Composer Charles Xavier To Release Ambient Solo Piano Album “Pandemic Piano” on Sept. 9, 2022

San Francisco composer and recording artist the Xman aka Charles Xavier is releasing an ambient/melodic/neo-jazz album titled “Pandemic Piano” on September 9, 2022. The music speaks for itself… It’s new age ambient piano music that Charles will perform as he crosses the country and live streams the tour.  

He will continue his Xman drama with the first single titled “When I Think Of You” (Dolby Atmos mix by immersive mix engineer McKay Garner) on July 29th. The second Atmos single titled “Sexual Vibration Chakra” will be released on August 19th.

Says Charles, “I was creating out of my comfort zone. I improvised each morning after I had awakened from my unconscious dark shadow and I recorded endless loops of anguish & despair. I was capturing the moment until I was able to release my darkness with loving light through this piano. Isn’t that what every artist strives for? To capture our souls on fire, so that we can present to our audience the true essence of our art, engage our listeners in our battles, our conflicts with egos that are present in every man. There’s a magic in our madness as human creatures that the superior beings that control the universe cannot predict or prescribe into…. DIG.”

Encouraging meditation, relaxation, and mindfulness, these songs are a perfect introduction to Charles Xavier!

Says Charles, “I present this new set of songs recorded during the pandemic and throughout its current state of osmosis, separation, disruption, disdain and frustration from our being separated from our commutative, tribal, creative souls. This living project began as the last six albums have but quickly took shape into a life changing force all-encompassing into oneself.  I exist now as a solo human being drifting across America…”

Ambient solo piano music by composer/percussionist/sound designer Charles Xavier. “Pandemic Piano” is sometimes spontaneous, then magically serene, dipping into quadrants of clarity then unspoken shifting moods, pain then dreams, dreams then gain. Different pianist, different speed. It’s worth a listen.

What’s next for Charles….

The show “ELLA ACROSS AMERICA” is a real-time docudrama about a Composer/musician/post-production director who separates from his wife after 30 years, he leaves a thriving Silicon Valley Suburbia named San Bruno with his dog Ella, a spiritual breed of a dog Great Pyrenees, then he travels cross country in a specially equipped RV van for capturing streaming media.

The short synopsis: “One man, one dog, one piano. He decides to leave California after his marriage ends, so he buys an RV, then sets out to explore 5,000 miles while busking & performing ACROSS AMERICA…

In closing Charles has this to say, “Live in the present! A year ago I never would have predicted this tour to happen.”

Composer – Musician - Producer

Charles Xavier, aka “The Xman,” is a visionary producer, composer, electronic musician, and percussionist based in the Bay Area. He has been the seeking force to build something new for multiple businesses and endeavors in the music and recording industries for the past 30 years.

About Happy Note Records

Happy Note Records is a multifaceted entertainment company that is currently developing its musical production capabilities so that the business can promote the music of its featured artist Charles Xavier from the onset of its formalized operations. The business produces artist tracks and downloadable media for each production completed by the business. HNR is designed to be a full-service record label, promotion, and distribution company, focused initially on the career of Charles Xavier, a San Francisco-based, nationally touring musician, with the future potential for the label to apply this business model to other “up and coming” and “established” recording artists.

Listen to “Pandemic Piano Collage” by Charles Xavier: https://soundcloud.com/charlesxavier/pandemic-piano-collage-2021-charles-xavier

The JazzSummit PLAYLIST: The two piano videos starting the playlist link below gives the listener a visual idea of the two directions the album leans towards: Ambient piano and electronic FX piano. From “Cristi to Bosco” shows the creative music side. Also the localization twist Charles added to his production work. Then some live shows at festivals and venues. https://bit.ly/JazzSummitPlaylist2022

To purchase the new single: https://music.apple.com/us/album/when-i-think-of-you-single/1634449086
To purchase the album on BandCamp Sept. 9th: https://charlesxavierjr.bandcamp.com/album/pandemic-piano
The album will be available at Bandcamp, Apple Music, Amazon Music and other digital stores on the web on the release date of September 9th.

