Abstract:
Ancestral Home is a CD recording that I released in December 2020. The album was released in digital and physical format internationally and has to date received airplay in over 40 countries. The album has been in rotation on radio stations (FM and online) for over 7 months with two tracks reaching the top 5 on the jazz charts in the USA. “Venezia” peaked at #1 and “Sunset in Koh Samui” peaked at #3 on the Smooth Jazz Listener Charts in the USA respectively. The full album was included in the top 100 albums in the USA and remained on the Top 100 albums for several weeks. Several tracks have been in rotation on FM radio stations in the USA (Boston, Florida, Los Angeles, Montana, New York City, New Jersey and Virginia), Germany, Italy, France, Belgium, UK, Panama, Argentina, Ghana, Russia, Poland and South Africa. These are the stations I could track through Radio Monitor. Online radio stations were much more extensive and as expected have no territorial boundaries. The entire album has been streaming on all appropriate platforms including Spotify, Deezer, Pandora, KKBox, Apple Music, Amazon Music, CD Baby, Napster and others. The album has received outstanding reviews internationally. Links to the online reviews may be found in Press Reviews above.
This CD was produced by me. My involvement in the project was as follows:
1. I composed all 10 tracks and wrote the lyrics for the 2 vocal tracks on this album
2. I conceptualised and arranged all tracks
3. I booked the accompanying musicians and guided them through the recording process
4. The entire production (recording and mixing) was overseen by me in collaboration with the recording engineer and mixing/mastering engineer
5. A significant amount of post-production editing (Pro Tools) was done by me prior to sending the final pre-mix to the mix engineer in Venezuela
6. Album artwork conceptualisation, design and credits were done by me except for the photography and graphic design
7. All marketing and publicity was done by me including radio promotion worldwide.
8. All official videos for this recording were conceptualised by me with stock footage secured by me. Green-screen production and video editing was done by Matchframe Media.
From a creative output perspective, the album pushed the boundaries of originality with all new compositions that were presented in a new and innovative manner (smooth jazz with an African feel on some tracks). The idea was to produce an album that is comparable to international smooth jazz recordings/artists but one that has its roots in Africa, such as the title track “Ancestral Home”, hence the album’s demonstrable appeal to an international audience. This album has achieved significant international recognition with airplay in over 40 countries and widespread online streaming and radio presence. The album was recognised as a world class product by having two tracks peak at #1 and #3 on the jazz charts in the USA and also the entire album breaking into the Top 100 albums in the USA. This is a significant achievement for any artist. The international reviews bear testimony to the quality of this album as compared with its international peers.
