New Release: Kermit Ruffins & Irvin Mayfield Collaborative Album ‘A Beautiful World’
Basin Street’s Two Most Recorded Artists Collaborate For Label’s 20th Anniversary
Out September 22, 2017 on CD, Digital Download, Vinyl + Graphic Novel & Documentary
In celebration of their 20th anniversary, Basin Street Records has announced forthcoming the collaborative album between its two most recorded artists, Kermit Ruffins and Irvin Mayfield, A Beautiful World.
A Beautiful World is a collaboration between two friends, Kermit Ruffins, the big easy ambassador of good times and Rebirth Brass Band co-founder, who has appeared on HBO’s Treme, Bravo’s Top Chef, Late Night with Stephen Colbert, and the soundtrack for Disney’s Jungle Book in a duet with Bill Murray and backing Christopher Walken, and Irvin Mayfield, two-time Grammy-award winner, Billboard Music Award-winner, author, and producer. Combined, the two musicians share a staggering output of nearly fifty records, the majority released on Basin Street Records, an international independent music powerhouse that asked its two most recorded artists to collaborate on this centerpiece of the label’s 20th anniversary celebration. A Beautiful World is the ultimate party in record form. Producer Mayfield worked tirelessly to translate the eclectic soul of Kermit Ruffins to twenty-six tracks. On the process of making the album, Ruffins explains, “Good food and good music are my passions. I wanted to make a record people could eat.”
Mayfield realized that vision by bringing in 57 musicians arranged in four configurations built around a jazz structure: big band, traditional jazz marching band, chamber orchestra and an amended funk ensemble. Some Basin Street Records artists joined to accomplish this goal: The king of New Orleans brass, Rebirth Brass Band; the professorial clarinetist Dr. Michael White; the musical genius, Jason Marsalis; and world-renowned percussionist, Bill Summers. Other notable featured artists include: Haley Reinhart of American Idol, Cyril Neville (of the Meters and Neville Brothers), New Orleans bass legend George Porter Jr. (of The Meters and countless other bands), Tremé-crooner John Boutté, the inimitable and monstrous voice of Glen David Andrews, The King of Tremé Shannon Powell, a nine-piece string ensemble, and the silky-smooth spoken word bass of New Orleans-born actor Wendell Pierce (USA’s Suits, HBO’s The Wire, HBO’s Tremé).
A Beautiful World will be available on September 22, 2017 on all digital platforms and on CD and Vinyl (includes free digital download) at your local record store and from BasinStreetRecords.com. Additionally, in conjunction with the album, Basin Street Records plans to release a graphic novel by writer Amen Neville—more details to come soon. Finally, a documentary about Kermit Ruffins is also in the works, and is slated for a 2018 release.
