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Born into a musical family, Michael Leonhart has been making waves in the music and entertainment world since he was 17, when he was honored as the youngest Grammy recipient in history. Since then, he has become a highly sought after trumpet player, producer, composer, songwriter, and arranger. Over the past 10 years, Michael Leonhart has performed and/or recorded with some of the best names in music. Some of those names include Yoko Ono, Mos Def, Steely Dan, Brian Eno, James Brown, Bill Withers, David Byrne, and Todd Rundgren, not to mention the 50 plus recordings he has appeared on for Truth & Soul. However, Seahorse and The Storyteller, is the first time the world will be exposed to the psychedelic, reverb drenched, and highly intimate music that has surfaced solely from the imagination of Michael Leonhart.
While on the road with Steely Dan in 2005, Leonhart came up with the idea to record a concept record that would meld the styles of Bollywood funk scores, 60’s psychedelic rock, and the mythical storytelling of artists like Peter, Paul, & Mary and Donovan. Seahorse and The Storyteller is a modern musical opera that in the words of Leonhart, "tells the story of two mythical creatures who meet, fall in love and begin piecing together the mysteries of each others past."
To help see his vision to fruition, Leonhart enlisted the service of a group of New York Studio musicians that have provided the backdrop for records by El Michels Affair, TV on The Radio, Dap-Kings, Antibalas, The Phenomenal Handclap Band, and The Plastic Ono Band. Those musicians include Luke Riverside, Binky Griptite, Yuka Honda, Jamie Leonhart, Dave Guy, Leon Michels, Thomas Brenneck, Homer Steinweiss, Nick Movshon, Stuart Bogie, Jamie Leonhart, Chochemea Gastelum, Mike Williams, Katie Sheele, and Sunny Jain.
Seahorse is a record that defines genre generalizations and will prove to be one of the most enjoyable and interesting records of 2010. With quirky arrangements featuring strings, mellotron, fuzz guitar, horns, vibes, farfisa, gang vocals, and practically every percussion instrument under the sun, Michael Leonhart & The Avramina 7 have crated a new and unique sound that heavily draws influence from artists like R.D Burman, The Beatles, Fela Kuti, and 60’s psychedelia but manages to sound completely fresh and new and like nothing else out there. |
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