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Chris Standring

Over the course of five CDs, guitarist Chris Standring has distinguished himself in the contemporary jazz realm with adventurous and lyrical compositions leavened with pure-pop perfection, dazzling guitar solos and thick beats. His jazz leanings and riffs have always been in the foreground, but he expanded his sound with rock, blues, R&B and electronic elements.

With his sixth CD, Blue Bolero, Standring returns with a left-turning musical project so daring in its scope but still so true to his sound that it's destined to be one of the year's most-discussed projects, while certainly sure to be remembered in years to come as a highlight of the guitarist's works. He's taking a chance with Blue Bolero, but it's one his fans will certainly embrace as they follow Standring's ever-evolving career. "I think this one is probably the most honest CD I have recorded so far," Standring says. "I didn't care about commercial constraints. I didn't care about having special guest performers on the album for the sake of creating a sales and marketing perception. Everyone who performed on this CD was there because I felt they were the absolute best to help realize this album."

Blue Bolero, to be released March 2, 2010 on the Ultimate Vibe Recordings label, is a CD that retains Standring's familiar pop hooks while liberally tying it all together with orchestral elements. At the same time, the robust sonic landscape digs deep into jazz territory with an organic trio powered by Standring, drummer Dave Karasony and upright bassist Larry Steen. "It's been my ambition for years to record an album with an orchestra," Standring says, who spent a year and a half fleshing and refining the CD. "Every time I thought I was finished, I thought about what I could do to make it better. I really pushed myself to the edge with orchestration and arranging. I didn't want to make the music too dark and windswept - overall it is certainly meant to be fun - but at the same time it has musical elements that reflect my musical training, influences and cultural surroundings. The music is based around several themes and represents a very reflective mood throughout."

One particular theme is grandly cinematic, and Blue Bolero represents, says Standring, the journey he took as a musically driven youngster to the person he is today. Musically, it traces his life from his upbringing on a farm in England, making a move to London and finally his relocation to Los Angeles. As soon as Standring began exploring orchestral samples, he created what became the CD's first track, the more than eight-minute "Overture," with three distinct sections including some swinging jazz. After that point, the drive to realize a wholly thematic project became Standring's all-consuming passion.

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5
Album Review

Chris Standring: Wonderful World

Read "Wonderful World" reviewed by Richard J Salvucci


Many years ago, there was a radio station, WJBR, broadcasting from Wilmington, Delaware. The call sign stood for Just Beautiful Radio and that was precisely what you got. No-one called it easy listening or anything like that--it was the early 1960s--but listeners got a predictable dose of Percy Faith, Ray Conniff, Frank Chacksfield, nothing too challenging. The announcers had a predictable style as well—modulated, mellow, reassuring. In those days, with the possibility of nuclear war never far from anyone's mind, ...

5
Album Review

Chris Standring: Wonderful World

Read "Wonderful World" reviewed by Pierre Giroux


Chris Standring is a Los Angeles-based contemporary jazz guitarist who was originally raised in Buckinghamshire, England. He has always had an itch to record an album of standards and that was scratched with the release of Wonderful World . Through the marvels of technology, Standring was able to record the trio tracks in several locations in California with some bold face names such as Peter Erskine, Chuck Berghofer and Randy Brecker, while the orchestral input was arranged and conducted by ...

19
Album Review

Chris Standring: Wonderful World

Read "Wonderful World" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Wonderful World, the fourteenth album as leader by British guitarist Chris Standring, was no doubt recorded with the best of intentions. And make no mistake, the music is warm and lovely, furnishing an opulent showcase for Standring's mellow guitar. Aside from that, however, there's not a whole lot to say. Standring's “orchestra" consists of a nineteen-member string section, while Geoff Gascoyne's syrupy arrangements call to mind popular string-laden sessions from the 1950s and '60s, “easy listening" albums for “late-night lovers" ...

