As 2023 has come to a close I take a moment to pause and reflect.  What would I like to share about my life? What’s been going on?  What are my personal triumphs?  What can I be proud of?


There are many professional accomplishments through my music with my Album “Magic Mirror”.  The Single “Magic Mirror” celebrated enormous success on Radio Formats including Sirius XM Watercolors airplay and Year End Chart Reports for Top Songs of the Year. Billboard placed it at #36 Song of the Year, Smooth Jazz Network at #10 Song of the Year; SmoothJazz.com placed the Album at the #2 Album of the Year.  Spotify and Apple music continue to stream significant numbers from my catalogue.  Almost 10 million on “Perfect Sunday”, 3 Million for “Stronger Now” with  “Fire & Water”  added to a big playlist and already over 1 Million.  Apple added “Magic Mirror” and already has extensive play on “Sun’s Out” and “Fly Away Butterfly”.


While “Magic Mirror” has been riding the wave of Contemporary Jazz Radio I’ve continued writing and recording new music.  In February 2023, I recorded a new tune with Paul Brown in Los Angeles when I attended the Grammys 2023.  It was great working with Paul again at Carmen Grille’s studio playing on his Yamaha C3.  The Grammys provided me a chance to see old friends and make new ones at networking events surrounding the Grammys.  


I was asked to Perform at the Berks Festival in Reading, PA and also to be an Educator in the Berks Arts Jazz Educational Series for High School Students during the Festival Week.  It was a great experience and also lots of fun.


There were other fun Events that I performed at in the Spring and Summer; WSIE Virtual Performance (St Louis), Lake Oconee Wine & Jazz Festival (Ritz Carlton),  Rialto Club Theater (Athens, GA) Battle of Bryon, Festival (South GA),  Mountain Brook Jazz Festival (North Carolina),  Elmira Jazz Festival (New York),  Grayson City Amphitheater, Suwanee Dam Dinner (GA), Women of Jazz, Lyman Center, (New Haven Connecticut).    


In July  “Time Sensitive”, a Classical Recording from my Georgia State Senior Concert that I found in storage and restored was released in Digital and CD Format.  It has works from Bach, Schubert, Brahms, and Prokofieff and is on all streaming sites as well as my web store.  


It was great to work on Greg Chambers new Single “Just Feels Right” as a Featured Artist in August..  It has been received very well with Sirius XM Watercolors and other Radio Airplay. “Sol Ipanema” also went to Radio in September and had a great run on Smooth Jazz Radio Formats. 


The new Single “Sunshine Yellow” featuring Peter White is set for release January 26, 2024. Work is continuing on other new songs as well working with Roberto Vally, Paul Brown, Dennis Johnson, Ragan Whiteside, Paula Atherton and more for a new Album release. 


Personally I’ve been staying healthy, getting out more socially with friends, walking and hiking a lot, making new friends and driving a 16 year old around.  While I didn’t go on any major vacations this year I spent a lot of quiet time in the mountains, with family and my dogs.  


I’m extremely grateful for all the love and support from my fans, radio programmers and listeners and friends.  Without this support it wouldn’t be possible to continue writing and recording my music.  


There will be more details in the upcoming months of new shows, events and new works during 2024.     


Until the next one, 


Much Love,


Carol 
​

The New Single “Sol Ipanema” from the Carol Albert “Magic Mirror” Album is gaining momentum going for Radio Adds September 4.  Justin Rogers shot a great video, which is now available on CarolAlbertMusicOfficial UTube Page. We had a blast making it with Guitarist Stephon Williams and Dancers Leah & Tyler Winkler, LC & Keith Lynn, Angie & Josh Sarno, Joanne & John Rainone and other friends cheering us on with makeup artist Kimaris Jones supporting with her magic.  


The Summer seems like it was short as it’s winding down now.  I have always felt the most productive in the Fall for some reason.  When I look back, even in my school years, Fall gave me a boost of energy to dive into new projects.  Maybe it’s the cooling down of the weather or just that all the schools start again for the school year and it allows more time to focus. Regardless I find myself in a creative mood and writing new songs for my next album, new collaborations and possibly other artists as well.  All things are possible.  


