Paul Simon announces jazz-inspired album
The American music veteran is collaborating with some big name players
Paul Simon has announced that his 14th studio album will be a jazz LP. The American music veteran is on tour in the UK this week, and took the opportunity to announce the new project, released on Sony Music in September. ‘In the Blue Light’ will reinterpret some of his classic tunes, and will feature some heavy hitting jazz players including trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, guitarist Bill Frisell and drummers Jack DeJohnette and Steve Gadd.
He told Jazz FM: “This album consists of songs that I thought were almost right, or were odd enough to be overlooked the first time around. Re-doing arrangements, harmonic structures, and lyrics that didn’t make their meaning clear, gave me time to clarify in my own head what I wanted to say, or realize what I was thinking and make it more easily understood.
Happily, this opportunity also gave me the gift of playing with an extraordinary group of musicians, most of whom I hadn’t recorded with before. I hope the listener will find these new versions of old songs refreshed, like a new coat of paint on the walls of an old family home.”
The release on 7 September coincides with the final leg of Simon’s ‘Homeward Bound – Farewell Tour’ in September, including four performances in the New York City area and culminating with the Final Performance on 22 September in Flushing Meadows Corona Park.