Jimmy Scott - "I Go Back Home" - Available January 27 on Eden River Records

Jimmy Scott's Final Album with
Star-Studded Ensemble, I Go Back Home, Available January 27 via Eden River Records

Album is Accompanied by Critically Acclaimed
Documentary, I Go Back Home - Jimmy Scott,

Capturing the Recording Process

Album Features: Joey DeFrancesco, Kenny Barron,
Martin Gjakonovski, Hans Dekker, Joe Pesci, Michael Valerio, Peter Erskine, Oscar Castro-Neves, Grégoire Maret,
John Pisano, Renee Olstead, Till Brönner, Bob Mintzer,
Monica Mancini, Arturo Sandoval, James Moody
& HBR Symphony Orchestra

"The greatest voice alive." - The Village Voice

 

"He is the only singer who can make me cry." - Ray Charles

 

"The most unjustly ignored singer of the 20th Century!" - The New York Times

Preview Tracks from I Go Back Home

I Go Back Home--the heroic creation of German producer Ralf Kemper, who risked fortune and sanity to produce his longtime hero Jimmy Scott--serves as the last will and testament to a voice that gained recognition and admiration from the highest of high culture against all odds. The album's creation--a process which demanded critical attention from all parties involved while also inspiring everyone to continue on the path of honoring and celebrating Scott--is captured in the accompanying award-winning documentary I Go Back Home - Jimmy Scott. The film captures the challenges, sacrifices, and joyous realization of the project leading up to the recording sessions for the album, making it an even richer record. It was not until the recording of this album that Scott was allotted the budget to allow him unfettered control over song selection, personnel and orchestration. Recorded before his untimely death in 2014, I Go Back Home is ultimately a record of collaboration, companionship and redemption; the sound of a singer going out on top.

 

With mixes by the late Phil Ramone, Kemper and Scott showcase the work of many exceptionally talented collaborators, several of whom sadly have passed away since contributing to the album: bossa nova icon Oscar Castro-Neves and legendary saxophonist James Moody both give career-best performances months before their untimely deaths. Even Academy Award-winning actor Joe Pesci turns in a divine duet with Scott on "The Nearness of You" and "The Folks Who Live on the Hill," while Dee Dee Bridgewater provides sterling accompaniment to Scott on "For Once in My Life." "The lyric is so important to me," explained Scott. "I feel if you're singing a song or telling the story in a song it should mean something. That's why I protect what I have in it, because that's where I believe it should go. It should mean something. It should make sense." "Everybody's Somebody's Fool"--Scott's only charting song, a modest hit with Lionel Hampton and his Orchestra--is revisited 50 years after he first recorded it, now featuring a performance by Moody.

 

Dave Nathan of All Music stated that Scott's phrasing moves "beyond mere poignancy and close to reverence." This is truer than ever on I Go Back Home. Scott shifts from speak-singing in the album's opener "(Sometimes I Feel Like a) Motherless Child" to a lively bossa nova take on "I Remember You" to the full-throated commitment on "If I Ever Lost You." Scott is ably backed on many songs by drummer Peter Erskine, pianist Kenny Barron and by the conversational style of organist and trumpet player Joey DeFrancesco. 

 

An oppressive recording contract hounded Scott through most of his recording career and prevented him from releasing albums, including the only album Ray Charles ever produced for another artist. It wasn't until 1992, at the age 63, that he recorded the first album with which he had creative control, All the Way. Fittingly, the album was nominated for a Grammy® Award and brought him to a new audience, including director David Lynch who cast him in his critically acclaimed television series Twin Peaks; from there Scott began touring and regularly releasing albums. With the 2017 presidential inauguration occurring a week before the release of I Go Back Home, it is important to note that Jimmy Scott's universally beloved voice was featured at both President Bill Clinton (Democrat) and President Dwight D. Eisenhower's (Republican) inaugurations forty years apart (1993 & 1953). While we can mourn the decades he was unable to record as well as the tragedies and injustices that never defeated him, I Go Back Home  succeeds in capturing the essence of a life that was ultimately triumphant.

   

About Ralf Kemper: Producer/President of Eden River Records

At the young age of three, Ralph Kemper started to play classical piano and began formal piano study at the age of six. Growing up a musical prodigy in the '60s & '70s, Kemper was absorbing all kinds of music from blues, rock and jazz. As an adult, he started a production company for scoring commercials and scored approximately 1000 TV commercials worldwide, and became a Latin Grammy® Award-winner in 2010 with Arturo Sandoval´s album A Time For Love. He has just completed producing the star-studded album honoring the legacy and performances of Jimmy Scott along with its companion documentary film, which premiered at the 2016 South by Southwest Film Festival. He is currently producing Joe Pesci´s new album and in the process of releasing Alan Broadbent's Orchestral Sessions recorded at Abbey Road.

 

About Eden River Records

Based in Wuppertal (North-Rhine Westphalia), the German label focuses on a variety of genres: from jazz and blues to classical. CEO Ralf Kemper has worked as a producer, composer, audio engineer, and has served as a consultant for over 25 years in music. Eden River Records is a company built around the pursuit of high quality audio recording. It focuses on preserving and enhancing sound quality, delivering the music as beautifully and naturally as possible. Works are offered in 180-gram audiophile vinyl format in carefully manufactured top quality CDs and in high-resolution digital formats (96khz, 24bit) for download.

 

The label's mission and purpose are simple, as it provides music by enthusiasts for enthusiasts! "We believe in the original way of listening," Kemper says. "Sit down close your eyes and let the music take you on a journey."