Innervision Records Artist

Blake Aaron has come a long way from the kid who played rock shows on Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood and toured with R&B acts like The Drifters, The Coasters, Little Anthony, Mary Wells, and Bobby Womack. Aaron, who, even from the beginning and through it all, always loved, played and studied jazz, is a guitarist who is known best for his passionate musical style, his memorable compositions, his soul and technical expression on the instrument, and his ability to connect with an audience. Since those early days, Aaron has been a staple on the national music scene for many years both as a live performer and in the studio.

Aaron has been the guitarist for such television shows as "MAD TV" (FOX), "The Starlet" (w/Faye Dunaway) (UPN), "10-8" (ABC), "The Jamie Kennedy Experiment" (WB), "Gary and Mike" (UPN),"The Ben Stiller Show" (FOX), "Sunday Night Comics" (FOX), and has recorded and/or performed with such artists as Steve Reid's Bamboo Forest, Eric Marienthal, Bobby Womack and Carlos Santana (Womack-Save the Children) and The Gap Band.

In 1995, Greg Vail released his debut solo record, eMotion on Brainchild Records. In 1996, when he left Kilauea, he recorded Sax by Candlelight for TimeLife. In 2000, Vail began his own record label, Greg Vail Music, and currently has five releases on the label including Christmas, the Hymns 2000, The GospelTruth2001, the re-release of eMotion 2002, Is It Christmas Yet? 2004, and The Gospel Truth Revisited 2006.

Scheduled for release in 2008, Smooth Jazz Classics on Innervision Records.

Smooth Jazz Classics contains 13 tracks of favorite, classic instrumentals. Songs including Klemmer’s Touch, Grover’s Make Me a Memory, Affirmation, Feel’s So Good, Biggest Part of Me and more.

Utilizing some of the hottest names in jazz, Vail and co-producer Tony Guerrero developed a fresh approach to these smooth standards, maintaining the heart of the originals while developing exciting arrangements and orchestrations and using the latest in recording technology. Favorite songs, amazing performances by a cast of world class musicians - Smooth Jazz Classics.

The band includes Tony Guerrero Keys and Brass, Gannin Arnold Guitar, and Melvin Davis Bass. Special guests include David Pack, Grant Geissman, Blake Aaron, Rob Whitlock, Steve Di Stanislao, Julio Figueroa, Wayne Bergeron, Keith Smith and Shannon Kennedy.

Greg Vail has been signed as a Yamaha Performing Artist for eighteen years; he also endorses the AKAI EWI, Audio Technica Wireless and KenKase Reed Cases.

In addition to his reputation as an artist/performer, Greg Vail has made a name for himself as an educator in the Internet world with dozens of educational music sites online and ongoing contributions to Forums, Blogs and News Groups. In his own words, “We have to learn all we can, and then give it away to ever really make a difference.”

Saxophonist Greg Vail has been a vital participant in the music industry over the last few decades and will continue to grow to be one of the most prolific musicians on the instrumental jazz scene. In the words of the national jazz author, Jonathan Widran, “Whether [he is] blowing a tenderly passionate soprano sax, firing up his exciting and playful alto, or edging into a more aggressive stance with his brilliant technique on tenor sax, Greg Vail is a show stopper nonpareil, and one of the most dynamic saxophone players on today’s instrumental scene.”

After high school he attended Cal State University at Hayward and was selected as a freshman to play with Dave Eshelmann’s top Jazz Ensemble and was also working professionally to help pay for his college tuition. With the CSUH Jazz Ensemble, Daniel had the pleasure of touring all over California and parts of Nevada, as well as a tour of Southern Brazil. By this time Daniel had discovered the amazing music of such artists as Jaco Pastorious, Dave Holland, D’Angelo, and Squarepusher which inspired him to begin to write and perform his own music. At age 19 he’d been tabbed to be the bassist for Matt Catingub’s “Copa Cat Pack Band,” with Concord Jazz Records.

Daniel would go on to tour with several popular jazz artists, including, Rosemary Clooney and Michael Feinstein, as Bassist for The Big Kahuna and the Copa Cat Pack. With Rosemary and Michael, over a four year period, Daniel made several appearances on “The Rosie O’Donnell Show,” and “The View,” toured all over the continental U.S., Hawaii, Germany, and Canada, and performed at many popular Jazz Festivals, including, 2000 Stuttgart Jazz Open, 2000-1 Westbury Jazz Festivals, NY, 2001 Maysville Jazz Festival, KY, and also 2000-1 Human Rights Campaign, DC. With Big Kahuna, Daniel performed and recorded with the reputable Honolulu Pops Orchestra; and recorded four full length CD's with Concord Jazz Records, two of which were Grammy Nominated. And, he still managed to complete his Bachelor’s Degree in Music Performance and Composition at the same time.

