A SUMMARY OF VICTORIES & REFLECTIONSI’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 Back to Live Performances |
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December 2022
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