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| Hi Everyone,
I wanted to touch base and let you know what's happening. As many of you know I began in January performing the new "Carlyle" acoustic type show. I have been very pleased, and have gotten very positive reaction to the concerts. After doing the same type of pop show for 30 years, where I would replicate the album tracks live, this is a fresh new approach, and for me very rewarding. I am playing with some amazing musicians from all over the world, and have expanded my "book" or the list of songs I can draw from.
I also have a new symphony agent, who has been working on securing symphony shows for me. We did our first of those last weekend in Columbus Ohio. It was an outdoor show with the Columbus Symphony, and was an exciting pleasure for the band and I. We are playing one as well in Dallas August 24th, and 3 nights next year in May in Nashville. Please keep an eye on my website for new shows added. I hope you can catch one, it's very special.
Rob and I have written 18 new songs, and I have begun recording. It's going incredibly well. I could not be happier and more excited about what we are doing. The album will be different than previous records. The songs and production are very eclectic, musically, lyrically, and from a production standpoint. I am producing the album myself, and am working with my crew Mark Casselman recording, and Doug Rider mixing.
I will not be performing any of the songs live until we release the album, due to all the cell phone recording that goes on at shows, resulting in songs being debuted on You Tube, and undermining the production quality. I want people to at least hear the songs once the way Rob and I envision them.
We are as always on the road playing shows all over the world, and hope to see you there.
Lastly I want to say how sad I am about the death of Michael Jackson. He was an amazing artist who invented the style of dance so prevalent in todays videos and concerts. He was the Fred Astaire of our generation. I spent time with Michael during the "Off The Wall" period, and he was so humble, kind and gentle, and he was responsible for me meeting Paul McCartney. Michael invited me down to the studio when he and Paul were doing the duet, "The Girl Is Mine". I will miss him, his music and his heart touched the world, and will forever.
Thanks for your love and support
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Dear Friends,
Happy New Year! 2009 has been busy so far. My new album, "The Cafe Carlyle Sessions," has gotten a warm reception, and my relationship with Edel Records in Germany has been a blessing. They also released my Christmas CD with new cover art in Europe.
The musical approach for the Carlyle album has been inspiring for me. After presenting my material for so long in a pop format, I have decided, for the immediate future, to only play shows using the Carlyle ensemble - grand piano, sax, flute, upright bass, drums and me on acoustic guitar. The simple instrumentation gives a more introspective opportunity to showcase the songs. I'm getting to work with some amazing musicians which is creatively invigorating for me.
We have a nice tour schedule in the upcoming months and I hope you all get a chance to see a show. The audience reaction has been very positive, with many of our fans saying they prefer this new approach.
In addition to my touring, Rob and I have written over a dozen new songs, with more coming all the time, and I have begun to record them as time allows. I cannot give a realistic release date but, if I had to guess, I would say summer of '09. The new album is stylistically very different than our previous projects. I seem to be at a loss to describe it to anyone, so I guess that you will have to wait and judge for yourself. Rob and I are very excited about these songs. This will my 2nd self production, having also produced my Christmas album.
Otherwise, life is good. I hope the same is true for all of you. As always, you have my deep gratitude for your continued support.
Christopher
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Hi, Just checking in to let you know the latest news. I am very close to finishing a new album called “The Café Carlyle Sessions.” The concept for this album came out of my shows in April and May, 2008, at the legendary Café Carlyle in the Carlyle Hotel in New York City. I decided that, given the intimacy of the 80-seat room, I would perform the music in a style different from my usual pop rhythm section format. My friend and arranger, Chris Walden, had been wanting to produce an album of my songs with this jazz-based instrumentation. So Chris arranged a deal with the German label, Edel entertainment. They will distribute the CD in Europe, Australia/New Zealand and South Africa. I will update you soon on distribution in Japan and the US and Canada. Of course, it will be on iTunes. Chris introduced me to some amazingly talented musicians in NY -- Andy Ezrin on Piano and David Mann on Winds -- and LA-based Kevin Axt on Bass. I used my regular drummer, Dave Beyer, and I play only acoustic guitar. The solo work is handled by Andy and David., and we recorded the 15 tracks live in LA in 2 days. Here is the track listing: 01 NEVER BE THE SAME 02 DEPUTY DAN 03 SWEPT AWAY 04 WALKING IN AVALON 05 ARTHUR 06 IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE 07 THINK OF LAURA 08 ALL RIGHT 09 BACK OF MY MIND 10 SAILING 11 OPEN UP MY WINDOW 12 DRIFTIN' AWAY 13 WORDS OF WISDOM 14 RIDE LIKE THE WIND 15 TALKING IN MY SLEEP I’m very excited about the project and will be performing with this group for the first time at my show on August 7th in Brooklyn opening for Liza Minelli. Also, we will do the Billboard Live shows in Japan this fall. I hope to play more shows this way as I feel I have been performing the same way for so many years and this interpretation really gives the songs a new life. I hope my Christmas album will also be released on Edel this year with a new cover and in the US we hope to be working with a major distribution network. More new on this as it develops We finished the Carlyle album this week and then I will begin recording 15 new songs that Rob and I have written for another CC studio album. I hope to have that out by spring. So, you can see I have been busy! I am feeling good about my latest projects and, as always, I am so appreciative of your interest and support.
