Two "smooth jazz" superstars have teamed up for a new album that goes hand-in-hand with a little rest and relaxation. VOA's Doug Levine tells us about R n R, featuring the long-awaited collaboration between trumpeter Rick Braun and tenor saxophonist Richard Elliot.
Rick Braun and Richard Elliot found they were so compatible on stage they decided to take their talent for making music one step further. They started their own label. With the creation of Artizen Music Group in 2005, the duo has the best of both worlds: Creative freedom and finding and producing new artists.
Another benefit of running their business is the ability to record and distribute your own albums at your own pace. So far, that has proven a fruitful endeavor for the Braun-Elliot team.
While Rick Braun and Richard Elliot have often performed together in concert, their debut album, R n R, marks the first time they have collaborated in the studio.
According to Elliot, recording together was inevitable. He says, "We've had so much fun playing together live that it was time for us to get together musically." Braun compares working with Elliot to a pair of singers trading solos. He says, "We treated the lead instruments as would vocalists recording duets, which gave them each a personal voice."of concerts featuring guitarists Peter White and Jonathan Butler.
