Pulse Steve Cole

• 1 Pulse 03:54
• 2 Do Your Thing 04:31
• 3 With You All the Way 04:18
• 4 Slinky 04:08
• 5 Going in Circles 04:54
• 6 Looking Up 04:25
• 7 Maximum Cool 03:54
• 8 Minty Fresh 04:38
• 9 Ain't No Love in the Heart of the City 03:59
• 10 Believe 04:28
• Total Runtime 43:09

Info for Pulse

"Pulse" is about finding an audience and really honoring them. I have a voice and an instrument, but my job is to entertain. It's simple in a way: if you focus on those people right in front of you and what excites them, you win every time. My work is about moving people. If you can figure out how to do that, the rest falls into place, explains Cole, who has consistently delivered chart-topping hits and won fans via entertaining live performances. As a player, Cole describes his sound with one emphatic word: BIG! My sound is warm and I strive to communicate effectively through my horn. I ve heard it said that my sound is like a big warm blanket. I kind of like that description, he chuckles. His inspired sax play throughout Pulse is poured with passion and precision, enriched with genuine soul power. There is feverish urgency and muscle along with harnessed control, grace and gentility.

"Pulse" also offers two great covers. First up there’s a respectful treatment of the Friends Of Distinction’s ‘Going In Circles’. Always a great tune, Cole’s version has been shaped by the live renditions that were always showstoppers in his Chicago club days and is enhanced by an ethereal backing vocal from Nicki Richards. She’s also on hand for a take on the late Bobby Bland’s ‘Ain’t No Love In The Heart Of The City’. Here the lead vocal comes from Cole’s guitarist Rico McFarland and though he lacks the grit of “Blue” Bland, Cole’s sax lead brings out all the song’s inherent desperation. Both these covers come highly recommended and like the rest of the collection represent a side of Cole that’s the opposite to the one he offered up on his last album ‘Moonlight’. Where that was a gentle, insinuating affair, ‘Pulse’ is in your face. It might be filed away under “smooth jazz” – but there’s nothing smooth about ‘Pulse’" (soulandjazzandfunk.com)

Steve Cole, tenor saxophone
Trevor Neumann, trumpet
Dan Levine, trombone
David Mann, alto & tenor saxophones, flute, keyboards, synth bass, programming
Nicholas Cole, keyboards, synth bass, programming
Ricky Peterson, Hammond B3
Bernd Schoenhart, guitar
Khari Parker, drums
Paul Peterson, electric bass
Nicki Richards, background vocals
Rico McFarland, guitar, vocals, background vocals

Please Note: We offer this album in its native sampling rate of 48kHz, 24-bit. The provided 96kHz version was up-sampled and offers no audible value!

Steve Cole
is one of the most celebrated players in contemporary jazz.

The Chicago native exploded onto the scene in 1998 with the album “Stay Awhile” that was produced by fellow Chicagoan Brian Culbertson. The disc scored two #1 hits and earned Cole the Oasis Smooth Jazz Award for best new artist shortly before his sophomore set, “Between Us,” was released in 2000. His catchy singles made him an instant radio favorite and he cranked them out with regularity on subsequent albums “NY LA” (2003), “Spin” (2005, “True” (2006), "Moonlight" (2009), and "True" (2013).

In addition to his work as solo artist, Steve has performed/recorded, with Junior Wells, Buddy Guy, Boz Scaggs, Larry Carlton, Jeff Lorber, Jim Peterik, Freddie Cole, Cyrus Chestnut, and KMFDM, and has been a featured soloist with the City of Prague Orchestra, and The Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Steve is also a founding member of The Sax Pack, a stellar sax trio completed by Marcus Anderson and Jeff Kashiwa.

Known for consistently cranking out chart-topping singles that deploy big vibrant pop hooks, contemporary jazz saxophonist Steve Cole conjures a sonic escapade with the hypnotic “Mirage,” the first single from his forthcoming eighth album, “Turn It Up,” which will be released July 15 by Artistry Music. Radio programmers were instantly spellbound, making the track from the David Mann-produced set of R&B grooves and soul-powered sojourns the No. 1 most added single on the Billboard BDS chart.

The entrancing single on which electronic beats bombard the senses before chill tenor and soprano sax leads and a soothing trumpet undercurrent take command of the illusion is one of nine new songs on the session, eight of which were composed or co-composed by Cole. The tune reflects his hometown roots and ardor for Chicago’s dance music scene. It’s one of three major cities that helped shape the collection.

"I embarked on ‘Turn It Up’ with the goal of making music with great musicians and great friends in great cities. This time around I wrote much of the music with Dave Mann in New York City. We recorded horns, guitars and vocals there as well. The energy in that great city was truly inspiring and it really is reflected in the music. Next stop was Minneapolis, where I worked with the great keyboardist and producer Ricky Peterson. Ricky and I wrote the song ‘Workhouse’ together, a track influenced by our love of Chicago house music. Dave joined us later in Minneapolis to record Ricky on the Hammond B3 organ as well as to record my Chicago pals, bassist Lamar Jones and drummer Khari Parker. I decided to track all of the saxophone parts in Minneapolis as well,” explained Cole, who has a slate of festival and club dates running into mid-October to help support the album release.

Cole and Mann have been collaborating ever since Cole’s sophomore record, “Between Us” (2000). In addition to helming the production on “Turn It Up,” multi-instrumentalist Mann often shadows Cole on alto and soprano sax to add depth, thickness, volume and intensity to the layers upon layers of horns – alto, tenor and soprano saxophones, trumpet, trombone and flute. Aside from the back-to-back dance music workouts that close the album, Cole’s energizing pop melodies and hooky harmonies on the disc are presented as soulful R&B joints. The saxman dusted off Bobby Womack’s “Woman’s Gotta Have It,” teamed up with fresh-faced keyboardist Nicholas Cole on “Turn It Up!” and yielded the spotlight on “Bright Side” to Pieces of a Dream’s James Lloyd, the author of the sunny mid-tempo smile, who solos on piano.

“In the end, I really accomplished what I set out to do,” Cole surmised. “The music reflects all of the diverse backgrounds and personalities that brought it to life. There was a lot of laughter and good times throughout this journey. I think that's why I've got such a big smile on my face on the album cover. After all, it's supposed to be fun...and it sure was!”

Cole’s 1998 award-winning arrival onto the contemporary jazz scene was the Brian Culbertson-produced “Stay Awhile” that spawned a pair of No. 1 singles. Solo tours and prominent sideman gigs with Culbertson, Boz Scaggs, Rick Braun, Peter White, Jeff Lorber and Larry Carlton served to rapidly multiply his fervent fan base exponentially while successive albums and singles repeatedly took Cole to the top of the charts, establishing him as a radio playlist favorite. In addition to his own recordings, Cole records and performs regularly as a member of Sax Pack, an all-star sax combo consisting of rotating members Jeff Kashiwa, Kim Waters, Jackiem Joyner and Marcus Anderson.

This album contains no booklet.