BLUE SKIES (SKY BLUE VINYL) by TERESA BRIGHT

Nearly 25 years after Catching A Wave, Hawaiian jazz artist Teresa Bright recorded her 14th studio album as a solo artist, Blue Skies.

In 2005, acclaimed Hawaiian singer Teresa Bright — whose recording debut, Catching A Wave, was reissued by Aloha Got Soul in 2020 — recorded a jazz-tinted album with pianist/engineer Kit Ebersbach. The project, Blue Skies, brought to to life Bright's favorite standard songs alongside tunes that feel expressly written for her sultry voice. The singer's original composition, “Sp-r-ing”, fits right at home in the collection. These recordings patiently sat on Ebersbach’s hard drive for 15 years until 2020, when Aloha Got Soul released the album digitally. The vinyl is schedule for release on February 25, 2022.

In December 2020, Bright received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Hawai’i Academy of Recording Arts. The award came following a lifelong career spanning more than a dozen albums, numbers Na Hoku Hanohano awards, countless songwriting, arranging, and producing credits, domestic and international concert performances, plus a long list of Hawaiian language translations for peers near and far. In anticipation of the awards ceremony, Ebersbach approach Aloha Got Soul with the suggestion to finally release Blue Skies, the 2005 jazz record they'd cut with studio veterans Dean Taba, Noel Okimoto, Rocky Holmes, Casey Olsen, and Sam Ahia, Jr. Together with the help of Bright's partner, Derrick C.M. Llanos, we released 'Blue Skies' digitally in December 2020.

Since her debut in 1983, Teresa Bright has performed throughout Asia and America, won multiple awards for her original music, and produced records for herself and for friends, including Bossa Hula Nova by Japanese/Brazilian singer Lisa Ono.

“Iʻm so glad we waited," said Ebersbach of the digital release in 2020. "There can be no better moment to do this than on this very day, commemorating her lifetime of making beautiful music.”

AGS-057 is a wonderful addition to the catalog of beautiful sounds that Bright has been singing since the beginning of her career, from Catching A Wave through today.

Teresa Bright: vocals, ukulele
Kit Ebersbach: piano, organ
Sam Ahia, Sr.: guitar
Dean Taba: bass
Noel Okimoto: drums, vibraphone
Rocky Holmes: horns, flute
Casey Olsen: steel guitar

Notes from Roger Bong, Aloha Got Soul:

"This album grew out of a long and gradual road to Teresa, from finding the OG "Catching A Wave" LP in the trash on the sidewalk of my building where I first lived after moving back to Hawaii. Next, to connecting with Steve Maii in helping Psychemagik license "Catching A Wave" for their Magik Sunrise compilation (a few years later, Danny visited Hawaii and he and Steve got a photo together). Then to meeting musician Kit Ebersbach and entrenching myself into his life’s work; which led to earning the trust and friendship of his closet musical companion, Teresa Bright. When I finally got Teresa's permission to reissue Catching A Wave (Steve gave it to me years prior, with the caveat that I would need hers, too), I knew it would bring back an out-of-print Hawaiian masterpiece. Teresa was on the verge of tears when we sat and licensed to the reissue in her home (she has a CD player, no turntable). Shortly after the reissue, Teresa wona Lifetime Achievement Award. Kit Ebersbach wanted to surprise her during the ceremony, so her told me about an unreleased jazz album in his archives. They'd recorded in 15 years ago, but did nothing after that. So, Aloha Got Soul is now releasing this unearthed gem for the first time ever. Vinyl in late 2021, digital dropped in December 2020."