For more information:
https://www.facebook.com/charlesxavierxman
http://www.twitter.com/charlesxavierjr
www.youtube.com/charlesxavier
www.soundcloud.com/charlesxavier
https://www.reverbnation.com/label/happynoterecords
https://www.instagram.com/charlesxavierjr/
www.myspace.com/thexman

Press inquiries: Glass Onyon PR, PH: 1-828-350-8158 (US), glassonyonpr@gmail.com

Award-Winning Composer Steve Horowitz Releases New Album of Remastered String Quartets

“The String Quartets Nos. 1 & 2” (2022 Digital Remaster) Composed by Steve Horowitz

Award-winning composer Steve Horowitz, best known for his original score to the Academy Award Nominated Film “Super Size Me, is releasing a new album of remastered String Quartets

String Quartet #1 “Remote Control” (1994) - Based on the speed of modern culture, media knows no night. It is perpetual day.  

String Quartet #2, “PA KUA” (1998) String Quartet #2 - Based on the Bagua or Pa Kua, eight symbols used in Taoist cosmology to represent the fundamental principles of reality.

“We live in a world where there is more and more information, and less and less meaning.” - Jean Baudrillard

“The String Quartets Nos. 1 & 2” will be available worldwide on Sept. 1, 2022.

Here’s what press and radio have said about Steve Horowitz:

“Brilliantly Eclectic, Eclectically Brilliant” - Derk Richardson (KPFA Radio)

“One of the foremost figures in the field. Highly original, unique and full of contradiction. One moment beautiful, another jarring. One moment funny, another deadly serious. It is hard to pin down the creative genius that some have described as a force of nature!” - Dale Crowley, DMN

“A bent variety of music sneaking out the back door of the conservatory to arm wrestle in the alley with Captain Beefheart” - SF Weekly

“MC900 Foot Jesus meets John Cage and Carl Stalling” - Chris Norris, Guardian

“These currents fall way on the other side of the main stream” - Sam Prestialnni, SF Weekly

To purchase:
https://www.stevehorowitzmusic.com/albums
Apple: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/steve-horowitz/185446777
Tidal: https://tidal.com/browse/artist/5994562
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0zdxLXZzI7d9xpvtaNcdoi
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/s?i=popular&rh=p_32%3ASteve+Horowitz&ref=dp_byline_sr_music_1

For more information:
https://www.stevehorowitzmusic.com/
https://www.facebook.com/steve.horowitz.3
https://twitter.com/fluffyschwartz

Press inquiries: Glass Onyon PR, PH: 1-828-350-8158, glassonyonpr@gmail.com

Sun King Rising to Release Second Album 'Signs & Wonders' on PeacockSunrise Records Oct.1, 2022

Sun King Rising’s second album, Signs & Wonders, is to be released on October 1st on CD, vinyl, and top download and streaming sites. Sun King Rising is the professional moniker of singer/songwriter/piano player John Blangero who hails from Port Isabel, Texas.

He calls his music “the new wave of southern rock and soul music.”

PeacockSunrise Records is the Americana/Rock label spinoff of Nick Katona’s successful Progressive Rock label, Melodic Revolution. As with Sun King Rising’s highly acclaimed debut album, Delta Tales, Pittsburgh’s Ace Acker served as producer.

Save for Queen’s Brian May, Blangero is perhaps incomparable in all the world. Like May—Queen’s guitarist—Blangero is not only a brilliant, entirely original musical artist but also a world-renowned scientist (May is an astrophysicist) specializing in genetics research.

Blangero’s music draws from his own southern family roots, the literary genius of William Faulkner, the bluesy compositional brilliance of George Gershwin, the blue-eyed soul of Elton John, and the funky rhythms and horns of 60s-70s Muscle Shoals. Soaring electric guitars add spice to this gumbo. It is a unique fusion of innate design with heartfelt musical expression— “the Genetics of Soul.”

