Another Great Review

Chicago Jazz Magazine just hit the news stands with their latest issue and gave HOTEL LAFAYETTE a glowing review. The review is too long to put in a blog but here are some pull quotes:

"This impressive disc features a seventy-piece orchestra, most of whom were part of the show Wicked. Normally I list the musicians who play on a recording but there isn’t enough space to name them all! This music is a collection of standards, show tunes, and movie themes, all of which feature stunning arrangements by trumpeter/arranger/producer Carey Deadman." "The powerful horn section does not overpower Brigham’s vocals. A great recording effort, surely, but she moves from silky vocal lines that could be perfect with a trio, into some sheer power that hangs with that monster horn section." "There are strings throughout and some expert singing. The disc closes appropriately with “Somebody Loves Me,” which has a classic showtune sound and arrangement, both of which are in abundance throughout this fine vocal/big band/orchestral CD." Philip Davia - Chicago Jazz

We could not agree more! Next Wednesday we should find out which categories HOTEL LAFAYETTE will be placed in for this years Grammys!

Denise Brigham officially released her new Standards/Soft A/C album HOTEL LAFAYETTE on Monday, April 27th. It features eleven classic songs all done with sparkling modern arrangements by Carey Deadman. It was recorded in Chicago with a 70 piece all professional orchestra and mixed and mastered by Chris Steinmetz at the multimillion-dollar Chicago Recording Company. The songs range from traditionally styled uptempo swing numbers such as Almost Like Being In Love and Around The World, to heart melting ballads like Fly Me To The Moon and In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning. The album has been generating an amazing amount of critical acclaim for both Denise's performance and the electrifying orchestration.

As part of the release festivities Denise arranged for a young girl from the Make-A-Wish program to come into CRC on the morning of the release and record several songs from the hit show Wicked using the entire first string orchestra from the play. Everyone including the studio donated their time to make this girl's dream come true and during Denise's release party that night she introduced and featured the girl as the special guest of honor. It was an amazing day and night, and one that everyone involved will never forget! To record a major album had been Denise's wish since she was a young child, and she wanted to make sure this girl got to realize hers.

HOTEL LAFAYETTE is now available for downloads at iTunes, AmazonMP3, CD Baby and Digstation. CD's can be ordered through Amazon and CD Baby, but you will get faster shipping ordering directly from Denise's web site: www.denisebrigham.com. More download sites and physical distribution will be available soon so please keep checking her site for that information.

Great critique

While the engineers are busy finishing the editing and mastering of Denise's new album, "Hotel LaFayette", we sent an advance copy of one of the songs to legendary Hollywood composer Lalo Schifrin who wrote it 44 years ago as the theme for the classic movie "The Cincinnati Kid". Mr. Schifrin is famous for doing the scores for a large number of movies including many of Steve McQueen's and Clint Eastwood's, and many TV shows including Mannix and Mission Impossible. Yesterday we received the following letter:

"Dear Ms. Brigham:

Thank you so much for selecting the Cincinnati Kid for your recording. I must congratulate you for your rendition and also, please convey to the arranger and the musicians my applause. The record is really cooking and your singing is outstanding! You mentioned that Andre Kostelanetz's instrumental version which I haven't heard. On the other hand, I had the pleasure to compose, arrange, record, and conduct the original for Ray Charles in the end credits of the film. Once again, Bravo!

Best regards,

Lalo Schifrin"

Everyone involved in the production is very proud of this!

Glad yet sad

This is an exciting yet sad time for Denise. Last Friday she completed her vocals which also ended the recording portion of her new album. Starting tomorrow everything shifts to the producer, engineers and computers for the final editing and mastering. This is certainly exciting as it means the album is in it's final stages and it's now time to shoot the music videos and start the marketing campaign. At the same time though it is quite sad for Denise as she absolutely loved being in the studio and working relentlessly all those long hours. As the picture of the empty booth in Studio 5 shows, it is where she feels most at home and she will miss it greatly.

Because the recording process went so well the engineers don't think they will have to spend a huge amount of time editing. There is very little to fix, but it still takes quite a bit of time to adjust individual track volumes and pan location, and since each song has upwards of 100 individual tracks because of the number of instruments in the orchestra it will keep them quite busy for the next few weeks. The good part though is it's winding down, and it's not too soon to start planning the CD release parties!

Recording session wrapping up

This week will finish up the actual recording part of Denise's new album that is in production. Monday and Tuesday she will be at Chicago Recording Company to do the vocals on the remaining four songs that haven't been done yet. The only other recording to be done is a quick session to add harp strings on two songs that have already had the orchestra portions completed. If all goes well everything will go to the producer and engineers for editing and post production by Thursday. Because all of the sessions with the band, orchestra and Denise have gone so well the engineers don't believe a lot of editing will be needed so we are still planning on the album, tentatively titled "Hotel LaFayette" being ready for release in early Spring.