Daniel has become one of the top call bassists in the San Francisco Bay Area. Recently, touring with Terry Disley from Acoustic Alchemy, Daniel has performed at the Jazz Trax Smooth Jazz Festival at Incline Village, Lake Tahoe and the Jazz Trax Smooth Jazz Festival at Catalina Island in 2004. Daniel is also featured on Terry Disley's latest album entitled, "Across the Pond." Since 2003 Daniel has released three full length original jazz albums of his own "The All For You Project," "Cruise Control," and "The Next Level," as well as masterful Christmas Album, "Have Yourself a Fretless Little Christmas." He is now working on yet a fourth album which will be out in August 2009.

Fans were introduced to Will Donato's musical and performing abilities with some of the best musicians in the west, including Grammy Award winner George Landress, Gregg Karukas, Blake Aaron, Tony Guerrero, Jeff Caruthers, Steve Reid ( The Rippingtons), Al Mckay (Earth,Wind, and Fire), Bruce Conte (Tower of Power!) and Steve Oliver. You can hear Will’s signature sound on Steve's phenominal chart topping 1 hit single “High Noon.” Will was one of the signature front men of Steve Reids - Bamboo Forest for four years! Outside the Contemporary Jazz genre, he has performed with Richard Marx and Gerald Levert and can be heard on the soundtracks of "Thelma and Louise," "The Untouchables" and "The Wedding Planner."

Live in concert, Will's charismatic performance sets pulses racing with his up-tempo, R&B infused jazz style that can switch from funk and groove to mellow ballads without missing a beat.

Will has over 200 performances scheduled this year throughout the country performing regularly at Jazz Festivals, Clubs, Corporate and Private Events, with various contingents including the Art of Sax. This project has enhanced his reputation as a fine showman as well as musician.

Often defined as “…[playing with] raging action… stunningly rich… charismatic… totally engaging…”, saxophonist Greg Vail has established himself as a key component of the music industry.

Greg Vail has toured and recorded with some of the hottest names in the jazz, pop, and Christian music scenes including Rick Braun, Peter White, Greg Adams, Josh Groban, Petra, Crystal Lewis, Natalie Cole, Al Jarreau, Michael McDonald, Earth Wind and Fire, and Smokey Robinson. Over the last 30 years, Vail has also made appearances for everything from television and cable, BET Jazz, History, Fox News, TBN, to the national commercial for TimeLife Records promoting the renowned Sax by Candlelight and Sax by Moonlight CDs which sold in the millions worldwide.

Vail first picked up the saxophone at the age of six and continued to play throughout his education, graduating in 1984 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Music from Cal State Long Beach. After graduation, he worked with many local area bands until joining smooth jazz super group, Kilauea, in 1991. Vail recorded four albums

with Kilauea before joining up with smooth jazz guitar sensation Peter White.

Blake's debut Innervision release, With Every Touch (2001), included special guest appearances by Eric Marienthal and David Benoit. Three singles from this CD would remain in the Top 50 on the Gavin/SmoothJazz.com charts for at least 8 weeks each.

The single "She's So Fine" from his second album, Bringin' It Back (2004), propelled Blake into the forefront of contemporary jazz by remaining in the Top 30 on the Radio and Records charts for 8 straight weeks. Two singles would reach the top 100 of the year on the R&R charts.

Blake recently took a brief sabbatical from solo recording to focus on his studio career and live shows, but has returned with an exceptional new CD. Additionally, with the assistance of All Star Music Lessons, Blake has produced three instructional videos for the guitar. Meanwhile, he continued his studio work with several television shows, which included regular recording sessions and an appearance on Mad TV.

One of Western New York’s premiere instrumental performers, Jack Prybylski’s (purr-bill-ski) career as an award-winning saxophone player has included nine full-length recordings, endorsements, world travel and the opportunity to work with some of the most respected names in contemporary music

Jack grew up in a suburb of Buffalo, New York and first got his hands on a saxophone when he was in the third grade. The young student cut his teeth on Chicago and the hot soul bands of the day like Earth, Wind and Fire. His musical explorations led from soul to jazz and influential players like Tom Scott and David Sanborn. After graduating from State University of New York at Buffalo, Jack would make a name for himself by paying his dues on the East Coast club scene

Over the years Jack has been fortunate enough to further study saxophone with renowned jazz players David Leibman, Tim Price, David Schaivone and, former Buffalo Philharmonic bass clarinet-ist/saxophonist Edward Yadzinski. As a recording artist, he has released seven albums with Buffalo-based eclectic jazz group Them Jazzbeards, including the soundtrack for the motion picture Shadow Creature. As a performer, Jack has shared the stage with many of the top names in contemporary jazz including Richard Elliott, David Sanborn, The Rippingtons, and Spyro Gyra, and has performed with the prestigious Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. Jack is a ten-time recipient of the Buffalo Music Awards top saxophonist award, having won the award for the fourth consecutive year in December 2008.

