Ari Joshua is pleased to announce that he has brought another treasure from the vault, “Contact”, featuring Robert Glasper, KJ Sawka, and Jason Fraticelli. For years, Joshua has been writing and recording with some of the greatest creatives of our generation. Now, he’s decided to swing the door open wide and share the accumulated wealth with all of us. Expect more releases soon, featuring work with Glasper, Marco Benevento, Joe Russo, Delvon Lamarr, Skerik, and members of the Trey Anastasio Band.
How did this “Contact” come into existence?
“This song “Contact” is the third song coming 'OUT OF THE VAULT’” explains Joshua. “It is one of a number of songs recorded with 4x Grammy award winning keyboardist Robert Glasper, Pendulum drummer Kevin Sawka, and bassist Jason Fraticelli in a session a few years ago. This one being more of a Hendrix style guitar driven track.”
What vault, which One from the Vault are we speaking about? Why open it now?
“This is a Vault in which I’ve been storing music for years” says Joshua. “Opening it up to the world is the result of coming to terms with reality. The new Covid world created the circumstances that caused me to decide to say F-it, and to unlock the vault, and start releasing this treasure trove of albums and projects to align with a higher purpose; serving and being aligned with the music.
The process of committing to share the music is really healing. I think it is probably the case with lots of artists. With all this music always being made, one has to find some perfection in the imperfection of an honest story, and it is time to just surrender a bit. These songs are my gifts. Robert Glasper, Jason Fraticelli and I were college classmates together at The New School in NYC. Kevin and I started collaborating in the early 2000's and have been close collaborators ever since. There is alot of music to get out there, I really look forward to getting it out there, they don’t call it a release for nothing, it does feel like quite a release to know this music is finally getting to see its day in the light.”
Regarding the track, Joshua says:
'I was in NY on a gig with my dear friend and super unique Drum-n-Bass/EDM drummer Kevin Sawka, and I had been in touch with Rob about wanting to do a session and it fell into place. I had played Rob and his band a few songs I had recorded with Sawka, and they really dug it. Jason (bassist) drove up from Philadelphia and we spent two days recording there in Brooklyn. There is some really wonderful material there. The chemistry was amazing and material ranges from Jazz to Free Jazz to Rock to Drum-n-Bass. I think Sawka's fans will get to hear him playing in a new and different way, completely unedited and with no laptop; same with Robert and his fans, there are ways he plays on some of the songs where I am like - Damn! I haven’t even heard Rob play like that before. The material we recorded was based mostly off of charts I brought in, but there was a lot of improv as well,it was just fun.
The song sort of starts off out in space, and the dna of the four of us mixes up like a stew and results in a musical orgasm, it sounds like what I imagine it would sound like if a UFO beamed an astronaut up in a parallel dimension. Hence the name ‘Contact’.
Instrumentalists:
Ari Joshua - Guitar
Robert Glasper - Piano
KJ Sawka - Drums
Jason Fraticelli - Bass
People involved
Art by Nicole Mix, Olimpia Maria Flis, & Ari Joshua
Recorded at Seaside Studios - Brooklyn, NY
Mixed by Johny Mendez at Avast Studios
Mixed by Ari Raskin at Deepwater Studios, NYC
Mastered By Joe Labert
