Still Life Sachal Vasandani & Romain Collin

• 1 No More Tears 04:03
• 2 I Love You 04:15
• 3 The Sound of Silence 04:26
• 4 I Can't Make You Love Me 04:29
• 5 Blue in Green 03:46
• 6 Freight Train 02:50
• 7 If Only You Knew 03:52
• 8 Someone Somewhere 03:16
• 9 Latch 02:46
• 10 Let It Go 04:24
• 11 How Could We Be 03:16
• 12 Washing of the Water 03:38
• Total Runtime 45:01

Info for Still Life

In 2020, as the pandemic spread across the globe, both Sachal and Romain found themselves confined to New York with all their touring cancelled and their artistic expression put on hold. When they were allowed to do so, these friends and neighbours met for walks and for coffee to talk about life, Art, Politics, the craziness of the world, and music. The idea of collaborating emerged, with no thought beyond finding a way of channeling their anxiety and anger.

What emerged was a very real desire to make music that was quiet, introspective and nuanced. Music that spoke with emotion and feeling, which didn’t allow virtuosity to override meaning, expression and feeling in the song. Midnight Shelter was born – a project that reworked classic and modern songs and reinterpreted their own originals. It was deeply emotive and intimate: the sound of a 2am session with friends without trying to wake the neighbors. As Sachal describes it, “We left out a lot of piano or vocal solos, or any kind of flights of fancy. The intensity of the song and the mood were the most important, as opposed to any of the typical stuff you would see in a jazz performance”. Throughout the album you can hear the sounds of the hammers in the piano, the squeak of the sustain pedal and the delicate subtleties of the breath. It’s up-close and personal, like being in the room with these two exquisite performers.

The resulting album, Midnight Shelter, was released in April 2021 to huge acclaim and as the pandemic continued to rage, their desire to make another album intensified. This time they wanted to go deeper into the music with a greater purpose, to think more about song choice, about tone and their collective sound.

The result is Still Life. The first major difference is the studio and more importantly, the piano used to record. The piano used on Midnight Shelter was, as Romain Collin put it, “…a piano that had been around and seen some things. It was full of character yet it lacked a quality and depth”. For Still Life, Steinway was the piano of choice which allowed Romain Collin to play even quieter than he could previously, to draw more tone from across the entire keyboard, with even greater control and a more nuanced depth of tone. As a result, Sachal’s rich and expressive voice was able to blend perfectly.

The sound was built from a desire to find their own approach to a common instrumentation, as Romain Collin continues; “There’s a certain sound that I’ve been looking for. Like a guitar, almost like strumming and I really love songs and singer songwriters. I’ve been working on this for a while”.

This project is about mood and meaning, not showmanship. In some sense, Romain and Sachal are simply storytellers, speaking through their instrument and voice. As Sachal describes; “I’m not taking a solo, I’m not really reaching vocally for the stars. So I think that’s kind of the unique concept of the project. The mood is the connective tissue for the whole record. The mood was focusing on a kind of brutal honesty. I don’t think there’s anyone that can do that for songs better than Romain. He’s able to bring out the essence of the song and nothing more. So it’s a cool collaboration in that way, because I get to focus on the meaning of the song”.

Choosing the right repertoire for this album was always a challenge with so many great songs to choose from, as Sachal continues; “We had a lot that we were listening to. And part of it was, Can I sing it with some honesty? I might like the song and I might be able to vibe on it as a listener, but I don’t think I can do it justice. If I don’t feel it honestly, as a singer, or the melody just isn’t sitting right, or any number of things, then we moved on. But in the end, we went through about 50 songs to figure out what would be the final 10 or 12. But I’m really happy about the ones that we got”.

For this album capturing the sound was as important as the delivery. Romain: “We were just playing very, very softly. I realised pretty quickly that the dynamic range and the level at which I was performing would drastically change the way Sachal would deliver the story in the song. And because of the repertoire of the material we had chosen, I felt that we needed a certain level of intimacy. And that was best delivered when I played very softly. I’ve never played this soft in my life for this long. Sachal is standing right next to the piano. There are no overdubs and no editing. We play a take and see if it’s good. And that’s the way it should be for this music. It ‘s very much part of the emotional and sonic character of the record”.

In its conception, Still Life is an album of simplicity. It’s a piano and voice with no edits or overdubs. But it’s the subtleties and context around the project that reveals its depth and meaning. The focus on the mood, the meaning and the song selection is real, honest and authentic. To hear Romain and Sachal perform is a compelling experience. They are totally absorbed by the song itself and have complete confidence and trust in each other. They play with so much control yet only play what is completely necessary to deliver the song. It’s a perfect antidote for a world gone crazy and for listeners who are searching for calm, a moment of introspection and stillness in their life.

Sachal Vasandani, voice
Romain Collin, piano

Sachal Vasandani
is recognized for his singular voice, with a tone and unique phrasing that mark him as one of the most compelling artists on the scene today.

Thoroughly rooted in jazz, Sachal has the swagger to front the most swinging big bands and the vulnerability to present definitive takes of classic ballads. His deeply creative approach to improvisation across lyrics, melodic changes and time signatures is always soulful, and he has come to be regarded as one of the eminent vocal improvisers of his generation.

