Special EFX All Stars featuring Chieli Minucci

7401 E. 1st Ave ,Denver CO 80230

12 January, 2023

Description

Guitarist, composer, and arranger Chieli Minucci is longtime leader of the Grammy-nominated jazz-fusion group SPECIAL EFX featuring Chieli Minucci, a major force on the jazz and world music scene for over 35 years. Chieli has just recently released his 35th anniversary CD, “All Stars” (Trippin N Rhythm Records). Chieli & Special EFX’s previous release saw title track, “Deep as the Night”, won Billboard Magazine’s 2018 top honors, best-song-of-the-year. Besides writing and performing his own music, Chieli shares his guitar brilliance throughout the entertainment world. He has recorded and performed with many top artists, such as Celine Dion, Lou Reed, Lionel Richie, Chaka Khan, Jennifer Lopez, Jewel, Mark Anthony, Michael Bolton, Eartha Kitt, Eddie Fisher, Anastasia, as well as jazz artists Kirk Whalum, Jeff Lorber, Norman Brown, Bernie Williams, Marion Meadows, Lao Tizer, Mindi Abair, Rick Braun, Gerald Veasley, Omar Hakim, and many others. Although renowned in the jazz and pop world, Chieli is also a gifted television and film composer. He has won 3 Emmy Awards and been nominated 10 times for his eclectic compositions. His music can also be heard on the soundtracks of the films Bowfinger, No Country for Old Men, Legally Blonde, American Made, and others. Chieli's original scoring work can be heard in live stage productions of Peter Pan, Dora the Explorer, Go, Diego Go, Thomas the Tank Engine, and others. Jazziz magazine writes that Nelson Rangell is “an artist of depth, a master of song, and an improviser non pareil.” The Times of London notes “his extraordinary facility on a range of instruments” and Rangell’s “considerable crowd pleasing power”. Saxophone Journal writes “He commands the alto saxophone with such authority there can be no denying that Rangell is a true artist,” and Flute Talk Magazine states “Nelson Rangell creates the impression that anything is possible when he improvises.” Such praise is a confirmation of what contemporary jazz fans have known since the Denver based saxophonist emerged in the late 80s: that Rangell is one of the most exciting and diverse performers in the genre, equally adept at soprano, alto, and tenor saxophone, as well as being a genuine virtuoso on flute and piccolo. Keyboardist Lao Tizer is one of today’s rising stars of the world-fusion genre. Tizer’s original music has spurred comparisons of a modern twist to the 1970s and early 1980s heyday of jazz fusion, when trailblazing ensembles like Return To Forever, Mahavishnu Orchestra and Weather Report set the aesthetic standard. Lao’s music has a multi-genre, multi-national appeal and his group, The Lao Tizer Band, has toured the USA and the world while being nominated “Jazz Group of the Year”! Their new 2018 CD/DVD combo release, Songs From The Swinghouse has received acclaim across the industry while debuting near the top of the Billboard Jazz Album Chart!