Grammy Award Winner Peter Eldrige Back With Finally Crafted New Album

With a career that has spanned over 20 years as of this writing and consisted of a versatile background from educator to musical arranger and performer and two Grammy awards and five studio albums, Peter Eldridge has showed a musicianship that is finally crafted on Disappearing Day.  Each of the twelve refreshing tracks appears as a mix of songs that cross all musical genres from traditional jazz progressions of standards and Latin rhythms to popular music compositions and collaborations with a diverse group of musicians that he has worked with throughout the years solo and as an ensemble and with the most notable such as the New York Voices and Paquito D’Rivera and the Count Basie Orchestra.  History, especially the history of Jazz resonates on this record.  Consider the sounds of post-war America of the late 1950s and 1960s and the advent of cool and smooth jazz when musical boundaries became unrestrained as well as the shift in popular music, particularly blues and rock and roll.

The opening track “Mind to Fly” provides a birds eye view of what to expect from the entire album.  However, do not be deceived within the traditional sense with the song’s thumping rhythm of bass from long-time bassist Matt Aronoff and percussion of Ben Wittman within a cavernous enclave of the beat generation.  That sentiment quickly drifts with the five covers that highlight the album, the Stephin Merritt penned song “I Wish I had an Evil Twin” adds an energized pop-rock tinge to the record.  But the remaining tracks do not wane thereafter that is unpredictable, the respectful and original rendering of Paul McCartney’s “Jenny Wren” that first appeared on “Chaos and Creation in the Backyard,” Frank Sinatra’s “Witchcraft,” “House” by Luciana Souza and the last track on the record a Leonard Bernstein composition “Some Other Time” from the Broadway show “On the Town.” Eldridge’s arrangements on these renditions do not completely distort from the originals but subtly keep the melody in tact.  Aside from these exceptional tracks, the album comprises of compositions that Eldridge has written on previous occasions the duet with Becca Stevens “Wish You With Me” that follow in the tradition of modern smooth jazz “Forever Blue” and Bossa Nova “Driving to Town,” and the very folk-jazz “Looking Forward.”  Eldridge’s vocal style is distinct but at times may carry a sound reminiscent of Elvis Costello, Joe Jackson, Richard Thompson, and many notes of endless comparisons.

The entire record blends a variety of musical inspirations from an aptitude of Eldridge’s influences and projects that have transpired a creativity that contributed to the culmination of this album.  A record clearly emulating a multicolored display of artistry of a palette and a brush that gently and finely runs onto the canvas. 

Disappearing Day may be downloaded or purchased at Apple Store, Google Play, or Amazon.com