In 2001, Jack released his solo debut Soho Strut, which produced the Internet radio single Mandalay Bay. Smoothjazz.com President Sandy Shore hailed the CD as "Filling in the cracks between modern jazz and Smooth Jazz... Soho Strut is packed full with great compositions, sophisticated arrangements, creative improvisation, and stellar musicianship.”

Window Shopping, released in early 2006, employed the talents of acclaimed contemporary jazz guitarist and producer Ken Navarro. A mutual friend was responsible for the creative pairing when she suggested Ken contact Jack for some ideas on Internet radio resources. A longtime admirer of Ken’s work, Jack was thrilled. The two had a real connection right away, and as Jack was beginning preliminary work on Win-dow Shopping, he asked if Ken might be interested in contributing a song or making an appearance on the album. Ken was more than interested, and in addition to producing the CD, he provided all the guitar tracks as well as an original composition entitled “Bright Spot.” “It was great working with Ken on this pro-ject and drawing on his experience not only as a musician and producer, but also as a label owner and an icon in this genre for years,” says Jack.

An unpredicted firestorm of accolades followed the release of Window Shopping. A 2006 top ten with Smooth Jazz News, Window Shopping would also find itself a favorite on several other year-end lists and reviewers.

Jon Dalton is a consummate jazz guitarist.

After a successful career as an international touring session musician, Jon returned to the UK to form his first jazz based outfit the Latin tinged Dit-Da. BBC radio recorded numerous sessions of their original music for national and international radio broadcast.

The band's relaxed sound pre-dated the commercial acceptance of Smooth Jazz by almost a decade.

At the same time, in common with artists like George Benson and Chuck Loeb, Jon did not neglect his passionate study of more mainstream jazz styles and is

equally at home burning up on a classic standard like “Stella By Starlight” as he is composing radio friendly tunes like "The Gift" which reached number one on the New York based CIM jazz radio chart.

Jon relocated to Southern California in 1999.

His latest project is a swinging Guitar & Organ based trio featuring the amazing John-Paul Gard on Hammond and top London session player Andy Roger on Drums.

A veteran of the music scene, Hart has opened for jazz legends like Ron Eschete, Tom Scott, Russell Malone, McCoy Tyner, Mel Torme, and Kirk Whalum. Seasoned by the American and European tour circuit, previous partnerships include a successful tour with Larry Pierce (Blood, Sweat and Tears).

Hart’s studio work and writing talents eventually landed him an appointment as co-writer and arranger for a pilot series and a full-time position as a music director for a music network.

A firm believer in the power of education, Hart has taught private lessons for many years and previously served on the faculty of Tuacahn Center for the Arts in Utah and in Oklahoma.

Hart’s style incorporates a variety of influences. From hard-bop to funk and soul, Hart possesses an energy-infused vibe that successfully bridges the genre gap. Most importantly, Hart intertwines both improvisation and melodic composition to create songs that interest the ear, while pleasing the soul.

Eric Bolvin is an award-winning California Composer/Arranger with a schedule that includes playing, writing, teaching, and producing music. As a session player and arranger, Eric has recorded over 50 CDs for A&M Records and Mesa/Blue Moon Records. He has played or recorded with Russell Ferrante, Jeff Lorber, Dennis Chambers and Greg Adams; as a composer and arranger, his works have been performed by Jerry Bergonzi, Ernie Watts, Grant Geissman and many others. Eric’s lush, soulful trumpet playing demonstrates why he was charted in 2008-2009 on Smooth Jazz Radio, playing on 85 stations nationwide and his songs and cues are currently carried by some of the industry’s top libraries.

Eric Bolvin has released four solo CDs on his EBjazz Records label; Eric Bolvin’s Quorum in 2002, The Night, The Rain And You in 2007, The Lost Recordings in 2008 and Workin’ It in 2009.

Bringing the same kind of emotional depth and stylistic diversity to contemporary jazz as his heroes and chief influences Lee Ritenour and Larry Carlton, guitarist/composer Patrick Yandall has blazed creative and commercial trails that have inspired a new generation of independent instrumental musicians to pursue their dreams without compromise. Sixteen years after breaking onto the scene with his first national recording That Feels Nice—a sentiment shared by thousands of fans who still have that seminal work in their collections—the multi-talented San Diego based performer is as dynamic, passionate and inventive as ever on his Innervisions Records debut The Window, which marks his incredible 11th release to date.

