Press Kit - Seven Shades of Violet (Rebiralost)
Featured in DownBeat's "Best Albums of 2023"
★★★★ "This is simply great, challenging music."
– Brian Morton, DownBeat
"Seven Shades of Violet is not just a collection of individual compositions; it’s an intricately constructed and musically complex masterpiece."
– Steven James, Jazz in Europe
On September 8th, 2023, Ridgeway Records released Seven Shades of Violet (Rebiralost), the stunning debut jazz album from San Francisco based pianist, keyboardist, and composer, Michael Echaniz, in the wake of a successful fight against stage four lymphoma cancer. Well over an hour in length, this epic conceptual work features the core contributions of producer, bassist, and vocalist Jeff Denson, drummer and percussionist Dillon Vado, and primary vocalists Danielle Wertz and Molly Pease with an array of special guests, including features from saxophonist Dann Zinn, percussionist Silvestre Martinez, and the strings of Friction Quartet. Symmetrically constructed, the nine original compositions and two arrangements feature a wide variety of synesthetic moods and acoustic-electric textures, drawing inspiration from mathematics, history, Basque heritage, and existential crisis. Accessibly melodic, rhythmically complex, melancholic, introspective, cathartic, often maximalist, Seven Shades of Violet presents a bold contribution to the futurist, contemporary jazz scene.
Seven Shades of Violet (Rebiralost) is made possible through the Musical Grant Program, which is administered by InterMusic SF, and supported by the Clarence E. Heller Charitable Foundation, and the Hewlett Foundation; and was supported by New Music USA’s Creator Development Fund in 2022- 23.
Works from this album have won numerous prestigious awards, including the 2021 ASCAP Herb Alpert Award and a New Music Workshop at the 2022 International Jazz Composers' Symposium. Full list of awards here.
Album may be streamed in full on the Listen page.
Touring Formation - Rebiralost Trio
The current touring formation for this music is an acoustic-electric power trio of Michael Echaniz on acoustic piano and Prophet synthesizer, Jeff Denson (Lee Konitz, Brian Blade) on 5-string, fretless bass and vocals, and Dillon Vado (Art Lande) on drum set. In this formation, the trio performs the entire album set in order, either as one long set or two medium-length sets, adjusting the highly-arranged compositions and arrangements for the open spontaneity of the trio.
Each show will be aggressively marketed with social media ads/posts and mailing list messages, in coordination with my publicist, Ann Braithwaite.
Touring history:
01/28/23 - Piedmont Piano Company - Oakland, CA (Sold-out)
01/05/24 - California Jazz Conservatory - Berkeley, CA
01/06/24 - The Jazz Station - Eugene, OR
01/07/24 - Lustre Pearl Portland - Portland, OR
