Alan Hewitt Project - Noche De Pasion (2004)

After toiling away in the studio for years cranking out hits for other artists in a variety of formats, musician-producer-songwriter Alan Hewitt is set to unveil what may be the breakthrough album of the year in contemporary instrumental music. Noche de Pasion’ is credited to the Alan Hewitt Project, a title that appropriately reflects the varied and multidimensional songs and sonicscapes created by Hewitt and his talented cast of guest stars, including Jonathan Butler, Mindi Abair, Michael Lington, Euge Groove and Earth, Wind & Fire’s Maurice White. Hewitt is the flagship artist of 215 Records, a division of 215 Music & Media LLC, which will release the collection of jazz, R&B, dance, and rock tracks on April 27th. Smooth jazz radio will sample the first chapter from the album on March 15th when the pulsating club track “Breathless,” featuring the trumpet of Steve Madaio (Stevie Wonder, Rolling Stones), goes for adds.

By keeping the emphasis on infectious melodies and inventive rhythms, Hewitt crafted uncompromising compositions lead by a variety of soloists with the singular purpose of creating the best album he could possibly make. Hewitt, who played all the keyboards, piano, drums, percussion and drum programming on the entire album, challenges listeners by changing the sound and style on most every track. As a songwriter, his gift is writing potent, memorable hooks and he wrote eight songs for the record, co-wrote one with White, and received one from Butler. Additionally Hewitt produced eight tracks on Noche de Pasion’ and co-produced two more.

Hewitt’s resume is as diverse as his music. He’s worked on records by an eclectic list of artists, including Earth, Wind & Fire, Butler, Warrant, Donnie Osmond and John Waite. He’s also an award-winning composer, who has contributed songs and scores to such films, television shows and networks as “Gods and Generals,” “The Osbournes,” “Survivor,” “Happy Gilmore,” ESPN, E! Entertainment Television, and the soon-to-be-released feature “Swimming Upstream,” starring Geoffrey Rush and Judy Davis.

“This album was literally a labor of love for me. It came entirely from the heart,” explained Hewitt, who is looking forward to touring with his own band. “Making the album as ‘The Alan Hewitt Project’ enabled me to stretch creatively in ways that I couldn’t have had it just been a solo album featuring keyboards. I was determined to be true to the spirit of the music and as free from restrictions and limitations as possible.”