Product Description MERCURY is the new CD released by vocalist/songwriter Dawn Thompson and trumpeter/composer John D'earth on their own Cosmology label. The CD features Dave Matthews Band drummer Carter Beauford on all tracks and a special appearance by Dave Matthews who sings lead on Stewart Copeland's Darkness. The CD also features pianist Wells Hanley, guitarist Jamal Millner, saxophonist Bobby Read, bassist Pete Spaar and percussionists Howard Curtis and Robert Jospe. Greg Howard is the producer. With titles like Moment by Moment, Mercury Man, Harmony and Call Back the Time, MERCURY revels in a unique sonic landscape that evokes all the musical influences that have informed the work of these amazing musicians: rock, jazz, pop, Latin, the musics of the African diaspora and classical music as well. Just released, MERCURY provides a new alchemy between a group of long-time musical collaborators that gives free rein to their collective and individual talents. Review It seems entirely possible that Mercury is simply the newest evolution of jazz, and Thompson-D'earth is on the leading edge. -- nancies.org (Dave Matthews Band fan site) by Waldo Jaquith From the Artist The MERCURY project grew out of two highly improvisational, interactive musical situations: the band Cosmology (Vanguard Records), founded by Thompson, D'earth and Jospe (which moved to Charlottesville from New York City in the eighties and had a strong impact on the C-ville music scene) and D'earth's long-standing Thursday night gig at Miller's, on Charlottesville's Downtown Mall, which regularly features Thompson's singing and compositions. Thompson and D'earth have had a long history of collaboration with Beauford and Matthews and most of the DMB members. Dawn and Dave began working on their arrangement of "Darkness" while Dave was still a bartender at Miller's. Carter has been playing with members of the MERCURY band since they met at a Cosmology gig in the mid-eighties. MERCURY is a labor of love produced by a group of musicians who were early pioneers of the "jam band" movement that is gaining so much momentum now. Their roots together are long and deep (Thompson co-founded the "groove-poetry" group Code Magenta with Chapman Stickist Greg Howard and DMB saxophonist LeRoi Moore; D'earth has written orchestral and string arrangements for DMB.) Except for "Darkness" and the instrumental "Ether," by pianist Wells Hanley, all the compositions on MERCURY are by Thompson and D'earth. The music is alternately hard-driving and lyrically introspective with plenty of room for the players to stretch out and explore the deep-pocketed grooves laid down by Beauford and Spaar. Thompson is an inventive vocalist who delivers her songs with wonderful clarity and turns to improvisation with the same fervor exhibited by the instrumentalists in the band. And the CD contains some of Carter Beauford's most explosive recorded soloing. About the Artist Vocalist/songwriter Dawn Thompson and trumpeter John D'earth have been a musical team for many years. Co-founders of the original music group Cosmology (Vanguard Records), they moved from New York City to Charlottesville, Virginia in the 1980's and galvanized the already strong music scene there. Collaborating over the years with some of the great names in modern music - John Abercrombie, Teo Macero, John Scofield, Carter Beauford, Pat Matheny, Dave Matthews among many others - Their new CD, MERCURY, features Dawn's songs and singing, D'earth's arranging and composing expertise and a stellar lineup of musicians.
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