Shayna Steele - Rise (2019)

There's no need to sugar coat it, since her impressive credits speak for themselves. Her colleagues praise her ability, her dedication and drive to perfecting her craft as a professional singer and knockout performer. Since her arrival in New York City over a decade ago, singer and songwriter Shayna Steele proves she is a vocal force to be reckoned with.

Steele’s sophomore LP Rise is a collection of songs inspired by the change of things happening within her touring band after the release of her debut LP, I’ll Be Anything. “We (myself and my partner David Cook) made a beautiful first album with horns and strings and then we completely had to strip down the songs to tour with a smaller band. I really enjoyed the freedom and ease of performing with a trio or a quartet. It was intimate and vulnerable and I felt the need to start writing music to feature not only my lyrics, but to give the musicians a chance to breathe on their instrument. I really wanted the audience to feel like they were part of this moment with me, so I needed to make space.”

Rise is produced by Matt Pierson and features David Cook (piano, keys, organ, co-writer), Eric Harland (drums), Marcus Miller (electric bass), Christian McBride (acoustic bass), Robin Macatangay and Errol Cooney (guitar) with guests Robert Randolph (slide guitar), Bashiri Johnson (percussion), Gregoire Maret (harmonica), Andy Snitzer (saxophone) and Downbeat Rising Star jazz vocalist Sachal Vasandani.

Shayna’s critically acclaimed performance of her single Gone Under for Grammy Award winning band Snarky Puppy’s Family Dinner, Volume 1, was a game changer. “I’d performed with SP a few times in NYC for the Family Dinners at Rockwood Music Hall and I knew this was something special and I had to be involved.” Right she was. With Ground UP Records releasing Gone Under as the debut video, to this date it’s reached over 500,000 views on YouTube.

Shayna calls home to such venues as the Blue Note, Rockwood Music Hall and Joe’s Pub in NYC, The Fillmore Jazz Festival in front of 3,000 people in San Francisco, LA’s Hotel Café and several tours throughout Italy, Switzerland and France.

She most recently performed with Snarky Puppy at the 2014 Nice Jazz Festival, Estival Jazz Festival and the world famous North Sea Jazz Festival to an incredible response. In addition to her recording with Snarky Puppy, Shayna’s songs and/ or vocals have been featured on Moby’s Disco Lies which reached #1 on the Billboard Dance Charts in 2010 and was featured live on Conan O’Brien, the Yahoo! Live Sessions and the Carson Daly show. Her song The Bund co-written and produced by David Liang was featured on the BBC during the 2008 Olympics in China.

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