Highlights of my Summer shows include Performing for a MS Bike Ride Event sponsored by State Farm Thomas Waters in Birmingham, Alabama. Great Southern hospitality can always be counted on with Thomas Waters & his Associates. Travelling to Elmira, New York was challenging with flight delays but once we were all there it was great fun performing for the Ferrario Elmira Jazz Festival, which uses proceeds to fund the Elmira Economic Opportunity.  Mountain Brooke Jazz Festival in Tryon, North Carolina proved to be a great musical day.  Bryson Promotions did a spectacular job with the Wine & Jazz Dinner, a well-organized Jazz Festival and making the Artists feel special.  Closing out the Summer series will be a show at the Grayson Amphitheater September 9th, which is free to the public.  Bring your chairs and blankets and hang out with a great band for the night starting at 7 p.m.   

​“Magic Mirror” Album has been submitted for Grammy Consideration to the “Best Contemporary Instrumental” Category. If you haven’t heard the full Album yet it can be listened to on Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora and all digital streaming outlets as well as purchase of the physical CD from my Web Store.


There are more upcoming shows October 27 Suwanee Dam Dinner, Suwanee, Georgia, Women in Jazz, Lyman Center for Performing Arts, New Haven, Connecticut and more so stay tuned to my website for new announcements.  
​

Happy Summer to all.  I realize I have completely skipped Spring on my Notes.  I’ll catch you up since my last Notes Post.

The Winter Season provided me some downtime to make new additions and upgrades to my Studio at home.  Transitioning to a new system provided some challenges to learn even more about Composing and Producing.  My good friend Dennis Johnson did his best to help me through the painful hump of installations and new setups.  

The Grammy’s were finally back on schedule in LA and I attended many functions and saw many music friends and colleagues in the music business.  It was a great show this year with one of my favorites Stevie Wonder and many other great performances.  Bonnie Raitt finally got her due with Songwriter of the Year.  

I was invited to play at Berks Jazz Festival in March and to be a Clinician in the Jazz Education Seminars for Students.  I met many new Artist friends, connected with old ones and heard a lot of great music while I was there.  I’ve performed in other shows throughout the Spring in Athens, GA, Eatonton, GA, Byron, GA, Atlanta, GA Birmingham, Alabama, Kluster TV (Roku TV) with Riva Blue, and a Live Interview at WCLK all of which have really been a lot of fun!!

Spring has been a great time for my music.  I released “Magic Mirror” Single to Radio March 27.  It has received enormous support from Radio and my fans, many citing it as one of their favorites of mine.  To date it has the Status of being #1 for many weeks on all the Smooth Jazz Airplay Charts and #2 on Billboard Smooth Jazz Chart.  (See Carol’s News section).  

A surprise release coming up for my fans is my Vintage Live Classical Album “Time Sensitive” which I recorded while I was at Georgia State University.  It has been in storage since that time. I pulled it out, had it transferred from Reel-Reel to Digital Format, Mastered and will have it available on July 7 on all Digital Streaming Platforms and Physical CD’s for purchase through my website. It can also be presaved on Spotify and Apple Music.   It includes works by Bach, Schubert, Brahms and Prokofiev.  If you would like to Pre-Order a Digital Download Album - go to my Store.  

I continue to write new music now that I’m more familiar with my new system.  I still spend a lot of time on Google searching for “how-tos”.   New works are in progress and will keep you updated as new tunes become available.  

Live Shows coming up 
August 12   
Elmira Jazz Festival
Elmira, New York 
Schedule: https://www.elmirajazzfestival.com/schedule/
Purchase Link for tickets  
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ferrario-elmira-jazz-festival-2023-tickets-400564588467?aff=erelexpmlt


August 19  
Mountain Brook Jazz Festival 
Featured Artist with Dee Lucas
Tryon, N.C. 
Mountain Brook Vineyard 
731 Phillips Dairy Road
Tryon, NC
Tickets:  https://www.exploretock.com/mountainbrookvineyards/checkout/options


September 9  
Grayson Amphitheatre
Park Drive
Grayson, Georgia
Free Admission, 7-8:30 p.m.


