[utube foo=”TcPEMRPKU-c”]New American Suite the artist’s dynamic new band Kevin Toney 3 (a.k.a. “KT3” featuring Kevin Toney on piano, Michael Bradford on bass and Chris Coleman on drums). New American Suite is a nine-song work that Toney conceptualized with co-direction from music veteran Don Mizell as a salute to the spirit of the United States. Arriving after six now-classic albums with ‘70s soul-jazz band The Blackbyrds and eight acclaimed urban jazz solo albums, Kevin Toney’s richly thematic New American Suite marks the culmination of a uniquely distinguished career in music and a flying start into higher musical altitudes.
Highlights of New American Suite include the briskly driving “E Pluribus Unum.” Taking its title from the Latin term meaning ‘out of many, one’ that has appeared on American currency, the piece finds the trio swingin’ hard yet in unity just as America’s founding fathers intended in maintaining a strong union. The feel-good number “A Soulful Union” continues this theme in a stew of gospel, rock and soulful jazz that reflects the reawakening of collective spirits to the truth that all men and women are created equal. “Spacious Skies” is a tranquil meditation of appreciation on the freedoms that Americans too often take for granted. The one non-original piece is an original arrangement of Ragtime king Scott Joplin’s familiar 1902 classic “The Entertainer” (popularized again in 1973 as the theme for the movie “The Sting”).
Says Executive Creative Producer Don Mizell of this spellbinding debut by The Kevin Toney 3, “They cook, they burn, they smoke. They’re cool, they go deep within, and then a bit outside the box. They’re impressionistic and then again so-so vivid. They rock, they roll, they jazz it Up and cool it Down. They listen, they say, they swing and sway. They pray, they laugh and groove. They flux and flow — always, always together. What was Old is New again.”
– From the Kevin Toney website