The Royal Bopsters Project +Guests: Jon Hendricks, Annie Ross, Andy Bey, Bob Dorough, Sheila Jordan

Vocalists Amy London, Darmon Meader, Dylan Pramuk and Holli Ross

With Special Guests:
Jon Hendricks (9/16 only)
Annie Ross
Andy Bey
Bob Dorough
Sheila Jordan

With singers ranging from age 33 to 93, The Royal Bopsters Project, is a multi-generational vocal summit on which the talents of singers Amy London, Darmon Meader, Dylan Pramuk and Holli Ross unite in harmony to pay tribute to the art of vocalese singing and to the forefathers and mothers of their favored art form. This homage features five vocalese pioneers, each of who helped to invent the bop-vocal or 'vocalese' art form. Six-time Grammy nominee Mark Murphy (b. 1932), considered one of the most influential vocalists in jazz, appears on four tracks, including an outstanding new version of Freddie Hubbard's "Red Clay," a song which stands very tall among Murphy's many breakthrough recordings. Four of the 'bopsters' ­ ­– NEA Jazz Masters and Grammy Award-winners Jon Hendricks (b. 1921) and Annie Ross (b.1930) who represent two thirds of the pioneering vocalese group Lambert, Hendricks & Ross; NEA Jazz Master Sheila Jordan (b.1928); and Arkansas Hall of Famer and Schoolhouse Rock mastermind Bob Dorough (b. 1923) have one feature track on this recording.

This epic and historic release is co-produced by Motema artist Amy London with vocalist/arranger Darmon Meader, the founder, tenor and key arranger of the famed New York Voices.

Four years in the making, The Royal Bopsters Project was initially conceived by producer/vocalist/arranger Amy London as a twilight years feature for her musical hero and close friend Mark Murphy, who she cites as a key influence, (as do scores of other successful jazz singers.) One by one, the other 'royal bopsters' signed on for the project at London's behest. " I can't believe my luck to have all of my vocal jazz heroes on this one recording," says London, a jazz vocal hero herself at this point, having helped to found the prestigious New School Jazz Vocal program, one of the first and most respected such programs in the country, out of which many top young vocalists have emerged. "I wanted to honor these elders and bring their music to a new generation who may not be aware of their importance to this music."

London, who has released two acclaimed albums on Motema (When I Look in Your Eyes and Let's Fly), happily returns to her group singing roots with The Royal Bopsters Project. London was still in her teens when she first saw Mark Murphy perform at the Blue Wisp in her hometown of Cincinnati. It was that show that set her on the path to becoming a jazz singer, a career which has led her to many prestigious endeavors, including an extended run as one of the original cast members chosen by Cy Coleman for his Broadway hit musical, City of Angels.

In 2010, Amy and her longtime group-singing pal, Holli Ross, went to visit Murphy, then 78, to cheer him up after health issues caused him to move to the Actors Fund Home in Englewood, NJ (not far from London's and Ross' homes). The three became fast friends as London and Ross visited regularly and took their vocal hero on outings to clubs in NYC and to London's classes at the New School. In fact, the initial spark of this recording was a 2011 concert that London staged at the New School to feature Murphy. For that show, she put together a ten student jazz choir, which included one of her students, Dylan Pramuk, a young and gifted bop bass vocalist and arranger from the West Coast, as a key member. Also featured were Holli Ross and London herself, who sang the soprano lead. The concert was a resounding success, and London immediately recognized that the one-night collaboration was greater than the sum of its individual parts. With her own soprano, Pramuk's bass and Ross' alto in place, she just needed a tenor to round out a new quartet that she envisioned that night. Fortunately, she was able to tap the talents of her dear friend Darmon Meader to join and to eventually co-produce this recording.

It took three years for the recording to come together, due mainly to the schedules of the four other vocal legends that London recruited as the project evolved. While Murphy was the 'featured star,' eventually the guest list expanded to include four more masters: Bob Dorough, the famed pianist, singer, composer, songwriter, arranger and producer, who shines here on his own "Nothing Like You Has Ever Been Seen Before; Jon Hendricks – who more than lives up to his the monikers, the "Poet Laureate of Jazz" and the "James Joyce of Jive" with his lively vocal banter with Pramuk on the opening track;" Sheila Jordan, who proves here, with her alluring version of Horace Sliver's "Peace," that, as Scott Yanow once wrote, she is still "one of the most consistently creative of all jazz singers" not to mention that, as Charlie Parker used to say, " she has million dollar ears;" and Annie Ross, who, according to Rex Reed, personifies "a master class in how to sing jazz inside out, upside and down;"( Ross touchingly sings her NEA Jazz Master's acceptance song "Music is Forever" by Russ Freeman for which she wrote lyrics that eulogize the many lost greats of jazz.)

Providing instrumental support to this incredible compendium of vocal prowess are four musicians who are more than up to the task. Pianist Steve Schmidt, a close friend of London's since her childhood in Cincinnati, played for many years with Murphy at the Blue Wisp in Cincinnati as well as on the road. Bassist Sean Smith also played with Murphy for many years, and is the composer of the gorgeous "Song for the Geese," the title tune of a late 80's Mark Murphy record, which Murphy says was one of his favorites of his career (and for which he wrote the lyrics.) Smith and Murphy have collaborated on music and lyrics extensively for the past three decades. Drummer Steve Williams worked with Shirley Horn, (Murphy's favorite singer), for 30 years, and percussionist Steven Kroon, well versed in the art of rhythmically supporting singers, has performed with such vocal icons as Luther Vandross, Diana Krall and Aretha Franklin. In addition to this strong cast of players, bassist Cameron Brown, who counts Sheila Jordan among his mentors, and London's husband, the guitarist Roni Ben Hur, make guest appearances on the album.

The repertoire on The Royal Bopsters Project spans three generations of swinging songwriting, brought into the present day by additional lyrics from various members of the ensemble, and by inventive arrangements primarily by Meader and Pramuk. The 1940's are represented by a swinging quartet version of Annie Ross and David Ball's "Let's Fly," (with London in the lead), as well as by Charlie Parker's "Chasin' the Bird", updated here to "Bird Chasin'" – both tracks featuring fresh lyrics by London. On "Bird Chasin'," Murphy reanimates the beat generation with an energetic reading from Jack Kerouac's On the Road. Tribute is paid to the 1950s with such standards as Branislaw Kaper's "Invitation" and Horace Silver's "Senor Blues," as well as the quartet's creative new rendition of "Basheer's Dream" by Gigi Gryce. The 1960s represent via Bob Dorough's "Nothing Like You," and a vocalese version of Roger Kellaway's "Step Right Up," for which Holli Ross wrote new lyrics. Penned in the 1970s is Murphy's vocalese version of Freddie Hubbard's bop-funk classic, "Red Clay." Murphy's lyrics first appeared on his 1975 Muse album Mark Murphy Sings, and appear again here with a vigorous and fresh new take. Another Muse release, 1981's Bop for Kerouac, which many consider to be Murphy's greatest recording, featured Murphy's vocalese take on Miles Davis' "Boplicity;" here the 'royal bopsters' harmonically propel this classic into the new century, with new lyrics again contributed by Hollis Ross. Noted jazz author James Gavin provides the liner notes.

*Please Note: "Royal Bopster" Mark Murphy, who sings on four tracks on this record, is not well enough to perform – but hopefully he may be well enough to come and cheer from the sidelines for some of the shows.