Bay Area Con Funk Shun percussionist D. Edward strikes gold with his new baby-making-music full-length album “Love Is“. An active member of Balanced Breakfast San Francisco and East Bay, he debuted as a frontman with his first release “Little Red Box” in 2011 but has been making major waves in the northern California music scene for the past 13 years. Now Edward, with the support of local musician heavyweights, is slated to light up marquees up and down the coast inspiring people to get up and involuntarily shake their midsections. He’s old school in style and technique. His voice rasps and belts like a 60s crooner. His lyrics are classic.
This is an album chalked full of red light grinders like “Show Me”, “Hold On”, “Don’t Say”, “I Love The Way”, “Pretty Eyes” and of course the premiere title track “Love Is“. D. Edward isn’t holding anything back. I listened to the album last night cooking and dancing like a fool. I conveyed this to Jenna Lavoie who sings a duet on “Show Me” with Beyonce’s register and Erykah Badu’s phrasing. She replied, “Guaranteed, you will have to get up and dance or start moving in your chair.” When she divulged that she knows the words to every song and agreed that “it’s great to cook dinner to” I asked if she used a spatula to sing along to which she replied, “I cannot disclose such information at this time.” Maybe a follow-up article is in order.
On a personal note, I had the pleasure of working with D. Edward on the music video for “Love Is” which dares to define just that. As a byproduct, I became a fanboy. I like a good R&B slow jam as much as the next person. But “Love Is” delivers more, taking us back to the 70s. There are funk, R&B and pop grooves mashed in with D. Edward’s true passion of legendary songwriting. You can’t help but gratefully accept his unironic, unapologetic love and cinematic energy. He’s also a true supporter of other artists in the community and it’s now coming back tenfold.
D. Edward wrote, sang, played keys, percussion, drums, and programmed (overachiever) but he also got some sick players on these recordings. If you haven’t heard of these people you better look them up cause they are playing the gigs you want. Keni Williams, Eric EQ Young and Brian Abbott hold it down on bass, Leah Tysse enchants us with her angelic Billboard winning and Glide Memorial soloist star talent, Paul Hunt and Johnny De La Cruz get down on guitar, Grammy winners Tony Peebles and Steffen Kuehn wail on horns, Ben Reyes massages the keys tastefully, Marlon “Wild Bill” Curry percussion, and Omega Rae graces the background vocals. The album was mastered by “zen mixmaster” Michael Starita at Jingletown Recording and mastered by Piper Payne at Michael Romanowski Mastering.
| Oct 25 | Goorin Bros Hat Shop | Los Angeles, CA | ||||
| Oct 25 | Room 5 Lounge | Los Angeles, CA | Presale | |||
| Nov 22 | Record Release Party – D. Edward Love Is | San Francisco, CA |
Purchase “Love Is” now on iTunes and Amazon