On the heels of Going For One and One Hour Blues, extraordinary, hard-hitting 2010 projects that explored Yandall’s lifelong loves of hard-rock and blues-rock, respectively, the artist brings a fiery edge, intense funk grooves and tastes of cool tropicality and retro jazz-soul to the self-produced 12 track collection that, true to its title, offers a unique window to Yandall’s ever-evolving musical soul. Its diversity has its roots in the Yandall’s many compositions these past years for numerous top music libraries, which license his prolific work in many genres for television, film and numerous corporations. His compositions have been heard everywhere from The Weather Channel to “War, Inc.,” the 2008 film starring John Cusack, Marisa Tomei and Hilary Duff which featured “Who’s The Bossa.”

While Yandall’s presence on the internet and his popularity on websites like Reverb Nation and Facebook has helped him built a worldwide following and a thousands-strong fan base, fans in his longtime home of San Diego get to hear him play his popular radio hits and shed new material on a regular basis at Humphrey’s Backstage Live—where the popular smooth jazz station KIFM hosts shows on Sunday nights—and downtown hotspots like Anthology.

In addition to producing and/or recording for NBC, KUSI 51 and various San Diego media outlets, his prolific studio and live performance work over the years includes working with renowned jazz artists Michael Paulo, Scott Wilkie, J. Michael Verta, Greg Vail, Tommy Emmanuel and the late Carl Evans, Jr. (Fattburger) and Hollis Gentry. His solo discography includes A Lasting Embrace (1997); Of Two Cities (2000); Back To The Groove (2002); From The Ashes (2004); Eyes of Mars (2005); Samoa Soul (2006); New York Blues (2007); Laws of Groovity (2008); and A New Day (2009). Rhapsody Music once called Yandall “a middle of the road guitar god,” while Jazziz Magazine made note of his “solid songwriting, guitar chops and arrangements,” which added “a fresh twist to the world of smooth and contemporary jazz.”

“In the 90s, the genre that evolved into smooth jazz was known as contemporary jazz, and that designation allowed for more improvisation and real jazz fusion energy even as the songs were driven by melody and groove,” says Yandall, who began playing guitar at age 11 after hearing greats like Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and Carlos Santana. “All these years later, I still have that contemporary jazz bug in me, and love doing extended soloing, like Carton and Ritenour always have done even on their pop-oriented projects. I think I’ve grown as a composer and my songs have become deeper and more interesting and intricate over time. When I was working on material for The Window, I noticed a common thread of Jeff Lorber-like old school soul keyboard harmonies that were fun to include, but there is also a lot of blues-rock, pop-rock and even tropical flavors that make it exciting and unpredictable.”

The product of a constantly moving military family, Yandall spent the majority of his growing up years in Bay City, Michigan. He switched from his first instrument, the trumpet, to the guitar after a freak football accident and a three month hospital stay; while recovering, his father brought him a guitar book, which ultimately would inspire his lifelong passion. During his teen years, Yandall made the nightclubs of East Lansing his training grounds and began performing in over-eighteen clubs when he was only 13. A summer program at Berklee College of Music and a brief stint at Central Michigan University helped the guitarist hone his rock-leaning talents on a powerful jazz fusion approach which would define his later solo work.

“My favorite part of this career as it has evolved,” Yandall says, “is to create music that touches people around the world and to perform for fans in my hometown and different festivals yet also have the luxury of working in my home studio most of the time. That allows me to be a normal family guy and spend a lot of time with my 11 year old son, Marcus. It’s always great to realize that music has the potential to touch so many different people and I am continually on a mission to compose, record and perform better songs all the time.”

Craig Sharmat may be new to many as a solo jazz artist but his career as a guitarist/composer is accomplished. His debut album "So Cal Drivin" had the single of the same name place in the Billboard top 30 for seventeen weeks. An Impressive start out of the gate. His 2nd album "Outside In" will be his first on Innervision Records.

