THE FANTASY VOCAL SESSIONS VOL 2, the newest project by Santana keyboard player DAVID K. MATHEWS, is a tribute to the San Francisco Bay Area where he grew up and still resides, and to the iconic FANTASY STUDIOS where he recorded most of the project. The album, which features jazz arrangements of soul, pop, and R&B tunes, follows Mathews' 2018 release, The Fantasy Vocal Sessions Vol. 1¸ which featured straight-ahead jazz standards.
Mathews has had a long and eclectic career performing with some of the biggest names in music. He joined Tower of Power when he was just 23 years old and toured with the group for two years. He then spent 20 years accompanying Etta James, right up to her last performances. Since 2010 he has been touring the world as a member of Santana. Over the years, he has also performed and/or recorded with a Who's Who of diverse artists, such as Wayne Shorter, John McLaughlin, Toots Thielemans, Ruben Blades, Gloria Estefan, The Gypsy Kings, Pitbull, India Arie, Sheila E, Boz Scaggs, Maria Muldaur, Taj Mahal, Albert Collins, Otis Rush, Jimmy Vaughn, John Handy, Houston Person, Red Holloway and many more.
Mathews had first planned to do just a single album in 2007 featuring some of his favorite Bay Area singers that he'd worked with over the years. As a longtime member of Etta James' Roots Band, he'd planned on having the R&B icon record a couple of tunes on the album. But as her health started to decline, it soon became clear that she would have to stop performing. Her final performances were in the spring of 2009.
Although a jazz musician at heart, Mathews is skilled at playing a wide range of styles and eventually conceived of a multi-disc project that would focus on different genres for each CD. Mathews says, "It's my thanks for being able to grow up in this wonderful and culturally diverse place, and it's my love letter to all of my musical brothers and sisters who have inspired me throughout my long career in the Bay Area music scene, but we couldn't fit them all onto just one record!"
The name Fantasy Sessions is a double-entendre, referring to both Mathews' fantasy to put out a series of recordings with some of his favorite singers and musicians, and to the famous studio where a host of artists, from Sonny Rollins and Charlie Mingus to Aerosmith and Green Day, recorded their music. Beat poets
Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Allen Ginsberg and comic Lenny Bruce also recorded there. Mathews is planning to focus on the blues for Vol. 3 and Afro-Cuban and Brazilian music for Vol. 4. Unfortunately, the studio closed in 2018, and future recordings will have to be made elsewhere. Mathews still has tracks from his original recording sessions that he will use on Vol.3.
While Vol. 1 featured an acoustic setting, Vol. 2 is more expansive as befits the style of the music. Several singers who appeared on the first volume are also on the new album. STEVE MILLER, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, sings on Rudy Toombs' "One Mint Julep." The tune opens and closes with Quincy Jones' famous 1961 "One Mint Julep" chart from Ray Charles' 1961 big band album, Genius + Soul=Jazz.
TONY LINDSAY is best known for spending 25 years with Santana, including the 1999 megahit Supernatural. He adds his soulful, warm voice to Donny Hathaway's "You Had to Know" and Ray Obiedo's "So Sweetly."
Soul singer FUNKY FRED ROSS, who has backed Aretha Franklin and was a frontman for Pee Wee Ellis, handles business on James Brown's "I Feel Good," which harkens to an underground James Brown version from the early 1970s. LADY BIANCA, a pianist and vocalist who spent the first half of her career as a backup vocalist and keyboardist for formidable stars like Frank Zappa, Van Morrison, and Sly Stone, performs on Van McCoy's "Giving Up." "She has the kind of power and believability that reminds me a lot of my beloved Etta," says Mathews.
AMIKAEYLA GASTON is a jazz artist, activist and educator who has recorded with powerhouse players like Howard Levy and Victor Wooten (founding members of The Flecktones), Mike Stern, and Dennis Chambers. She sings on three tunes -- The Isley Brothers' soulful "For the Love of You," Stevie Wonder's "Super Woman," and Jimmy Webb's "Wichita Lineman."
GLENN WALTERS is a blue-eyed soul singer and Bay Area institution who first made his mark in the early 1970s with the beloved but doomed Hoodoo Rhythm Devils. His version of Little Anthony and the Imperials' 1964 hit "Goin' Out of My Head," transforms the song about a teenage crush into an anguished plea. Tenor Saxophonist Wayne de Silva is featured on the song.
Vocalist, guitarist, and drummer ALEX LIGERTWOOD is best known for various stints singing lead with Santana between 1979 and 1994. He delivers his potent vocals on a slow-burning "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know," Al Kooper's anthem from Blood, Sweat & Tears' 1968 debut album, but his version is inspired by a later legendary recording by Donny Hathaway.
KENNY WASHINGTON has been hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle as "the Superman of the Bay Area jazz scene." His soulful rendition of the Lennon and McCartney tune "Yesterday," which closes the album, spotlights an extended, 12-minute interplay between Washington and the band.
With its top-notch musicianship, first-class improvisatory chops by both the instrumentalists and vocalists, and Mathews' hip arrangements, THE FANTASY VOCAL SESSIONS VOL 2 is a love letter to one of the most diverse, creative, and inclusive musical milieus anywhere on the planet.
THE FANTASY VOCAL SESSIONS VOL 2 is set for release on June 5, 2020 and will be available online everywhere.
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