“With this album, Sun King Rising has made a quantum leap,” says Katona. “Musically and lyrically, Signs & Wonders rocks hard while engaging the imagination. It is thematically coherent, complex, and sophisticated.”

Blangero attributes this to the vastly improved circumstances under which Acker was able to produce it. “We started recording the first album in January 2020. Two months later, the COVID-19 pandemic locked the whole world down,” he says.

Coping with resulting restrictions on travel and meetings forced Blangero and Acker to complete the production remotely, with thirty-two different players and singers recording in multiple studios across the country. Says Blangero, “It was a logistical challenge, to say the least.”

With Signs & Wonders, the production team had no such hurdles. Recording again at Pittsburgh’s Maplewood Studio with engineer David Granati at the helm, Acker put together a full 5-piece band, a horn section, and a background chorus with the city’s most acclaimed talents. “Most of the cuts on the album we recorded live at Maplewood, with the same band,” Acker explained, “resulting in a far more consistent sound. The logistics were a breeze.”

Signs & Wonder is a collection of Blangero’s southern noir stories set to music, with a cast of colorful characters, intrigue, tales of sin and redemption, murder without justice, and love without limits. Had William Faulkner and Tennessee Williams been lyricists, they might have written deeply nuanced musical stories like Sun King Rising’s.

The album’s first single, “No. 6 Magnolia Avenue,” is classic 60s/70s horn band pop in the vein of Chicago, Spiral Staircase, and Blood, Sweat and Tears.

Concurrent with the single’s release, PeacockSunrise will debut its cinematic music video directed by Dante Ludovici, the man behind the cameras for the official “Free Will in China Blue” video from the first album, as well.

For more information:
Website: www.sunkingrising.com
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/SunKingRising
Record Label FB page: https://www.facebook.com/PeacockSunriseRecords

Press inquiries: Glass Onyon PR, PH: 828-350-8158, glassonyonpr@gmail.com

MTS Management: PH: 412-445-5282, michael@mtsmanagementgroup.com

Haight Street Art Center to Open “The Secret Path: The Art of Roger and Freyja Dean”

SAN FRANCISCO, CA: The Haight Street Art Center will open The Secret Path: The Art of Roger and Freyja Dean, an exhibition of original art works by famed UK artists Roger Dean and his daughter Freyja Dean. The Secret Path will immerse visitors in an extraordinary world where life and landscape invoke the splendors of nature through the visionary imagination of the Deans. The exhibition opens August 25 and will close October 30, 2022, before touring to other venues.

The presenting sponsors of The Secret Path: The Art of Roger and Freyja Dean are Blue Planet Alliance and Chambers Obscura.  

“To see the art of Roger and Freyja together in this unique, groundbreaking exhibition is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for visitors to experience the magical environments created by this father-daughter duo,” said Kelly Harris, executive director of the Haight Street Art Center. “Both artists have universal appeal, and we are proud to be able to offer our patrons a chance to be a part of this stunning and psychedelic fantasy.”

Known for his groundbreaking work with Yes and other rock bands, Roger Dean’s six-decade career includes a dazzling range of media and formats. His daughter Freyja has followed in her father’s footsteps, earning international acclaim for her paintings, sculpture, and fabric art. With paintings, drawings, sculptures, and other media, this exhibition connects all facets of the Deans’ wide-ranging and restless imagination.  

Visitors to the Art Center will recognize famous paintings that became the artwork for some of Roger’s legendary album covers, as well as studies of his extraordinary design work including his iconic Yes logo. Curated by Roger in consultation with Freyja, the exhibition includes more than 50 works that will furnish patrons with an imaginative and immersive environment that speaks to the challenges of the present while embracing the promise of the future.   