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Hi,
I wanted to touch base and let you know what’s going on in my life.
As most of you know, I did release the Christmas CD. However, due to the fact that I finished it so late in the year, I was only able to get it out on iTunes and my website. Typically you would want to deliver a holiday album by July of that year so I was behind the ball. I am ready to go for 2008, and look forward to finding retail outlets in the US and around the world to distribute the album.
I played an unplugged set at the NAMM show in January for Taylor Guitars, along with my good pals Dave Clark on acoustic guitar and vocals and Dave Beyer on percussion. It went well and got some nice reviews and I hear there are some cell phone clips floating around on You Tube.
In addition, Rob and I are working on what will be my 8th album of original songs, and the 4th that Rob and I have collaboratively written. I will produce it and my hope to get it done by the end of the summer to take advantage of distributing it to the same outlets as the Christmas CD. (:
Beyond that I continue to book new shows for 2008 and even 2009 which I post on the site as soon as they are confirmed. As you may have seen, one of the engagements I have coming up is the Carlyle Hotel in NY from April 11 to May 10th.
This will be something new for me. I will be doing a 60-minute set 5 nights a week (2 shows on weekends) accompanied by Andy Ezrin on acoustic piano and David Mann on sax and EWI. Andy and David are fine NY-based jazz players. David will be handling most of the solo duties and I will play acoustic guitar.
The Carlyle Café is a small historic cabaret room in one of New York’s finest hotels. The legendary Bobby Short performed there for many years, along with other Cabaret luminaries such as Rosemary Clooney. The recently renovated club seats around 80 people and they seem to be bringing in acts to attract a bit younger and more diverse audience. As an example, Judy Collins is there before my stay. I am excited about the opportunity to do something this intimate with a different approach to my music.
I am also researching the possibility of recording some of the shows live, or going into a studio in NY toward the end of my stay, to capture the set for a new album that will be available at future shows.
I’m going to approach the set from a “Storyteller” direction. Here are the proposed songs that make up the set list.
Never Be The Same
Driftin’ Away
Open Up My Window
Arthur’s Theme
Hunger
Deputy Dan
Sailing
Walking in Avalon
Swept Away
Think of Laura
Back of My Mind
Ride Like The Wind
Talking in My Sleep
Words of Wisdom
All Right
November
“November” is the first song Rob and I have completed and recorded for the new album.
Well, that’s it for now. As you can see, life is good and busy. I wish you all well and, as always, thank you for your continued love and support.
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Hi, I'm in Australia at the moment on tour with the Beach Boys. The tour is going really well. It's a beautiful country and the people here are very welcoming. After two shows in New Zealand, we head to Japan on the 20th for some shows and then home at the end of the month. I was very busy finishing my Christmas CD up until the moment I left for this tour. WhileI would liked to have finished it earlier in the year to allow for wider distribution, I decided to make it available on iTunes and my site, rather than wait an entire year to release it. I am very proud of the album. It's my first solo production and it features a very special reunion with my dear friend and former producer, Michael Omartian, on piano. Many people have suggested I do an acoustic-type record. This project is done with acoustic guitar, acoustic piano, upright bass and real strings. It was recorded at a 96k sample rate to truly capture the nuances of those instruments. I don't think I have ever gotten a better sounding recording of my voice. It is being released on my own label, Christopher Cross Records. As you can see from the front page of the site, it is available for purchase now and will be available for download on Nov 15th. The album includes two new, original songs from Rob and me, as well as arrangements of some of my holiday favorites. I'm very hopeful it will become a seasonal classic. I have some sad news that Greg Robins will no longer be overseeing my site. Greg is a good friend and has been a valuable asset and an integral part of the site for many years. I want to take this opportunity to thank Greg for all his support. It will be hard to replace the personal touch Greg brought tothe job, but rest assured that the site will continue to be maintained and monitored. In addition to the Christmas CD, I have been working on 13 new songs for my next CC album. The songs are coming along nicely and I have recorded one so far called "November" that I wrote with Rob. I will begin recording the remaining songs in January with the hope of releasing the album this spring. I look forward to 2008 with great excitement. I have been very productive this year and am excited about these projects, as well as touring next year. I want to wish you and yours a very happy "Christopher Cross Christmas".
