Bio

Motema Music proudly announces the release of LYNNE ARRIALE’S “NUANCE – The Bennett Studio Sessions” – featuring RANDY BRECKER, GEORGE MRAZ and ANTHONY PINCIOTTI, on-sale May, 2009. In a departure from her ten previous trio recordings, leader/composer/arranger Arriale is collaborating with an extraordinary new lineup of iconic musicians: Grammy winning Randy Brecker on trumpet/flugelhorn; jazz legend George Mraz on bass; and critically-acclaimed Pinciotti on drums. More information @ http://motema.com/artist/LynneArrialeTrio. The project was recorded at the multi-Grammy and Emmy Award winning BENNETT STUDIOS, just outside New York City, and includes video documentation of “behind the scenes” footage of the CD recording, a bonus DVD program of a live, private, “in-studio” audience concert, and up-close and personal interviews with each artist. The release displays a new creative direction for Arriale, as she continues her illustrious musical journey which began with a ten year run of her celebrated trio and continues to garner praise as ‘one of the most empathetic’ groups in jazz. This release, with iconic jazz masters Brecker and Mraz, brings even more heightened originality to Arriale’s sound as evidenced in her six powerful, new compositions and uniquely inspired arrangements of covers by composers as disparate as Sting, Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie and Tommy Wolf. “This is music that really transports the listener into the wondrous world of Lynne’s imagination,” said Jana Herzen, President of Motéma Music. “I’m proud to say it is really like no other jazz record I have ever heard. What I find most interesting is, if you check out the DVD interviews, Randy and George - these iconic jazz stars who have recorded over 1000 records between them - are so taken with Lynne’s completely singular approach to composing and recording. I believe this will be a very powerful record for the label and look forward to sharing it with the world.” “It’s all about the ‘Nuance,’ and that’s what we went for,” said Randy Brecker, working with Arriale here, for the first time. “She knows how to tug at the heartstrings (and) I don’t think I can compare her to anyone…her music transcends jazz. It’s just pure music.” The full track list for Nuance, a CD & DVD set, includes: Wrapped Around Your Finger (Sting); I Mean You (Thelonious Monk); Longing (Lynne Arriale); Crawfish & Gumbo (Lynne Arriale); Ballad of the Sad Young Men (Tommy Wolf); Carry On (Lynne Arriale); La Noche (Lynne Arriale); Yada Yada Yada (Lynne Arriale); I Hear A Rhapsody (J. Baker, G. Fragos & D. Gasparre); A Night In Tunisia (Dizzy Gillespie) and A Gentle Soul (Lynne Arriale). Arriale has been capturing the imaginations of jazz and mainstream music lovers with her outstanding CD / DVD recordings and sold out performances for nearly 20 years. She has been critically acclaimed as having a ‘singular voice’ as a pianist, leader, composer, arranger and for “putting the heart back into jazz” (London Times). Arriale’s consistently excellent recordings have topped every notable jazz chart. With back to back #1 Jazz Week radio hits, a #17 debut on Billboard’s Jazz Chart, the top ten “Best Of” lists for The New Yorker, United Press International and a two time winner of The German Record Critics Association, Arriale has earned her place among elite international artists. Further evidence of her increasingly mainstream status includes her being featured on the PBS nationally televised program, Profile of a Recording Artist, and on multiple NPR programs including Weekend Edition, Jazz Set, and Piano Jazz with Marion McPartland. Arriale’s last release, LIVE (Motéma), recorded by BR-TV at Germany’s oldest and most prestigious jazz event, The Burghausen Jazz Festival, won the 2007 German Record Critics Award for best jazz CD/DVD recording. She has toured Japan with the legendary “100 Golden Fingers” group, sharing the stage with jazz legends Hank Jones, Tommy Flanagan, Kenny Barron, Cedar Walton, Ray Bryant, Junior Mance, Harold Mabern, Roger Kellaway and Monty Alexander. In 1993, she earned first place at Jacksonville’s prestigious Great American Jazz Piano Competition. Arriale continues to perform such internationally acclaimed venues as The Spoleto Arts Festival, Ireland’s Cork Jazz Festival, The Montreux Jazz Festival, North Sea Jazz Festival, Pori Jazz Festival, the Burghausen and Stuttgart Jazz Festivals, The Montreal Jazz Festival, The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, The Folly Theater, The Gilmore Festival, The Jacksonville Jazz Festival, The San Francisco Jazz Festival, the Monterey Jazz Festival and numerous other festivals, concerts and clubs throughout Germany, Switzerland, France, Spain, Italy, Poland, Romania, Norway, The Czech Republic, Ireland, the UK and Australia. Leading up to the release, Lynne will tour internationally in the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, Poland, Austria, and The Netherlands. RANDY BRECKER, who plays flugelhorn and trumpet on NUANCE, has recorded for more than three decades with the likes of Frank Sinatra, Bruce Springsteen, Steely Dan, James Taylor, David Sanborn, George Benson, Chaka Khan, and Frank Zappa. GEORGE MRAZ (bass) has recorded and performed with Dizzy Gillespie, Oscar Peterson, Hank Jones, Stan Getz, Bill Evans, Chet Baker, Charles Mingus, Lionel Hampton and Tommy Flanagan. ANTHONY PINCIOTTI is a rising star and drum master who is a first-call sideman for such jazz luminaries as James Moody, John Abercrombie, Kenny Werner, Pat Metheny, Mike Stern, Gary Bartz, Marcus Belgrave, Ira Sullivan and Frank Foster. Deeply committed to jazz education, Lynne Arriale is currently Assistant Professor of Jazz Piano and Director of the Jazz Combo Program at The University of North Florida at Jacksonville. She also conducts master classes, clinics and workshops internationally for professionals, students and communities at large. ### Motéma Music, founded in 2003 in San Francisco, is now based in Harlem, New York. The company is a division of the Motéma Foundation, a private foundation that is dedicated to promoting excellence and humanity in jazz and other creative art forms that promote harmony and enrich the world around us. For more information visit www.Motema.com. This CD recording was produced by Lynne Arriale and Suzi Reynolds. The DVD was produced by Suzi Reynolds of Suzi Reynolds & Associates, LLC. and was made possible, in part, by a grant from Women in Jazz, Inc. Press Contact: Patrick Paris – Fifteen Minutes Public Relations (212) 601-9345 – [email protected]