When saxman Steve Cole takes the stage Friday night at the Norfolk Waterfront Jazz Festival in Norfolk, Virginia, he will celebrate the release of his eighth album, “Turn It Up,” while on the precipice of adding another No. 1 Billboard single to his burgeoning catalogue of hits. The Artistry Music release produced by long-time Cole collaborator David Mann arrives Friday as the first single, the riveting aural oeuvre “Mirage,” holds the second spot ready to claim the peak position from Cole’s Sax Packcolleague Marcus Anderson.
“Mirage” casts a transcendent spell with a futuristic foray that projects Cole’s improvisational jazz horn onto a screen of ambient tones and throbbing club beats. The single, along with the exuberant Chicago house music salute “Workhouse,” is a divergent excursion from the ten-track collection brimful of frothy pop melodies and voluminous horns over soul-powered R&B undercurrents. Recorded in three booming metropolises - New York City, Chicago and Minneapolis – that helped shape the eight compositions authored or co-authored by Cole, “Turn It Up” includes contributions from Nicholas Cole (“Turn It Up!”), Pieces of a Dream’s James Lloyd (“Bright Side”) and Ricky Peterson (“Workhouse”). Of note is a vintage take of Bobby Womack’s seductive “Woman’s Gotta Have It.”
Cole’s “Turn It Up” concert trek has dates to keep the Chicago-bred, Minneapolis-based artist playing festivals, theaters and clubs across the nation in support of the disc through November.
Cole was recently interviewed for a feature segment on the nationally-syndicated “Dave Koz Radio Show.” Below is a smattering of the initial “Turn It Up” album reviews:
Catch Cole in concert on the following dates:
July 15 Norfolk, VA Norfolk Waterfront Jazz Festival
July 16 Mableton, GA Wade Ford Concert Series – Mable House
July 21 Houston, TX Martini Blu
August 6 Honolulu, HI Liliu Theater at Hawaii Convention Center
August 14 Long Beach, CA Long Beach Jazz Festival
August 17 Dearborn, MI Jazz on the Ave
August 18 Philadelphia, PA South Jazz Club
August 20 San Antonio, TX The Big Bib Too
September 3 Pensacola, FL Community Maritime Park
September 16 Denver, CO Soiled Dove Underground
September 24 Melbourne, FL Studio Theatre at the Maxwell C. King Center
October 15-16 Rehoboth Beach, DE Rehoboth Beach Jazz Festival
November 26 Rancho Mirage, CA Westin Mission Hills