October 27 
Suwanee Arts Center
Suwanee Dam Dinner
More info soon…


November 18 
The Lyman Center of Performing Arts
501 Crescent Street, New Haven, CT 06515-1330 
Women of Jazz
With Carol Albert, Paula Atherton & Ragan Whiteside
Tickets: https://tickets.southernct.edu/ordertickets.asp?p=1209&src=eventperformances

 There are more in the works.  Keep updated through my website.


Until next time, 
Much love,
Carol

I’m not a stranger to the best and the worst of times happening simultaneously in my life.  2022 ushered in some really nice surprises with my music recordings and progress on my 9th Album, which came to be titled “Magic Mirror”. My Single release “Fire & Water” took off in January charting in February on Billboard Smooth Jazz Airplay.  It peaked at #4 position and ended 2022 on the Song of the Year Chart at #26 in the midst of many notable Artists.  My work on new recordings continued with a trip to Los Angeles in March to record with Paul Brown, Carmen Grillo and Roberto Vally on several tunes including “Paradigm Shift”, “Angels Watching Over Me”, and  “Sapporo Dream”.  

I was contacted to perform in Austin, Texas with my Band at an offsite venue during the SWSX Festival in March. I performed at the Berks Jazz Festival in Pennsylvania in April during the 2 week long Festival of amazing Artists.  It was great running into professional friends and meeting new friends at the same time.  I performed in many small intimate settings from January to June.

During this time my Father had become ill with cancer and it became apparent his health was failing and he had only a short time left in life.  Having lived a very strong and active life, it was hard for us to see him decline so rapidly. In June 2022 he passed away peacefully.  At the same time other close members of the family were going through some challenging times and personal struggles.  My Father had taught me to be strong and resilient and would want me to continue to move forward.  I continued with the project finishing my last composition “Gemini Sun” for the Album in July.   

The new Album was finalized in August 2022 and released on October 7, 2022.  I Titled the Album “Magic Mirror” reflecting the world I go into when I’m writing and composing music of joy, pain and fantasy. I imagined traveling through many scenes and spaces with tunes like “Sol Ipanema”, “Sapporo Dream” and dedicated “Angels Watching Over Me” to my Father.  “Paradigm Shift” became the lead Single and hit the Billboard Chart after just a few weeks. A highlight of the Year was when “Paradigm Shift” hit #1 on Halloween, October 31 and was #1 on all the Smooth Jazz Charts lasting for many weeks.  It’s still at #1 at the end of December on Groove Jazz/RadioWave, SmoothJazz Radar and still on Billboard/Mediabase A/C at #13 making 15 weeks on Billboard.  It was my first #1 Hit and a lifelong dream that truly I never thought possible.  I am truly grateful for the tremendous amount of support from Radio Program Directors and fans, as well as Jason Gorov at Gorov Music Marketing and my longtime loyal supporters.  

This Fall saw a flurry of Shows with Performances in Kentucky, Atlanta, and Alabama.  It was very gratifying to discover that “Fire & Water” and “Paradigm Shift” both made the Best of 2022 on all the Smooth Jazz Year End Charts.  “Magic Mirror” was also on the Best Album of 2022 list with SmoothJazz.com.

Throughout the year streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and many other services reported amazing numbers of streams for my tunes.  A favorite of many  “Perfect Sunday” reached over 7 million streams on Spotify and “Sun’s Out” over 2.5 million streams on Apple Music.  Even many of my older Albums have received many streams and physical CD Orders from my web and CD Baby.  

In summary, I believe it’s not what life throws at you but how you can deal with those challenges. My music has always been a great outlet for me and has resonated with so many people through the years.  I appreciate the amount of love and support from all of you this year!  

There’s so much more to come in 2023.  Stay tuned for many new directions, new music and developments.  

