Ed Bazel Releases The London Sessions: New Perspectives from Studio 2 Featuring Two Emotive Piano Covers of The Beatles

NASHVILLE, TN, USA, June 21, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Following the enthusiastic reception of its predecessor, contemporary pianist Ed Bazel returned to Abbey Road Studios for his latest release, The London Sessions: New Perspectives from Studio 2 (LS2) available now in Immersive Audio, CD, and traditional digital formats. The album features nine original compositions, plus covers of John Lennon’s “Imagine,” and a heart-wrenching rendition of “The Long and Winding Road” by The Beatles. The album won Bazel the Instrumentalist of the Year honor from The LIT Awards last month.

The sound of LS2 is rich yet deceptively simple, paired with instrumental touches that evoke a wide range of emotions. Simply put, The London Sessions: New Perspectives from Studio 2 presents relaxing and romantic melodies for listeners who want to unwind and enjoy life.

Music writer Robin James commented, "Each of these compositions breathe and develop their full scope of beauty, nothing is missing. Ed clearly lives for the beauty and powerful emotion that can be finessed out of a concert grand piano.” Bazel's preceding album, The London Sessions: Reflections from Studio 2, was released in 2022 with high praise, winning over a dozen awards, and attracting a wide range of new fans. To welcome new listeners, Bazel recently announced a new fan community called "Ed Bazel's Elegant Piano Escape" accessible at https://www.edbazel.com/escape

Bazel says he was grateful for the opportunity to return to record the album at London’s Abbey Road Studios, teaming up again with co-producer Alex Carter, and recording engineer Gordon Davidson. Abbey Road Studio 2 was specifically set up to record Ed's piano performance in such a way as to maximize the immersive audio listening experience. Back in Nashville, Carter recorded additional strings and mixed the stereo version of the album at Blackbird Studios.

For the immersive audio version of the album, an all-star GRAMMY^®️-winning team joined forces in California. Herbert Waltl's media HYPERIUM Studios produced the immersive version, mixed by award-winning audio mixer Eric Schilling, and mastered by Michael Romanowski of Coast Mastering. Waltl comments, "Immersive audio productions allow us producers and engineers to delve freely into the intricate and delicate layers of music. And that is exactly what Ed’s interpretation of the songs is all about: striving for a closer connection to the listeners, taking them on a new emotional journey with these melodies. Immersive/Spatial audio presents the most natural listening experience of any recorded material. Sounds can be not just from the front, like in stereo, but from all around like in any real live situation. It puts the listener in the center of an audio environment.”

It's possible that LS2 is the first contemporary piano album to be recorded, produced, mixed and mastered specially for Immersive Audio fans, end to end. Listeners are virtually "on the piano bench" at Abbey Road's Studio 2 with Bazel, hearing the spaces in and around the piano, violin and cello in a new and vibrant way. It can be found on Apple Music, and other platforms that provide immersive audio experiences including Amazon and Tidal.

Bazel, a musician and entrepreneur, was born and raised in Huntington, West Virginia, and has been a pianist since he was five years old. He spent 20 years performing as a solo pianist at exotic locations around the world, including in Los Angeles at the Beverly Hills Country Club and the Ritz-Carlton, and was referred to as “The Marco Polo of Modern Music” by the Los Angeles press. Currently, Bazel serves the community through his online radio station, the internationally-distributed River of Calm, and the station's growing Headphones for Chemotherapy sponsored programs.

He describes the joy of recording both albums, “Walking down those stairs to Studio 2, I thought of the many greats who have walked before me: The Beatles. Pink Floyd. Adele. Ed Sheeran. Breathing in the vibrations of this big huge studio. Seeing this Steinway concert grand piano they set up for me in the exact footprint in that back left corner of the studio where the Beatles set up for their recordings.” He recalls at age seven being mesmerized watching The Beatles on TV as they made their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, so recording at Abbey Road felt especially surreal.

The London Sessions: New Perspectives from Studio 2 is available as a physical CD on Amazon and Bandcamp, digital download or streaming everywhere, and also in the Apple Spatial Audio format.

Fans can join Ed's private community, the Elegant Piano Escape, for free at https://www.edbazel.com/escape

For more media requests, contact Beth Hilton, The BCompany, [email protected]

Listen to River of Calm at http://theriverofcalm.com/

TRACKS:
Daybreak (2:38)
Onward (2:10)
All of My Life (3:11)
The Long and Winding Road (3:18)
A Joyful Life (2:57)
A Beautiful Life (4:36)
Happy Go Lightly (2:12)
Blue Skies (2:47)
A Rainy Day (3:55)
Beautiful Tonight (3:05)
Imagine (4:21)

Beth A. Hilton
The B Company
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