Sachal’s 2018 release, Shadow Train, celebrates twin themes of romance and respect with an open spirit. Songs like Abbey Lincoln’s Throw it Away highlight this: Sachal’s performance is equal parts virility and empathy. The Nat “King” Cole classic, Unforgettable, is honored with a spare, haunting style, and is revered by listeners with nearly a million streams across platforms since its release in 2019.

Sachal’s groundbreaking 2015 release Slow Motion Miracles (produced by Steely Dan’s Michael Leonhart for Sony/OKeh), highlights his original compositions – fantastic melodies in a fresh style inflected with popular music. His 2011 release, Hi-Fly, reached #1 on the iTunes Jazz charts. Hi-Fly was produced by John Clayton and features vocal legend Jon Hendricks.

Sachal has performed to enthusiastic audiences at all major festivals, theaters, and clubs across the world. He performs with artists of all styles, and has sung alongside musicians such as Wynton Marsalis, Bobby McFerrin, Milton Nascimento, Bill Charlap, Natalia LaFourcade and Michael Feinstein. He is also an in-demand lyricist and composer and has collaborated with artists across genres; his singing and writing was featured on Gerald Clayton’s Grammy-nominated album, Life Forum (2013).

A preeminent educator, Sachal bridges a strong technical foundation and disciplined, immersive jazz study with a fundamentally open spirit. Through his workshops, classes, and lessons at multiple institutions around the globe, he has honed a style of teaching that is as encouraging as it is thorough.

Romain Collin
Grammy-nominated pianist and composer Romain Collin has been described by NPR as “a visionary composer”, and touted by the Boston Globe as being “among the leading lights of a new breed of jazz players”. Collin continues to develop “a highly personal and contemporary vision” (A Blog Supreme, NPR), blurring the lines between improvisation, sound designing, indie rock and film scoring. With his latest release Tiny Lights… (XM, 2019), Collin keeps developing “a unique voice, a crystal clear vision” (UK VIBE), making his mark on the New York scene, as well as internationally. Romain has since produced RMXS , a full length record of remixes of Tiny Lights… while co-directing SHE, a three-part music video that supports this project. The film, made in collaboration with LA director Matt Palmer, dancer/choreographer Alina Fatieieva and lauded fashion designers Alexander Chen and Jamila Mariama, has made the official selection at the Canada International Fashion Film Festival and at the Istanbul Fashion Film Festival (2020). Tiny Lights… RMXS is scheduled for release in 2021.

In 2009, Collin released his debut as a leader, The Rise and Fall of Pipokuhn (Fresh Sound), a record described as “an astonishingly mature and ambitious debut that secures Collin a placeholder in the continuing evolution of the grand tradition of the piano trio” (All About Jazz). Collin was soon after invited by legendary pianist Marian McPartland to her prestigious Piano Jazz show on NPR to discuss his artistic vision and to perform solo piano. In 2012, Collin released his second album as a leader, The Calling (Palmetto). The record, produced by Matt Pierson, features Kendrick Scott on drums and Luques Curtis on bass, a band of “astonishing capabilities, filling a landscape of incredible expanse” (All About Jazz). The Calling has been described as “a tour de force that showcases Collin’s strengths as an accomplished composer and virtuoso pianist of the highest order” (JazzEd Magazine), and as “a work of art that is worthy of being held onto for generations to come” (Eric Sandler, The Revivalist). Collin’s third release, Press Enter (ACT, 2015) features once again Scott on drums and Curtis on bass. This record was described by the New York Times as a “winning new album”, hailed by Jazz journal, UK as an “absolute masterpiece” and praised by All About Jazz as an “extraordinary album”. The group has toured in major venues and festivals throughout France, Germany, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Turkey, the United States and Japan.

Romain, originally born in France, attended Berklee College of Music (’04), where he majored in Music Synthesis. In 2007, Collin graduated from the prestigious Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz where he held a Full Scholarship as the pianist of an ensemble handpicked by Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter and Terence Blanchard. During this time, Romain toured internationally with Hancock and Shorter, shared the stage with Marcus Miller, Jimmy Heath, and Terence Blanchard, and studied with the likes of Larry Goldings, Russell Ferrante, Ron Carter, Charlie Haden, Mulgrew Miller and Wynton Marsalis.

While carving his career as a leader, Romain co-leads a group with harmonica virtuoso Gregoire Maret, that features guitarist Bill Frisell. The trio released Americana (ACT, 2019) and was Grammy nominated in the Best Contemporary Instrumental Album category. Collin is set to release a duo record with Bergur Thorisson (Bjork’s long time engineer and music director), as well as a project with singer Sachal Vasandani, Midnight Shelter (Edition Records, 2021). Romain has composed numerous scores for films such as Anthem and Syria (mini-documentaries produced by Peace Nobel Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai), Le Bresil par la Cote (five-part feature documentary, 2014), Les Airventuriers (two-part feature documentary, 2015), various short documentaries for the United Nations Refugee Agency as well as numerous award-wining short movies.

This album contains no booklet.