chance, and be sure to check out his site.

that's all for now..
thanks for reading :)

www.timreis.com

There are shows and then....
there are SHOWS..

Some performances are good,
some performances are great..
some will change your life...


I once saw Labelle at summer stage and it changed my life.. forever..
It was the thing that made me absolutely positive I wanted to do music.
Seeing Prince live did that for me,
seeing D'angelo & Marvin Gaye did
that for me,
I've seen footage of Ella, and Sarah,
or Sly & early Natalie Cole on Don Kirschners Rock Concert as a kid and I knew..

Last night I saw Michael McDonald open up for Steely Dan and believe me when I tell you it was one of the most remarkable shows for sheer talent and execution of great music I have ever witnessed.
The music was as good as, and most of the time better than the recordings,
I kid you not, and that is not something you see often and most certainly not something you see in artists today.

I went on Donald Fagens site when I got home to read up on the man. He had a whole blog on Ray Charles and how much Ray had inspired him while growing up and how to him, Ray changed the face of music.
I love when an artist you admire and respect speaks so well of another performers artistry.
He also said in another blog
that nothing new & exciting has happened to music since Bob Marley & reggae.
hmm...
I almost agree..
I am a reggae/ska fanatic myself.

Donald Fagen, Walter Becker, Michael McDonald are heroes to me. I didn't know I had heroes..
I will not tell you about the show itself, you MUST go see it!

Last night inspired me..
it changed me..
I am better for it..
That is the power of music.

mama said " in my time, we thought music could change the world if people listened"

Thank you for listening..


www.steelydan.com www.michaelmcdonald.com

ALBRIGHT FEATURED ON RADIO SHOW & PODCAST THIS WEEK!!

DJ Vinnie over at Afternoon Groove Radio featured us in the first hour of his broadcast this past Wednesday, playing our song "Dunno What". The show aired already but if you wanna check it out e-mail the folks at Afternoon Groove Radio to request it.
So far Afternoon Groove was an internet broadcast but we heard throught the grapevine that the show is moving to over FM and the
show we're featured on will be the first FM broadcast!
Congrats to everyone over at Afternoon Groove, we wish you much love & success with the new format!!

We're also on The Unsigned Artist Showcase podcast this week and you can go to their website listed below and listen to the show from the site or download the show.
They're playing the title track from our forthcoming cd "Sunny One Day".

By the way, our friends Heavy (awesome band! check out their website) were invited to be the featured dj's for the global soul podcast last month and they played one of the songs from our cd, "He Who Knows" (written & produced by Heavy). You can go to the website to download that show also.
So check us out, we're getting around!

We wanna' give a big shout out to DJ Vinnie, Reg T. & Heavy for supporting us & playing our music.

In other news you can hear partner Chris on guitar on the latest Amel Larrieux cd's including the newest one "Morning" & her last cd "Bravebird".
Chris is also in the studio with Heavy working on their latest cd which is pure fiyah, stay tuned for it!

More later y'all,
Thanks for checkin' in..
Peace

www.unsignedartistshow.com www.afternoongrooveradio.com www.globalsoulmedia.com www.heavymusic.net www.amellarrieux.com

Earlier in this blog, I mentioned that Tim Ries (Rolling Stones saxophonist) & I were featured guests on our friend Mads Baerentzen's c.d., an extremely gifted pianist & arranger from Denmark. Well, I am happy to say that finally the c.d. has just been released.
I don't know if you can purchase it here in the states yet as it is a European release but it will be available soon!
You can also go to Mads website www.madsbaerentzen.com to order the c.d. directly.
It is a really beautiful record written and arranged by both Mads & Tim and we had so much fun doing it. I just got a copy and I've been playing it over & over.
By the way Mads & Tim are also doing a few arrangements for my "other" c.d. More about that later.
Stay tuned..
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just a quick note to let you know we have a few new pics posted of the village underground show.
a big to thanks to tom paul (check out his website by the way), my sis sybil & dawn for the wonderful photos.
we're hard at work on our second c.d. , we'll keep you posted!
back in a minute :)
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ok, first things first..
YOU GUYS ROCK!!!!

hey everybody,
viv here sending out a tremendous thanx to everyone who came out to the village underground last thursday!!!
it was our best crowd yet and that is most definitely thanks to all of you,
so thank you, thank you, thank you!

i was a little nervous about everything going smoothly but i
have to say everything went off without a hitch.

sherrod barnes opened for us and judging from your comments and e-mails he won all of you over just like i knew he would. what a wonderful musician, and all around guy, we truly love him.
he said he'd never performed his own show before but you would never have been able to tell that.
to put it simply, he amazed everyone, and believe me, you will see him with us again very soon!

as for our show, we started out with "oh baby" and the night sped off from there!! we coverd a lot of ground, talked about a lot, and made a lot of music.
so many of our good friends, family, and people we admire were there to support which made the night very special indeed. we had people from as far as australia, and florida. there was a lot of hugging and picture taking afterwards (val, i looked for you but you disappeared), catching up with friends we don't see enough of, making new friends, etc.

i wanna give a special thanks to limited tyme p.r. (((shirl&abby;))), bella starr (shae-muah), my buddies tom p., mike c., noam d., & cisco for the use of their e-mail lists & for helping to spread the word. i also wanna give a shout out to my boy marshall who has been hanging around since the "vivid" days (our first band) and never waits to chat after, he just glides in & glides out after, lol (you're a doll)...
i also wanna thank dawn waski for the beautiful pics of the rt tour posted in the photo gallery.

SO...
if you didn't make it out this time, don't fret,
we've got more shows coming up soon.
the first one is:

Friday, September 1st, 2006
@ The Blue Note
http://www.bluenote.net 12 Midnite
131 West 3rd Street
NYC, NY 10012
Price: $12.00

the bluenote, as you can imagine is a big deal for us and we really want to fill the place up, so mark your calendars, set your bberries & get ready 'cause we're gonna add a bunch of new songs and we'll be smokin' by then!!

we've got all kinds of stuff in the works, so stay tuned
and once again,
thanks for helping us make thursday our best night yet!!
lots of love
& remember to keep supporting independent music!!
bye for now ;)
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I swear it feels like the last day of high school around here. Everyone is buy turns missing their homelives but at the same time sad to be leaving each other for what we know will be a long while..

I've been on some long tours, made lifelong friends, had loads of fun, (and shopped til' i nearly dropped) but I never went home feeling like this before..
I'm gonna miss these guys <3 Let's go back to the beginning, when Jen & I first walked into rehearsals not knowing what to think. It was supposed to be an audition but by the end of the day they were taking our clothing measurements and ordering dinner for us, lol. It was an instant party!

You know how you can fall in love with people and not have it be a sex thing at all??
Seems like everyone fell in love with each other's musicality & personalities, guitarist with drummer, bass player with keyboard player, etc.
We'd literally spend hours and hours in each others rooms talking,
hanging, vibing and then trying to kill the audience at every show!!
WHAT A BLAST!!!!

We ate together, fought, didn't speak, made up, smoked, drank, talked shit, played each other our favorite music, jammed, propped each other up, supported one another, laughed, went on rides, played games, disagreed, agreed to disagree, and still made time to watch the trailer park boys, Family Guy and Ali G, all along the way making friends!
You guys have become like brothers to me, and I'm gonna' miss you all..
Love you lots, bye for now <3
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