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| Hi Friends, Happy Holidays!
I wanted to give you give you an update as to what's been happening in my life.
I will get the bad news out of the way first. The Christmas album will not be ready for 2006. I have 6 songs recorded and am trying to decide which other 6 songs to record. I also want to put real strings on several of the cuts and so I want to wait until I have them all ready.
Greg came over to my studio and listened to the 6 songs and was pleased. We decided to put 2 songs that will not have strings “A Dream of Peace at Christmastime” and “The Best Christmas” up on iTunes now. “A Dream of Peace…” is the only new song on the album so far and Rob and I wrote it. I anticipate finishing the album in the 1st quarter of next year to insure its release in 2007.
I've been busy, which is part of the reason why I'm behind on my recording. I just returned from 2 weeks in Slovenia. I went there with Jan to perform 5 songs at 5 shows with Andrej Sifrer. As you may know I produced and song called "Be The Light"
on his newly released CD . I met Andrej through our mutual friends singer songwriter Richard Thompson and his wife Nancy.
Andrej came to my studio some months ago and we discussed the idea of me singing one of his hits in English for his 30 year celebration CD. He also played me a new song of his, which I liked very much; I was particularly drawn to the lyric, which talks about human connection. I produced and sang the track as I said, which was fun, as it was the first recording I had done since WIA. Interesting for me recording someone else's tune, not something I have done much of in my career. I feel it came out really well. Greg has put a streaming only copy of the track on the audio/video page of my site for you to check out. Andrej loved the tack and subsequently asked Jan and I, and my tech Joe Walsh to come over to his lovely country and participate in these shows along with some other artists. The trip was wonderful. It's one of the most beautiful countries we have ever visited and we made many new friends. My music was well received, which was amazing since Slovenia has only become sovereign in the last 15 years.
My old friend and fan Michael Thielmann came down from Germany and hung out with Jan and I for a few days. It was nice to spend some time with him. Jan and I met Michael outside of a TV station in Germany over 20 years ago. Michael left with a copy of Andrej's new CD, quite a collector’s item I think. We have added a new photo page of pictures from Slovenia you can view.
Rob has arranged for “Curled Around the World” to be part of a new charity album project called “Hope” Love is the Answer. You can find out more about it at http://www.totalaccesslive.com/hopeloveis.htm
I have a few more shows in the states as you can see on the tour page. I hope to meet some of you at them. After that, I will close 2006 with a trip to Africa with my family. As you may have noticed on my friends link page Jan and my family have gotten involved with an Aids orphans project called Twana Twitu. We will travel to Tanzania and Kenya to visit and lend love and support to the kids there. From others we have spoken to it will be a life altering experience. Obviously very humbling. My son Rain and I will be bringing our Baby Taylor guitars and playing some songs with Madison for the kids. Please visit Twana Twitu's sight to learn more about their wonderful work. It's a young small charity but we are honored and excited to be involved.
When we get back I will be sharing pictures and videos of our trip with you on the site.
OK that’s about it for now; I continue to work on my Spanish project and Madison's new CD as well. I want to wish you all a wonderful Holiday season.
Christopher
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Our first podcast interview with Christopher is now available for listening on the Audio/Video page of the website. We hope that you enjoy this, as it has Christopher addressing many questions that you would never have the opportunity to hear on a regular radio interview.
--Greg
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Christopher recently finished recording a new song written by Andrej Sifrer titled "Be the Light". Andrej is a household name in his home country of Slovenia. He has the distinction of selling over 500,000 albums in his country where the population is right around 2 million people. That equals one out of every four households!! Kenny Loggins also recorded a track for Andrej's upcoming album. There is no release date at this time.
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Thanks to everyone for the overwhelming number of great questions for the interview that we will be recording tomorrow. It was really slow at first. But in the past two weeks many of you have really come through and made my job alot easier.
The deadline has now passed for tomorrow's interview. So if you have questions to submit after listening to the podcast, please hold on to them. It is our hope to record one every 4-6 months.
I anticipate at this time that the inaugural podcast will be up on the site within the next week. So keep checking the Audio/Video page for it.
Thanks again!! Greg
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This is a last call for any questions for the upcoming Podcast interview with Christopher. We will be doing the taping a week from this coming Friday. So if you have a question for Christopher that you would like to be considered for the interview, please send it to christophercrossmedia@gmail.com.
Thanks,
Greg
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