2012 JazzTrax Festival Program

Stranded on an Island with 30 Different Stars of Smooth Jazz....... continued from page 5occasional Singer. He was the JazzTrax2004 Debut Artist of the Year off his Debutsolo album, 'Up Front.' His first hit single(total between solo artist and producernow nearly 50 No. 1 Songs to his credit)as a solo artist “24/7” was named the #2Airplay Cut of the Year by Radio andRecords Magazine. As the “behind theboards producer master” he has scoredover 40 #l airplay hits by the likes ofB o n e y, Rick Braun, Peter White, KirkWhalum, Euge Groove, Norman Brown,Patti Austin, Larry Carlton, Al Jarreau andGeorge Benson. Before he became the'go to producer in smooth jazz' he'dalready established himself as an engineeron numerous Luther Vandross recordings.From his new 2012 'The FunkyJoint,' he found his familiar territory oncemore at No. 1 on the Radio AirplayCharts with it's title track this past Summer.SAXOPHONIST DARREN RAHNCanadian Born but Residing in Denver heis perhaps at the Top of the New, Hottest,Young, Smooth Jazz Producers. In the lastquarter of 2008, as Producer he had 3consecutive #1 songs on the Smooth JazzCharts with 3 different artists (Dave Koz,Eric Darius & Tim Bowman.) Other artistshe's produced include Toby Keith,Jonathan Butler, Najee, Bob James, KirkWhalum, Jeffrey Osborne, Phil Perry, JeffLorber and Michael Lington. It was hisproducing of Wayman Tisdale's 2004 #1song, “Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now,” thatbrought Darren from behind the scenesand into the forefront of the smooth jazzmusic industry. One of his sweetest producingmoments came Summer 2009when Najee's “Sweet Summer Nights”went No. 1. Since releasing his 1st soloproject in 2007, he has juggled betweenProducer and Solo Saxman Hats. 2012has brought forth his 3rd solo project'Speechless.'SAXOPHONIST MICHAEL LINGTONBallroom Performance:S AT U R D AY AFTERNOON, OCTOBER 7Born in Copenhagen, Denmark, he cameto America at age 21 settling in the musiccapital of the world. Hollywood has beenhis home since and in 2008 he became aU.S. citizen. The grandson of jazz pioneerand Danish composer Otto Lington.He has toured extensively with RandyC r a w f o rd, Bobby Caldwell and mostrecently Michael Bolton. Making his solodebut in 1997. In 2008 he earned theJazzTrax honor of Best Album of the Yearwhich included his No. 1 song, “You andI.” His duet to the voice of Aaron Neville,“That's When You Save Me,” tied for2008's JazzTrax Best Vocal Song of theYear. 7 albums deep with the release lastwinter of 'Pure,' his debut on his newrecord label Trippin N Rhythm. He isfounder of Michael Lington Cigars, afavorite of Arnold Schwarzenegger. He isalso a voting member of the NationalRecording Academy. He is also workingtowards a helicopter license.GUITARIST PETER WHITEDescanso Beach UnpluggedAppearance: Thursday Evening, Oct 4(also appearing Weekend 3 in Ballroom)Born in London mid 50's he gained his initialfame on guitar (20 years) for AlStewart (although Al hired Peter originallyas keyboardist.) Peter co-wrote suchStewart hits as 1978's “Time Passages”and migrated along with Al and the Bandto Los Angeles in the late 70's residing inSmooth Jazz Valley, better known as L.A.'sSan Fernando Valley ever since. In thelate 80's early 90's Peter session ed andtoured with Basia as his younger brotherDanny is the Polish's singer's musical partner.Danny pulled Art Good aside April1990 at the KIFM studio's in San Diego tofirst tip him off that his older brother wouldshortly be releasing a first solo album andasked Art to listen. 'Reivellezvous' andPeter's 1992 follow-up 'Excusez-moi' wereeach named JazzTrax Best Album of theYear. Named Guitarist of the Year 4 consecutiveyears at the National SmoothJazz Aw a rds 2000-2003. Also BestSmooth Jazz Musician at the 2007Canadian Smooth Jazz Aw a rd s .Throughout his 13 Album solo career hehas achieved No. 1 status on America'sTop 20 Smooth Jazz Countdown countlesstimes. Most recently with the title track to2012's 'Here We Go,' this past Summer.Did you know Art Good takes a Glance onJazzTrax each week at the Top 5 Songs onAmerica’s Top 20 Smooth Jazz Countdown?625 Years, a Qu a rter Ce n t u ry of Ja z z Trax on Catalina Island 1987-2012 www. Ja z z Tra x . c o m