A must-hear selection of new and recent album releases offers the latest from a Broadway luminary, a top Billboard jazz and pop vocalist, and a writing team of rising stars.
Kyle Taylor Parker, Broadway Soul, Vol. 2 – Last month, Broadway Records released the follow-up to Broadway Soul, Vol. 1, the highly successful debut album Kyle Taylor Parker (Kinky Boots; Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; Smokey Joe’s Cafe), containing a collection of Broadway classics reimagined in R&B style and set in the context of a full musical narrative of love in the time of pandemic (with extensive liner notes detailing the plot and characters). The engaging and creative concept, with Parker singing the lead role of sentimental postal worker Guy Lovedon, and featuring Jackie Cox (RuPaul’s Drag Race), Shoshana Bean (Waitress), Blaine Alden Krauss (Hamilton), and Natalie Joy Johnson (Kinky Boots), includes an eclectic array of songs from shows as diverse as Hedwig and the Angry Inch, South Pacific, A Chorus Line, The Wiz, Follies, The Music Man, and more, all filtered through the sound of a queer artist of color. Broadway Soul, Vol. 2 is produced, arranged, and orchestrated by Sonny Paladino, and co-produced by Rich Mercurio, with story, concept, and additional arrangements by KTP. To listen to a sample of the twelve tracks and to purchase the album, go online.
Jane Monheit, Come What May – Long Island native and #1 Billboard vocalist Jane Monheit has been acclaimed as one of the leading jazz/pop concert and recording artists of her generation. After studying voice at the Manhattan School of Music with Peter Eldridge, she became a founding member of the vocal group New York Voices, and her 2004 label debut with Sony, Taking a Chance on Love, featuring a duet with global superstar Michael Bublé, became a Grammy Award-nominated hit. To celebrate her 20th anniversary as a best-selling recording artist, Club44 Records is releasing Monheit’s first new album in five years on Friday, March 12. Available on CD, digital, and streaming formats, the ten tracks highlight her fresh takes on timeless standards (including such favorites as “On the Sunny Side of the Street,” “Get Happy,” “My Funny Valentine,” “The Man That Got Away,” “Let’s Face the Music and Dance,” and Frank Loesser’s musical theater classic “I Believe in You,” which opens the collection), honed after years of performances on the road. On this Friday’s release date, Monheit will perform a virtual concert, streaming live from Feinstein’s at Vitello’s, at 8 pm ET. For tickets, visit the website. You can pre-order the album here.
Little Love Notes from Collard & Rosenblatt – Join the up-and-coming female writing team of Elspeth Collard and Sam Rosenblatt (A Princess Story; The Latest Draft podcast) and some special guests for a live virtual launch party for their debut album with 10glo (a streaming platform for theater artists from Broadway and beyond) to be held on Zoom on March 13, at 8 pm. The pair met in 2018, when they began their studies in the Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program at NYU Tisch, and quickly became besties, as well as collaborators. To date, they have written more than 60 songs, a full-length musical, and some short-form shows together, focused on stories that put women at the forefront and illuminate the queer experience. Attendees of the free event will be the first to hear the new album, the inspiration for each piece, and the featured performers of their songs, plus one will be randomly selected to receive a special autographed program. To register, go online.
