Thanksgiving 2021 was certainly a time of celebration for Mandoki Soulmates. Case in point, two of the band members received Grammy nominations - Cory Henry for Album Of The Year and Best Progressive R&B Album and Randy Brecker for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album.
In addition to the band recently releasing a video for the song “The Torch” (off their critically acclaimed album, ‘Utopia For Realists: Hungarian Pictures,’ which can be viewed/heard here), Mandoki Soulmates leader Leslie Mandoki celebrated Thanksgiving this year in New York.
Leslie: “For the traditional Soulmates-Thanksgiving, this time my dear Soulmate, Al di Meola, one of the founding members of the MANDOKI SOULMATES about 30 years ago, invited us to his home in New York, and as always, we played each other’s latest music together. Beside one of the best turkey dinners, we’re celebrating the love of life, music, and three decades of friendship, mutual music and values with Soulmates. Thanksgiving is the right occasion to give thanks for the privileged life of a musician that we can live thanks to the audience that inspires our creativity. It was truly another Soulmates ‘family reunion’ again.”
“We first celebrated with our soulmates at Al's house about 30 years ago, and had another wonderful Soulmates gathering here 15 years ago with my three children. Bringing wonderful changes, Stephanie then gave the house a whole new soul, and it was so beautifully decorated for Thanksgiving. The love, music, and more than 30 years of friendship were in the air and could literally be felt!”
“Yesterday was also time to congratulate our soulmates Cory and Randy on their very well-deserved recent Grammy nominations. When we celebrate family gatherings together with our children today or even at the end of the year, we should realize that they are the future. I am a father of three children, and we should ask ourselves in what condition we hand over our world to the children, the Young Rebels? We can only overcome the divisions in our society together with the Old Rebels and the Young Rebels. So let's wish them strength, courage and the hunger to strive for the right solutions, and let's help them while there's still time to turn the wind and pass the torch.”