“I am honored to help support The Secret Path coming to San Francisco and the work of the Haight Street Art Center in sharing these fantastical worlds through this remarkable exhibition,” said Brian Chambers, co-founder of Chambers Obscura. “I’ve had the pleasure of working with Roger for many years, and through him I have come to appreciate his daughter Freyja’s work as well. She has her own distinctive voice, but not only does she demonstrate how deep the creative genes are in the Dean family, her work complements his in powerful and unexpected ways.”  

“I’ve worked with Roger for 35 years and could not be more honored to support The Secret Path at the Haight Street Art Center,” said Blue Planet Alliance Founder Henk Rogers. “In all my years in publishing, I’ve never met an artist as talented and easy to work with as Roger. We’ve worked together on dozens of projects, starting with the cover and logo for the game Super Black Onyx to the Tetris logo, our biggest and most widely known collaboration, for a game that has sold 500 million copies. Roger’s art has enriched us in so many ways.”

Known as the “only member of Yes who doesn’t play an instrument,” Roger Dean is revered as an award-winning album cover artist, yet his talents go far beyond one medium: his work spans fine art to graphic design, architecture to stage sets, from small-scale drawings to stadium-sized vistas. Freyja Dean’s paintings, sculpture, and fabric art chart the relationships between landscapes and life. Her art reveals the narratives of those geographies and beings, illuminating the lessons they can teach us. Together, the art of the Deans guides viewers through a journey filled with stories. Those stories are about magic: the magic in nature, in natural phenomena and formations, in the seasons and the flow of time.

“This exhibition invites viewers to become participants,” Roger Dean notes. “We are all fellow travelers on the secret path of life. The signposts along the way are our art works, but the destination—the future—belongs to everyone.” For the Deans, this exhibition is an important step in that journey. “We must believe in a future worth striving for,” Freyja Dean explains. “For all of us, there is a secret or hidden path whose entirety we cannot see while we live it.”

The Haight Street Art Center serves San Francisco’s thriving poster art and artist communities with education and cultural development programs, and exhibitions. Drawing upon music, art, social and political counterculture history, we provide a space that bridges communities through social activism and artistic expression.

The nonprofit Haight Street Art Center is located at 215 Haight Street, at the corner of Laguna Street. The Center is open weekly on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 12-6 pm. Its outdoor Garden Gallery is open daily (7 am – 9 pm).  Admission is always free. For more information about the Haight Street Art Center, its exhibitions, events, and programs, please visit www.haightstreetart.org  

For more information:
Erin Cook, Jensen Communications
626/585-9575 (p); erin@jensencom.com  

Glass Onyon PR, PH: 828-350-8158, glassonyonpr@gmail.com

Symphonic Rock Legends Renaissance Launch IndieGoGo Campaign For “Legacy Tour” Double Live CD A Celebration of Annie Haslam’s 75th Year!

In celebration of Annie Haslam’s 75th birthday, Renaissance will be presenting a series of concerts with the Renaissance Chamber Orchestra, the ten-piece group of classical performers that have been adding an extra dimension to the sound of Renaissance since 2017. One of the shows will be fully multi track recorded and released as a double live CD set. The lineup of songs will be a unique mixture of Renaissance classics along with a selection of songs from Annie’s solo recordings. Many of them will be newly orchestrated and performed for the first time with orchestral arrangements.

This will be the fourth release of a ‘live’ concert by the band since 2015 through the support of crowdfunding. Renaissance credits the longevity of the band to a long standing relationship with their fanbase. Those interested in supporting the bands efforts to continually release new products can click on the links below to get more details.

Photo by Richard Barnes.

For more information: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/renaissance-legacy-tour-double-live-cd#/

Tour Dates: www.renaissancetouring.com/tour

Renaissance information:
www.renaissancetouring.com
facebook.com/renaissancetouring
www.anniehaslam.com
facebook.com/anniehaslamart

Press inquiries: Glass Onyon PR, PH: 1-828-350-8158, glassonyonpr@gmail.com