VA - A Day In The Life: Impressions Of Pepper (2018) [Hi-Res]

Some of today’s most meaningful up and coming and established jazz artists pay homage to the iconic Beatles record “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”. Musicians were given the challenge to create loose interpretation of these classic songs, and the result is impressionistic, original, avant-garde takes on legendary tracks like “With A Little Help From My Friends”, “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds”, “Getting Better”, and “A Day In The Life”. Keyon Harrold, Brandee Younger, Shabaka & The Ancestors, and Antonio Sanchez are just some of the amazing artists who have contributed to this project. This release will impress Beatles fanatics by highlighting the material in a brand-new light, while also showcasing some of the most exciting names in jazz today.

Impulse! has brought together some of the great progressive jazz musicians of our time to pay tribute to The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. A Day In The Life: Impressions of Pepper will be available on vinyl for Record Store Day on November 23, available on CD, digital, and streaming platforms on November 30, with a wide vinyl release on January 18, 2019.

A Day In The Life: Impressions of Pepper includes performances and interpretations by artists such as UK saxophonist and Impulse! recording artist Shabaka Hutchings, Impulse! pianist Sullivan Fortner, Verve recording artist Miles Mosley, Onyx Collective, percussionist Antonio Sanchez, guitarist Mary Halvorson, The JuJu Exchange and more. The full track list is below.

This stellar lineup represents some of the great progressive jazz artists from around the world: Shabaka from the UK Jazz scene, Miles Mosley and Cameron Graves from LA’s West Coast Get Down, Onyx Collective from NYC, Makaya McCraven and the JuJu Exchange from Chicago.

Danny Bennett, President & CEO of Verve Label Group played a big part in the A&R process for this record, as a longtime fan of The Beatles and head of the label that is celebrated for its incredible jazz legacy and innovative signings.

Bennett says, “In the Summer of 1967, The Beatles released to the world Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and, five decades later, the album remains the gold standard of musical innovation. The record not only changed the course of musical history but defined a generation and remains timeless.”

Bennett continues, “Like a modern, sonic version of the iconic photograph “A Great Day In Harlem,” this recording showcases the most meaningful up-and-coming and established artists that are taking the new jazz scene by storm. Each artist was given the challenge to create a work that would push the musical envelope by presenting an impressionistic rendering of a favorite song from Pepper. I’m proud to say that what you hear are enduring interpretations wholly original, which more than exceeded my expectations.”

What you hear on this record are not covers, but impressions of these iconic songs. A small part of a melody, a subtle bass riff inspired these artists to create something new.

Shabaka Hutchings and his band the Ancestors took on the track “Good Morning Good Morning.” Shabaka says of his process, "I took melodic fragments from throughout the song and used these as starting posts for my imagination to complete the phrases as I saw fit. I tried to see the tube as a mine of raw materials whereby I extract core musical information then process it into what I define as beauty.”