Produced by Philippe Saisse

Really nice project produced by Philippe Saisse faturing some other great musicians

"As some of you know already, I am releasing a new CD on July 28.

The CD is called All It Takes and is co- produced by the wonderfully talented Philippe Saisse. Philippe and I have been friends for years and I have been an admirer of his talent both as an artist and a producer and I was thrilled to hear that he was considering a move from NY to LA. We started working on the project about a year ago and wrote seven of the ten tracks together.

The additional tracks on the CD: “Christiane” is a song that I wrote with Jeff Lorber and titled after my wife. The song, “She's The One,” is a co-write with Tim Gant (who co-wrote “DaddyO” and “Freddie Was Here”) and is a song that I wrote and dedicated to the memory of the late Freddy Hubbard. Freddie's playing and songwriting were huge influences for me. If you would like to hear some great playing from Freddie and George Benson together check out Freddie Hubbard's First Light. That record has got some ridiculously wonderful music on it and some of George Benson's best pre-pop star soloing is there to be enjoyed. When I was in music school that particular recording was one of my favorites.

The first track on the CD “Tijuana Dance” is a tribute to Herb Alpert. When I was about 10 years old and learning to play trumpet I spent hours playing along with songs like “The Lonely Bull” and “Tijuana Taxi.” I would put on Herb's latest release and play along with it top to bottom. Herb made trumpet playing fun and I think his song writing style was a big influence and my ability to write a good song has been the main thing that has enabled me to have a successful career.

The second track, “Puerto Allegre Jam” is one of my favorite tracks on the record. It features Marc Antoine on guitar, Philippe on piano and Vanessa Falabella on vocals. Philippe outdid himself on this track with some incredible orchestration and interactive production reminiscent of some the great Don Sebesky arrangements that were a part of the CTI era. I visited Puerto Allegre while on tour with Rod Stewart in the early nineties. This track is worth listening to more than once to appreciate everything that is going on here.

A very funny thing happened at the end of recording the CD. I couldn't come up with titles for some of the songs. I was stuck. I think I had spent so much time focusing on the making of the CD that I was empty when it came to naming the songs. So... I called up one of the great song titlers in the business, my buddy Dave Koz, and he took time out of his day, and Christiane and I went over to his Beverly Hills apartment and had a bite to eat and he listened to the CD and well... many of the titles he came up with stuck including the first single “Tijuana Dance?” It's good to have friends!

I am very proud of the way this CD turned out and I think it represents a new direction for me as an artist. I am very grateful to all of the wonderful musicians who shared their talent.

I hope you all enjoy this one. Let me know. I have to go pick up Kyle right now.

To be continued........"

source: www.rickbraun.com