Visionary Pianist ELEW
Unveils The Next Groundbreaking Entry In His Rockjazz Series:
ELEW Rockjazz Vol. 2 – Available August 21, 2012
Rockjazz Pianist and musical innovator ELEW announced the upcoming release date and official track listing of his highly anticipated sophomore record and next installment in his Rockjazz series: ELEW Rockjazz Vol. 2.
ELEW Rockjazz Vol. 2 continues the grand tradition established by its predecessor three years earlier, showcasing twelve more inimitable covers of songs by artists as varied as Michael Jackson, U2 and Coldplay—as well as two original compositions by ELEW himself.
ELEW is famed for his sheer audacity in challenging musical conventions, and in the years since he first made the decision to fuse rock, ragtime, pop and jazz into his own distinct genre, ELEW’s penchant for bold experimentation has evolved at a rate commensurate with his own rocketing technical skills on the grand piano.
A hypnotic alchemical stew of disparate musical styles and artistic inspirations, ELEW Rockjazz Vol. 2 blends multiple piano inspirations to form a startlingly original album that is cohesive as it is eclectic. From the jangling cabaret rock of the Doors’ ‘People Are Strange’ to the haunting Celtic overtures of the Cranberries’ ‘Zombie’ and the technically virtuosic jazz of Joe Henderson’s ‘Inner Urge’ (to name just a few), the record’s fourteen groundbreaking tracks reveal an ELEW for whom fear has gone the way of the piano bench.
ELEW has grown from an innovator of his own genre to its master, and as soon as he touches finger to key at the outset of his anthemic take on The Bravery’s “Believe,” it is apparent that here begins an exciting new era for Rockjazz and its creator.
The album will be available digitally on ITunes, Amazon, Android Marketplace, CD Baby, and many more on August 21, 2012. The album will be available physically on Amazon and CD Baby around this same period.
In a move sure to please his many fans in the art world, ELEW has collaborated with legendary art book publishing house TASCHEN for the graphic design of the ELEW Rockjazz Vol. 2 Digipak, as well as the album art for the digital version of the record. Channeling the pop-art sensibility that fuels ELEW’s every thunderous keystroke, TASCHEN’s strikingly creative design scheme for the album serves as a fitting visual complement to the musical innovation within.
ELEW Rockjazz Vol.2 Official Track Listing
1. Believe (The Bravery)
2. M.I.A. (Foo Fighters)
3. People Are Strange (The Doors)
4. Human Nature (Michael Jackson)
5. Complexions (Original Composition)
6. Inner Urge (Joe Henderson)
7. Zombie (The Cranberries)
8. I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (U2)
9. Firebreather (Thrice)
10. God Put A Smile Upon Your Face (Coldplay)
11. Satisfaction (The Rolling Stones)
12. Standing On The Shore (Empire Of The Sun)
13. Crawling (Linkin Park)
14. Thanksgiving (Original Composition)
About ELEW
ELEW is a preternaturally talented jazz piano player who has used the creation of his own genre—an inspired melding of ragtime, rock and pop that he calls Rockjazz—to reinvent himself as a mainstream musician. He has gone from playing tiny jazz clubs to bringing crowds to their feet in fifteen-thousand seat arenas—and he’s done it all without a record deal.
Forsaking a piano bench, ELEW stands before his instrument like a runner at the starting line, furiously manipulating today’s rock and pop hits with a creative potency that has attracted the attention of today’s biggest stars and companies, including Josh Groban, Dave Matthews, Naomi Campbell, Pete Yorn, Google, Fendi, Dolce and Gabbana, Mercedes Benz, and even the White House.
ELEW’s much-anticipated sophomore album, ELEW Rockjazz Vol. 2, is currently scheduled for an August 21 release. The record features blistering piano recreations of tunes by artists like the Foo Fighters, Michael Jackson, Coldplay, among others.
Learn more at ELEWROCKJAZZ.com.