Early in Craig's journey he found inspiration from Guitarist's like Larry Carlton, Pat Metheny and George Benson. Assimilating some of these styles and adding his own touch Craig soon found himself touring with jazz legends Randy Crawford and Ronnie Laws. After a few years on the road it became evident to Craig that if he wanted a stable home life he needed to actually be home and pursued being a composer as his main profession. This was something he considered early on in his studies as a probability. Craig landed his first major scoring gig which lasted 3 years as the composer for Disney's "Kids Incorporated". While doing this he continued doing some local session work and gigs in L.A. on guitar but his career path was now set. For the next twenty years his resume looks like a who's who of television series with some movies sprinkled in. Some highlights include the opening for The MTV Movie Awards,14 years as composer for America's Most Wanted (still active), Theme and background music to "The Real housewives of New Jersey", numerous animation, many trailers include for example "Ghost Rider,King Kong, Live Free Die Hard, ads for Disney, Universal, ABC,etc etc. A full list can be found at www.scoredog.tv. Being an accomplished guitarist Craig took advantage of that talent, and his guitar work can he heard on thousands of TV, Movies and Ad cues on his own work and for the many other composers who recognized he not only can play well but posses a composers sensibility when recording.

Over the last few years Craig has had a renewed interest in following his original career path, that of being a pop jazz guitarist. As an arranger Craig had already placed arrangements for Rick Braun and Peter White's Christmas album with Rick and Mindy Abair, but now it was finally time to strike out on his own. After the success of his first album Craig is anxious to share what he feels is his best cumulative work to date "Outside In".

One can only smile and enjoy when hearing the music of Rocco Ventrella. The joy of his music that exudes from his soul is undeniable. His passion for smooth jazz is so obvious with every note he plays.

With "Give Me The Groove" CD, released on February 2007, Ventrella has been Pre-Nominated Grammy Award Contemporary Jazz Best Album 2007 Top 50. After performing in over 20 different countries and playing for hundreds of others records artists for many years, Ventrella discovered the great saxophone player Grover Washington, Jr. in the mid-90s. Ventrella was captivated by the sound and the groove of Grover and for this reason Grover will remain his “virtual” teacher forever. On the 2005 Ventrella recorded, arranged and produced the "Tribute To Grover Washington, Jr." CD in memory of the late, great saxophone player. This remarkable recording originally contained just five tracks: "Winelight", "Let It Flow", "Make Me a Memory", "Mr. Grover"(original by Ventrella) and "Come Morning". However, it was “Winelight” that made Rocco a household name on Smooth Jazz stations across the Internet. Winelight was selected by Sky.fm as one of "The Best Of 2005," along with other 14 tracks. Ventrella continued to create new recordings featuring his own compositions, including the soulful and haunting I Receive Your Love. The “Tribute To Grover” and "I Receive Your Love" CDs brought Ventrella to the attention of American producer Bruce Nazarian (he played the synclavier on the "Giving you the best that I got" Anita Baker's CD, Millie Scott, The Automatix), and an international alliance was born. With Give Me The Groove CD, produced by Bruce Nazarian and with the collaboration of his friend-pianist Renato Falaschi, Ventrella received a Pre-Grammy Awards Nomination Best Contemporary Jazz Album 2007 and scored Top 20 smooth jazz radio stations with 5 tracks of the CD: Soulful Strut, Winelight, Alleria, On The Night and Give Me The Groove. Also Ventrella has gotten quotes from George Duke, Everette Harp, Dave Koz, Marion Meadows, Chris Standring and more.

Rocco Ventrella was born in Bari, Italy and began playing saxophone at age of twelve. As a young boy, he remembers when his father, a lover of jazz music, gave to him an album of Duke Ellington and Ventrella was captured by the sound of the sax of Johnny Hodge and a love was born. Ventrella was trained jazzly, but switched to the clarinet at age 15 enrolling himself at Conservatory of Music of Bari and abandoning the sax for seven years. During this time Ventrella had nostalgia of the saxophone, the love for the sax was so intense. "The clarinet wasn't quite expressive enough for me," he says. "I really connected more with jazz and funk. So I picked up the saxophone changing my style immediately."

Ventrella begins performing in alot of jazz clubs of his city and out of the city and played for over 25 years in a local jazz big band where famous artists have been guests such as Lee Konitz, Art Farmer, Dizzy Gillespie, Ernie Wilkins, Tony Scott, Chet Baker, Eddie "Lockiaw" Davis, Bob Mintzer and more. "I always loved American music and the people," he says. Ventrella's first official gig in the U.S. has been in Augusta, GA. where him was invited to playing at James Brown Festival 2006 that headlined James Brown. By the age of 30 Ventrella had performed on national Italian television several times and toured the world with some famous italian singers.

Actually Ventrella continuous to play in the world and he has shared and sharing the stages with most respected smooth jazz artists like Peter White, Marion Meadows, Candy Dulfer, Jaared, Oli Silk, Renato Falaschi, Mindi Abair, Jessy J., Brian Culbertson, Nick Colionne, Jackiem Joyner, Nils, Paul Brown, Gerald Albright, Jonathan Fritzen, Greg and Gary Grainger and more.