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Magic Mirror

Carol Albert

Label: CAHARA
Released: 2022
Duration: 00:41:00
Views: 119

Tracks

Magic Mirror; Fire & Water; Paradigm Shift; Sol Ipanema; Gemini Sun; The Chase; Crashing; Sapporo Dream; Sometime; Angels Watching Over Me

Personnel

Additional Personnel / Information

MAGIC MIRROR Credits 1) MAGIC MIRROR Carol Albert: Piano, Synthesizers Shane Theriot: Guitars, Drum Programming Roberto Vally: Bass Greg Vail: Saxophone. Engineering: Carmen Grillo, Big Surprise Studio Written By Carol Albert, Shane Thierot, Paul Brown Mixed: Paul Brown, The Funky Joint Produced: Paul Brown 2) FIRE & WATER Carol Albert: Piano, Synthesizers, MIDI Programming, BG Vocals Roberto Vally: Bass, Drum Programming, BG Vocals Andrew Neu: Soprano Saxophone, Flute, Horn Arrangement Curtis McCain: Percussion Mixed By Roberto Vally Produced, Written, Arranged By Carol Albert & Roberto Vally 3) PARADIGM SHIFT Carol Albert: Piano Paul Brown: Guitar Shane Thierot: Bass, Drum Programming, Additional Keys Engineering : Carmen Grillo, Big Surprise Music Written : Carol Albert, Paul Brown, Shane Theriot Mixed By Paul Brown, The Funky Joint Produced By Paul Brown 4) SOL IPANEMA Carol Albert: Piano, Synths, Midi Programming Dan Baraszu: Acoustic & Electric Guitar Roberto Vally: Bass, Drum Programming, Percussion Mixed By Roberto Vally Produced, Written, Arranged By Carol Albert & Roberto Vally 5) GEMINI SUN Carol Albert: Piano, Keys, Strings, Midi Programming Ragan Whiteside: Flute Carlyle Bariteau: Acoustic & Electric Guitar Roberto Vally: Bass Lil’ John Roberts: Drums Curtis McCain: Percussion Written By Carol Albert Mixed By Paul Brown, The Funky Joint Produced & Arranged By Carol Albert & Roberto Vally 6) THE CHASE Carol Albert: Piano, Synthesizers, Strings, Midi Programming Dan Baraszu: Guitar Andreu Neu: Saxophone Roberto Vally: Bass, Drum Programming, Percussion Mixed By Roberto Vally Produced, Written & Arranged By Carol Albert & Roberto Vally 7) CRASHING Carol Albert: Piano, Synths Shane Thierot: Guitar Roberto Vally: Bass Ben Babylon: Additional Strings Gordon Campbell: Drums Percussion: Paul Brown Written & Arranged By Carol Albert Produced & Mixed By Paul Brown, The Funky Joint 8) SOPPORO DREAM Carol Albert: Piano, Synthesizers Shane Thierot: Guitar, Bass, Drum Programming Ben Babylon: Additional Strings Engineering: Carmen Grillo, Big Surprise Music Written By Carol Albert, Paul Brown, Shane Theriot Produced & Mixed: Paul Brown, The Funky Joint 9) SOMETIME Carol Albert: Piano Tom Schumann: Strings Paul Brown: Guitar Roberto Vally: Bass, Drum Programming, Percussion Written By Carol Albert, Roberto Vally, Tom Schumann, Paul Brown Produced and Mixed By Paul Brown, The Funky Joint 10) ANGELS WATCHING OVER ME Carol Albert: Piano, Synths, Strings, Midi Programming Dan Baraszu: Acoustic Guitar Roberto Vally: Bowed Bass, Drums & Percussion Programming Engineering Piano Recording: Carmen Grillo, Big Surprise Studio Written & Arranged By Carol Albert Mixed By Roberto Vally Produced By Carol Albert & Roberto Vally

Album Description

Carol Albert, Magic Mirror

For many instrumental artists, including some of our favorites in the world of smooth jazz, catchy song titles are often afterthoughts, random ideas tacked on that simply flow easy off the tongue when a radio announcer mentions them.

Bucking that trend and thinking more like a traditional songwriter, Carol Albert’s seemingly nonstop array of Top 5 Billboard charting singles these past five years have often been rooted in deeper themes reflecting her personal ever-evolving emotions - from sorrow to strength, longing to awakening, and taking a freewheeling “Femme Flight” to the freedom of“Sun’sOut” and “Perfect Sunday” – the latter accumulating over 6.6 million streams on Spotify, an unheard of sum for smooth jazz.

As the pianist/composer sweeps us up in her infectious whirlwinds of melodic grace, sometimes meditative yet often joyfully soulful grooves and explosive Brazilian-flavored flights of fancy, she also shares a sense of intimacy. As we get to know her through her music, she also invites us to apply her themes and vibes universally to our own lives.

Released in the wake of the pandemic, her engaging, high spirited and constantly sparkling amnd inspiring new collection Magic Mirror opens emotional and spiritual doors to a many possible interpretations.

On a personal level, and especially speaking woman to woman in a culture which too often holds our females to a certain standard of what constitutes beauty, it’s about self-acceptance, an embrace of that wonderful person seen in that reflection.

On a collective scale, we can interpret the mirror as a means of self-reflection in this era of new awakenings – a concept Carol expands upon more specifically with the collection’s second radio single “Paradigm Shift,” which follows the first lead single “Fire & Water,” which hit #4 on Billboard’s airplay chart. Finally, as Carol says, the Magic Mirror can be seen as an “escape, “taking you to different places a la Alice in Wonderland, allowing you to dream or fantasize wherever it leads.”

Wherever these songs and titles lead our hearts and minds, Magic Mirror is a multi-faceted, classic instrumental work that showcases, among other things, Carol’s love for dreamy, old school contemporary jazz - you know, the kind of divine coolness you’d hear before market research took hold and smooth jazz became an official format in the mid-90s. That’s a reminder that, though she wasn’t scoring hits in those days, she launched her recording career with the very adult early 90s contemporary part instrumental/part vocal offerings Love In Your Eyes and Tides of Change.

Beyond the in the pocket, light funk radio friendly tunes, Carol continues to share her passion for festive, tropical and richly percussive Brazilian sounds (“Fire & Water,” “Sol Ipanema”), gets us up on the floor with a thumping, piano pounding dance jam (“The Chase”) and sends us off into a contemplative neverland of sensual dreams on the beautiful, lilting “Sometime” (featuring lush strings by onetime Spyro Gyra keyboardist Tom Schuman) and the new-age/jazz tenderness of “Angels Watching Over Me.”

Magic Mirror celebrates the collaborative spirit of Carol and two of the genre’s greatest hitmakers, guitarist and producer Paul Brown and – for the first time - bassist Roberto Vally, a longtime essential member of Brown’s first-call studio crew and a rand and groovin’ rhythmic force and equally prolific hit songwriter for countless smooth jazz A-listers. The collection offers an about even split between Brown and Vally co-writes and co-productions, with Brown helming the title track, “Paradigm Shift,” the digital-only single “Crashing,” “SopporoDream” and “Sometime,” and Carol and Vally joining forces on“Fire & Water,” “Sol Ipanema,” “The Chase“ and “Angels Watching Over Me.”

Beyond the big hit “Fire & Water” and her latest single “Paradigm Shift,” Carol has at least four or five more potential radio hits here – but the stylistic depth and personal emotion Carol infuses into the tracks beyond these infectious gems makes Magic Mirror the one smooth jazz-oriented release his year to immerse in as a full album experience.

- Jonathan Widran.

Album uploaded by Carol Albert