Much love, 
Carol

In my career as a musician I only dreamed about having a Billboard #1 Hit that lived on my vision board as a magazine cutout. This week I saw that dream become a reality with “Paradigm Shift”. Not only is it #1 on Billboard but also #1 on every Smooth Jazz /AC Chart this week. I’m overwhelmed at the love and support from so many who have helped to make this happen because it takes a village. In the music business these are fleeting moments and I fully appreciate and celebrate this special milestone achievement in my career.  ​

My Birthday month of August saw the fulfillment of one of my dreams of publishing my original Piano compositions in sheet music.  Even though I previously composed and arranged some original pieces for the Keyboard Colosuss Concert for Roland Corporation to be performed at the Music Educators Conference in 1994 and they were performed on stage by a multitude of  keyboards, I haven’t pursued the goal again until this summer. 

The most requested original piece for sheet music for piano has been  “Stronger Now” from my Album “Stronger Now”.  Thanks for the transcription help of Noriko Jazz it finally was finished in August.  I can proudly announce that it is now in my Web store for purchase www.carolalbertmusic/store.  I plan to add other pieces along to make a Collection of Carol Albert Songs.  “Perfect Sunday” has also frequently been requested as well as an older original “Morning Song”.

I had a beautiful interview with Keivu Knox from Smooth Jazz Magazine for a feature in the September/October Issue.  We had a lovely talk and I’m excited to share the interview when it’s published. 

A soon-to-be milestone of reaching 4,000,000 million streams on Spotify is about to happen.   I am currently at 3,979,514 million for “Perfect Sunday”.    I am absolutely blown away that it has reached so many ears and grateful for the listeners out there. 

I will be in Atlanta Downtown Woodruff Park September 22 Performing with my Bandmembers from 7-8 p.m. The concert is free to the public. Bring a lawnchair and enjoy.

Until next month enjoy the Summer as it begins to transition into Fall.  

Much love, 

Carol

June opened with a flurry of preparation and activities.  The promotion of “For The Moment” Single was off to a great start with Billboard most Added and Most Increased plays as well as other Smooth Jazz Chart Debuts. 

The Elkhart Jazz Fest in Elkhart, Indiana June 18 proved to be a great success.  It felt great to be performing in a Theatre on a Grand piano with amazing band members Kris Brownlee, Andrew Hauser, Rafael Chavez Moreno, Chris Chapman, and Jeff Keefer.  The audience was very receptive and everyone was happy to be out and about for the summer. 

The performance at “Jazz Under The Trees” in Birmingham, Alabama on July 4 also was great fun and a huge success.  The top-notch band members Roberto Vally, Dan Baraszu, and PJ Spraggins lived up to their stellar reputations. Thomas Waters of State Farm was an outstanding host for the evening and left no stone unturned to make us feel welcome and appreciated with fans old and new in the audience.

SmoothJazz Magazine featured Carol on the Summer Jazz Festival July/August 2021 Issue. 

Stay tuned for more performing dates to be announced and get ready for Catalina Jazz Trax October 24 at Catalina Island, California. ​

Spring has sprung to a set of new possibilities and a renewal after the long winter.  New ventures are on the horizon for me. 

I will be performing June 18 at the Elkhart Jazz Festival in Elkhart, Indiana as well as an event in Birmingham, Alabama July 4.  Catalina Island Jazz Trax Festival is on and I will be there the 2nd weekend of October.  Stay tuned as well for updated events as they are confirmed. Music venues continue to open back up and Festivals are on for the summer. 

The Single released in April “For The Moment” debuted on Billboard Most Added in the 1st week to Radio and Most Increased plays in the 2nd week.  The response has been very positive to the video on UTube and Radio outlets.  I am also continuing my composing of new music for a new Album to be released.  Also stay tuned for updates on new songs as they are released 

On a personal note, I have enjoyed a beautiful spring in Atlanta.  There’s an air of optimism and growth all around.   I have been able to get out and see my friends and catch up with my family since I received the Covid Vaccine.  Many activities I enjoy doing have resumed with an air of caution.  For the many who are still struggling with the effects of Covid, I send my love and thoughts to continue on this healing journey to full recovery. 

I’m grateful for the amount of support this past year for my Album “Stronger Now” and hope to be in your city to perform soon and meet you all. 

Much love,

Carol