Suite!

JMood Records is pleased to release the New Roberto Magris CD entitled “Suite!” “Suite!” is a beautiful musical project conceived several years ago! Currently we are in a worldwide pandemic with Covid-19 We could not have imagined such an outbreak to subsequently forecast better times ahead. My concept of Suite! began when I had contacted all the

JMood Records is pleased to release the New Roberto Magris CD entitled “Suite!” “Suite!” is a beautiful musical project conceived several years ago! Currently we are in a worldwide pandemic with Covid-19 We could not have imagined such an outbreak to subsequently forecast better times ahead. My concept of Suite! began when I had contacted all the musicians on the project and had coordinated the beginning of the preparations for recording. It was the very first time we had worked with the engineers and recording studio in Chicago, Illinois. They were amazing! As a result, I said secretly to my self something Jackie Gleason, a famous comedian, actor and T.V. host in Florida used to say…” How sweet it is…!!!” It was indeed sweet, because I coordinated the services of some top and first call musicians in Chicago. Naturally, it was not my first time working with marquee and top-notch musicians, but, for some reason, this occasion was special for me. We had worked with Chicago’s first call sax man Mark Colby on another performance and recording project in Miami, Florida a year or so before and on another occasion a few years before that where I told Mark, “We are going to work together real soon…!” This was our first with top notch bass man Eric Hochberg, good friends and teammate of Mark’s. Eric has worked with a who’s who of artists (one includes Celine Dion, one of my all-time favorites. Remind me to ask him about that …) Then, the drummer, Greg Artry (who I met a year a so before when he worked with Ira Sullivan on his yearly trek and performance in Chicago at the Jazz Showcase for the owner and icon Joe Siegal). I told Greg; we will be working together in about a year! He reminded me of a young and energetic Idris Muhammad, a powerful musical stylist I had worked with years before. Eric Jacobson, trumpet, is a first call musician not only in Milwaukee, but, also in Chicago! I heard his playing and admiration for trumpeters like Lee Morgan and I knew it would be magical! He also helped us gig in Milwaukee to promote this great new recording. We had a blast!!! Roberto was hell bent on spoken word for this project. We went back and forth on this, for and against. He had remembered my daughter had done some work with spoken word years ago when, to me, it was not so cool having my daughter out till 3 and 4am for this sort of underground movement years ago. But Roberto had envisioned and taken the title Suite! to another level. With the play on words for me, he took it as an opportunity to create a master suite of sorts! What resulted is truly amazing! I could not have imagined such an outcome with the musicians and the audio recording, nor could we have predicted the pandemic we are navigating thru. All is quite a coincidence. So, this release and press release is posthumous for a couple reasons!
We initially scheduled to release this in early part of 2020. However, on the recommendations of the recording engineers we worked with in Chicago, they thought we had a great chance to receive a Grammy in a couple categories. We raced around putting things together, website, replication, and shipment to the judges hoping for our chance in the follow spot. Only to have some controversial issues pop up on the Grammy Board and organization for which we may not have received the consideration we may have deserved. But the lesson here is, you must believe in what you do whether anybody else cares or not. Grammy or not! It’s about the music, the accolades, will come when they come. We have operated with that mind set for years now. So, we present to you our masterpiece, “Suite!” Enjoy!