专辑简介

I’ve always loved the music like Herbie Hancock’s ‘Watermelon Man’ and ‘Mercy Mercy’ by Weather Report as well as the music of Horace Silver, Dave Brubeck and Bobby Timmons amongst others. I thought that the direction jazz took in that time period of early fusion was a good idea: It was funky, contemporary, popular and drew upon a lot of new sources for inspiration and yet it had its roots in traditional jazz. On Stars and Wind, you will hear a traditional jazz quintet featuring rhythm section and two horns yet stylistically we explore a broad range of music including funk, latin, traditional, progressive, new orleans second line, bossa and latin. This is contemporary jazz composition from a traditional jazz perspective. Enjoy!

Chris Coogan, is a jazz and gospel musician. The New York Times calls him “a masterful pianist." Chris has played with Dave Liebman, Randy Brecker, Lew Soloff, Jimmy Vivino, John Tropea, Chris Parker, Harold Danko, Paul Shaffer, Freda Payne, Kelli O’Hara, Stevie Van Zandt, Ronnie Spector, Darlene Love, Ben E. King, Lesley Gore, Tevin Campbell, Steven Van Zandt, Chevy Chase, Joe Bouchard of the Blue Oyster Cult, Tonja Walker of One Life to Live, Kristen Chenoweth, Ivan Rutherford, Kevin Gray, Carol Burnett, Rosie O’Donnell, Shawn Colvin,Whoopie Goldberg, and Jim Naughton.  His Gospel credentials include performing with Take 6, Al Sharpton, and Richard Smallwood. Locally, he directs the Good News Choir, a community choir that features his compositions and performs at local churches and events.  Most weekdays, Chris teaches jazz piano and balances gigs with his jazz quintet. He has recorded over 8 cds featuruing his original jazz and gospel music. On television, Chris has played piano on Celebrity Jeopardy, the Arsinio Hall Show, and has written and performed original Gospel music for PBS on a prime-time documentary on the evangelist Amy Semple Mcferson with Emmy award winning composer Brian Keane. Chris has also performed for Martha Stewart, Joanne Woodward, Paul Newman and for former President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton. Chris states, "I bring people together with music.”