5
Album Review

Chris Standring: Sunlight

Read "Sunlight" reviewed by Jeff Winbush


When building a house, who's more important? The architect who designs it or the working stiff that puts hammer to nail? Trick question. They're both important and when it comes to playing that guitar thing, Chris Standring is a working stiff. The world needs working stiffs. The world can't run on dreamers alone. It needs doers too. It needs workhorses, not just show horses. Chris Standring is a workhorse. Sunlight is the 11th album by the ...

1
Album Review

Chris Standring: Ten

Read "Ten" reviewed by Jeff Winbush


Eight years have passed since Chris Standring's Love and Paragraphs (Ultimate Vibe, 2008) when he last met expectation as a seasoned, if not splashy smooth jazz guitar slinger. Then Standring had something of a musical epihamy where he became simultaneously restless and ambitious. The result was the lavish Blue Bolero (Ultimate Vibe, 2010), a radical departure for the British born artist where he fused jazz combos with a string section for a distinctive classical feel. Standring followed up ...

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Extended Analysis

Chris Standring: Don't Talk, Dance!

Read "Chris Standring: Don't Talk, Dance!" reviewed by Jeff Winbush


If jazz is to avoid being relegated to the pit of obsolescence where VCR's, pet rocks and NBC's fall lineup for the last five years has been consigned to it won't be enough to simply continue catering to the true believers and faithful die-hards that currently maintains the genre. Jazz will have to go places it hasn't been before and go after potential listeners who think of it as the music their grandparents listened to. One of those ...

97
Album Review

Chris Standring: Electric Wonderland

Read "Electric Wonderland" reviewed by Jeff Winbush


At some point during every artist's career, if they truly consider themselves as artists, they must ask themselves a question of truth. This question is not so much, “Am I following the truth?" but rather “Am I following my truth?"The answer to this question goes a long way in determining whether the artist plays it safe and stays in their comfort zone, or takes the bolder, but potentially more interesting and satisfying course of following their muse wherever ...

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Recording

All-New Christmas/Holiday Music on Chris Standring & Kathrin Shorr's "Send Me Some Snow"

All-New Christmas/Holiday Music on Chris Standring & Kathrin Shorr's "Send Me Some Snow"

Source: Michael Bloom Media Relations

CHRIS STANDRING & KATHRIN SHORR Send Me Some Snow November 8, 2011 Release Dreaming of a white Christmas but looking for something more musically hip and adventurous than another tired twist on the Irving Berlin standard? This holiday season, you can make a special request of Chris Standring and Kathrin Shorr: Send Me Some Snow. On their warm and inviting first collaborative collection on Ultimate Vibe Recordings, the renowned contemporary jazz guitarist and the award winning ...

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Performance / Tour

Chris Standring Takes to the Road with Third Soul Express Tour

Chris Standring Takes to the Road with Third Soul Express Tour

Source: GoMedia PR

Coinciding with the success of his newest release, Love and Paragraphs (Ultimate Vibe,) which is currently holding tight to the number two position on the Smooth Jazz Charts, guitarist Chris Standring has once again assembled a triad of top talent for the third annual Soul Express tour. Joining Standring for these evenings of funk, soul and R&B will be saxophonist Everette Harp and vocalist Phil Perry, for a series of dates that will begin with a July 11 show at ...

"He raises the bar from competency to mastery and nails it on each and every minute of Blue Bolero!" - Jeff Winbush/All About Jazz

"Chris Standring's most striking release. Blue Bolero demands repeated listens!" Guitarist Magazine (UK)

"One of the most creative guitarists in the contemporary jazz genre!" - jazz Times

Photos

Concerts

Mar 23 Sat
May 11 Sat
May 15 Wed
May 18 Sat
Aug 3 Sat

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Wonderful World

Ultimate Vibe
2021

buy

Sunlight

Ultimate Vibe
2018

buy

Ten

Ultimate Vibe
2016

buy

Chris Standring:...

Ultimate Vibe
2014

buy

Electric Wonderland

Ultimate Vibe
2012

buy

Blue Bolero

Ultimate Vibe
2010

buy

Overture

From: Blue Bolero
By Chris Standring

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