The Groove Project is back with their ninth in a monthly series of single releases. They are working on a Smooth Jazz / Contemporary Jazz concept album about man’s fascination with flight. The new single GRAVITY is inspired by a quote by Michael Cunningham –“The secret of flight is this – you have to do it immediately, before your body realizes it is defying the laws.”
The current eight man lineup of the musical group is fronted by GRAMMY® Award nominated Musician & Producer ARUN SHENOY and acclaimed producer MATTHEW SHELL. The idea of this concept album is in part, a posthumous tribute to Roshni Mohapatra (7 Jan 1980 – 13 Dec 2018) who had envisioned Shenoy’s previous project as a multi-sensory experience of music, art, animation and physical packaging. She has previously cited Davie Bowie and Pink Floyd as some of her early influences for art direction of musical projects.
I enjoyed the New Age feel of this piece. There is subtle rolling percussion throughout. As we have come to expect with the Groove Project, the musicianship on “Gravity” is impeccable. A solid groove carries the tune as the group’s signature duo of saxophone and guitar trade bluesy, Smooth Jazz licks. This time the group is also joined by special guest, Armenian pianist, VAGHAN STEPANYAN. Stepanyan’s contributions are subtle and classy. He takes center stage for a beautiful extended solo at the 4:30 mark.
The project will culminate in a full-length album in the summer of 2020. The single’s distribution is handled by DashGo. Radio promotion is being handled by Neal Sapper at New World N Jazz Marketing and Publicity and Marketing by Beth Hilton at The B Company.
Check out Gravity here, and follow the links below to connect with The Groove Project.
Connect:
The Groove Project at Narked Records
Twitter: @arunshen @mts_music
Instagram: @arunshenoymusic @mts_music
Hear “Gravity” on the Deep Indie Chill playlist
About Vahagn Stepanyan
Vahagn Stepanyan (born July 10, 1985) is a gifted Armenian-born keyboard player, songwriter, composer, arranger and producer. His musical journey started at the early age of eight when he was enrolled into a music school for classical piano lessons.
Vahagn’s quest carried him from Yerevan Tchaikovsky High School, a special school for music, on to Yerevan Komitas State Conservatory where he earned a bachelor’s degree in classical music. Immediately following his graduation from conservatory, Vahagn began composing, arranging and recording soundtracks for films. Vahagn’s musical passions and endeavors gave him the experience he needed to compose music and write songs for famous artists at an early age.
By 2010 Vahagn had begun traveling. His musical giftedness has been recognized by Grammy Award-Winning artists and well-known musicians across the world. Throughout the years Vahagn has collaborated with a host of artists through studio work, tours and writing including Eric Marienthal (Grammy Award Winning Saxophonist), Nathan East (Grammy Nominated Bassist), Melvin Lee Davis (Chaka Khan’s Musical Director), Wojtek Pilichowski, Eric Moore, Mark Lettieri (Snarky Puppy), Richie Gajate Garcia (Sting, Phil Collins, Diana Ross), Feodor Dosumov, Ida Nielsen (Bassist for Prince), Henrik Linder (Dirty Loops) and other incredible musicians.
In 2015 at age of 29, Vahagn self-produced his debut album “Moonlight”. It infuses the musical styles of Smooth Jazz, R&B and Funk with the talents of artists from USA, Brazil, Armenia, Thailand, Israel, Turkey and Germany. “Moonlight” was musically produced by Vahagn in his home country of Armenia and mixed in the neighbouring country of Turkey by one of Istanbul’s top mixing engineers Alen Konakoğlu. Grammy-Winning mastering engineer Evren Göknar at Capitol Studios (Hollywood, CA) mastered “Moonlight”, making this recording a top global music project indeed.
With many years of experience of recording and performing in the musical styles of Jazz, R&B, Funk, Fusion, Pop, Gospel and film score, Vahagn is on the right track and isn’t showing any signs of slowing down. He continues to collaborate, tour & produce music for world class musicians and artists around the globe. Vahagn created great presets for the audio plugins and VSTi’s for the companies like WAVES, IK Multimedia and some others.
Vahagn is also collaborating with Sterling-Sound’s top mastering engineer Randy Merrill (Tyler Swift, Adele, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber).
Vahagn is a Grammy Recording Academy Voting Member. He is also managing Melvin Lee Davis’ (Chaka Khan’s musical director & bassist) post production on YouTube.
Currently Vahagn Stepanyan is Endorsed by Antelope Audio, ROLI, 64Audio, GruvGear, Klotz Cables, TK Audio, Aston Mics, Ehrlund Mics, Austrian Audio, Kali Audio, Waves Audio, Slate Digital, IK Multimedia and Avedis Audio.
Vahagn resides in Yerevan by owning the best acoustically built Recording Studio in Armenia.