Monday, June 19, 2017

USA: Hot Club of Las Vegas-Hamajang!(2014)

Hot Club of Las Vegas | Hamajang!

 

Hamajang (hamma-jang) in Pidgin English means: Messed up, criss-cross, all kine directions, all jam up

After our last cd Summer Score we had a bunch of leftover songs and arrangements. Some of them just didn’t fit the theme of Summer Score, and some of them we did not have the budget to do the song justice. Like the title track song “Summer Score.” (which is a cross between gypsy jazz and Broadway)…. In pre production for this new cd I realized that the leftover  songs and the new compositions went in many different genre directions. But as a band we were excited about the music so we ran with it!  Collectively we called this cd the “Hamajang Project” until a better title revealed itself. 

Every song is firmly rooted in our “Vegas Style” gypsy jazz  but infused with each member’s unique musical history, featuring genres like, Rock, Flamenco, Rhythm and Blues, Pop, and Progressive Rock.  All led by our inspired Cuban vocalist Noybel Gorgoy. Also for the first time we are using all the male band members on background vocals and a few surprise lead vocals!  We were excited to work with resources like the fantastically large CSN studio which allowed us room to record the whole band and even a small orchestra-making it possible to record and  remake songs like Joe Satriani’s “Always With Me, Always With You.”  And yes!- the title track from our last cd- Summer Score is now on this cd! This cd journey’ has been fun and crazy…and it can only be called “Hamajang!” - Mundo