Spencer Day - Angel City (2018)

Spencer Day – born in Utah, raised in rural Arizona, and currently living in New York City – has wandered amid the expansive and diverse landscape of American music, developing an artistic sensibility that borrows from numerous sources: jazz, musical theater, cabaret, soul, folk, traditional and contemporary pop. He uses intuition and improvisation as his primary tools to craft a sound that is familiar, yet fresh and innovative at the same time. Day’s album Vagabond peaked at #11 on the Billboard Album Chart and stayed on the chart for 47 weeks. The lead single, “Til You Come To Me,” peaked at #3. His recent album, Daybreak, debuted at #1 on the iTunes Jazz Chart.

Angel City, his seventh and latest album, was recorded at Capitol Records with the support of the Budman-Levy Orchestra. Using the fabled city of Los Angeles as a backdrop, the recording continues Spencer’s meditations on love, fame, narcissism, and how an artist can maintain integrity and authenticity. New Yorkers will be able to find their own parallels in the themes of the songs. The album’s lyrics and melodies reveal something of a stylistic departure from Spencer’s previous records, although you’ll certainly find his unique blend of blue-eyed soul, pop and film noir moodiness from the classic jazz era. Incorporating slices of life from legends and nobodies, the city of dreams is built on projections and fantasy, light and darkness.

The Washington Post praised his “cool jazz sensibilities” and “cleverly crafted tales,” with Time Out New York calling him “a compelling, quirky singer-songwriter.” According to The San Francisco Chronicle, “his melodies are infectious, his arrangements are dazzling and, most of all, his delivery is heartfelt and, often, heartbreaking. He is not only a superb pianist, but a brilliant arranger, who consistently celebrates the partnership between his voice and the piano.