''Nathan East'' is the debut eponymous album by American bass guitarist Nathan East, released in March 2014 by the Yamaha Entertainment Group. The album reached No. 1 on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz Albums chart and No. 2 on the Billboard Jazz Albums chart.

Overview

This album features vocal performances by Eric Clapton, Sara Bareilles and Michael McDonald. Stevie Wonder also plays the harmonica on an instrumental cover of his hit single " Overjoyed". Another cover on the album, was an instrumental reimagining of Wonder's "

Sir Duke "Sir Duke" is a song composed and performed by Stevie Wonder from his 1976 album ''Songs in the Key of Life''. Released as a single in 1977, the track topped the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and Black Singles charts, and reached number two in the UK ...

". As East is best known for his bass guitar skills, the album contains many bass guitar led melodies. The cover of the 1965 Beatles song " Yesterday" features East's son Noah East on piano. While largely an album of covers, including those of East's band

Fourplay Fourplay (stylized as fOURPLAY) is a contemporary American smooth jazz quartet. The original members of the group were Bob James (keyboards), Lee Ritenour (guitars), Nathan East (bass), and Harvey Mason (drums). In 1997, Lee Ritenour left the ...

and Steve Winwood's " Can't Find My Way Home", which East had previous played on tours with Clapton, there are also original works, such as "Daft Funk", a play on words on East's work with French group Daft Punk, and "Madiba", a tribute to former

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

n president Nelson Mandela.

Critical reception

As an album Nathan East was Grammy nominated in the category of Best Contemporary Instrumental Album.

Track listing

Personnel

* Nathan East – bass (1-8, 10, 12–14), vocals (1–3, 7, 8, 11, 12, 14), arrangements (1–3, 6, 8, 10, 12, 13),

upright bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox additions such as the octobass). Similar ...

(9, 11) * Jeff Babko – acoustic piano (1, 3, 5-8), keyboards (1, 2, 6, 10, 14), Hammond B3 organ (2), arrangements (2, 8), acoustic piano solo (12), Moog synthesizer (12, 14) * Chris Gero – additional keyboards, additional programming, arrangements (2, 3, 6, 8, 12, 13), guitars (12) *

Greg Phillinganes Gregory Arthur Phillinganes (born May 12, 1956) is an American keyboardist, singer-songwriter, and musical director based in Los Angeles, California. A prolific session musician, Phillinganes has contributed the role of keyboards to numerous alb ...

– keyboards (4, 10) *

Tim Carmon Tim Carmon is an American keyboard player. He was born a preacher's son in Washington, D.C. Carmon grew up immersed in the church. He began playing piano in the fourth grade and by the age of 12 was organist for three different churches, includin ...

– Hammond B3 organ (6, 8, 10, 12), Rhodes piano (12) * David Paich – keyboards (8),

Wurlitzer electric piano The Wurlitzer electronic piano is an electric piano manufactured and marketed by Wurlitzer from the mid-1950s to mid-1980s. Sound is generated by striking a metal reed with a hammer, which induces an electric current in a pickup. It is concept ...

(8, 12), Hammond B3 organ (12) * Bob James – acoustic piano (9), arrangements (9) * Noah East – acoustic piano (11) * Billy Childs – acoustic piano (14) * Ray Parker Jr. – guitars (1, 2, 6) * Michael Thompson – guitars (1–3, 6, 8, 10, 12), arrangements (1, 6), electric guitar (7) * Andrew Synoweic – guitars (4) * Chuck Loeb – acoustic guitar (7), electric guitar (7), guitar solo (7), arrangements (7),

acoustic bass The acoustic bass guitar (sometimes shortened to acoustic bass or initialized ABG) is a bass instrument with a hollow wooden body similar to, though usually larger than a steel-string acoustic guitar. Like the traditional electric bass guitar ...

(14) * Eric Clapton – guitars (8) *

Ricky Lawson William Riser III (November 8, 1954 – December 23, 2013), better known as Ricky Lawson, was an American drummer and composer. A native of Detroit, Michigan, he worked extensively as a session musician, collaborating with Stevie Wonder, Mich ...

– drums (1–3, 6–8, 10, 12, 14) *

Vinnie Colaiuta Vincent Peter Colaiuta (born February 5, 1956) is an American drummer who has worked as a session musician in many genres. He was inducted into the '' Modern Drummer'' Hall of Fame in 1996 and the ''Classic Drummer'' Hall of Fame in 2014. Cola ...

– drums (4) * Rafael Padilla – percussion (1, 2, 6–8, 10, 12, 14) * Paulinho da Costa – percussion (10) * Tom Scott – saxophone (1, 2, 4, 6), horn arrangements (1, 2, 4), arrangements (4) * Joel Peskin – baritone saxophone (1, 2, 4), tenor saxophone (1, 2, 4) * Andy Martin – trombone (1, 2, 4) * Chuck Findley – trumpet (1, 2, 4) * Sara Sant'Ambrosio – cello (9) * Kristin Wilkinson – viola (9) * David Angell – violin (9) * David Davidson – violin (9) * Stevie Wonder – harmonica (10) * Steve Hill – arrangements (11) * Lendell Black – arrangements (3, 5, 13) * Michael McDonald – vocals (4) * Sara Bareilles – vocals (5) * Mr. TalkBox – talkbox vocals (6) * Carmen Cuesta – vocals (7) * Janice Gaines – backing vocals (8) * Gale Mayes – backing vocals (8) * Debi Selby – backing vocals (8, 12) * Ricky Braddy – backing vocals (12) * Ashley Guilbert – backing vocals (12) * Jenn Helvering – backing vocals (12) * Jacob Hubbard – backing vocals (12) * Shelly Justice – backing vocals (12) * Cersle Keenan – backing vocals (12) * Melodie Kirkpatrick – backing vocals (12) * Maureen Murphy – backing vocals (12) * Andrew Thompson – backing vocals (12) * Ricky Braddy, Janice Gaines, Gale Mayes, Kim Mont, Jon Reddick and Debi Selby – America choir (13) The Nashville Recording Orchestra (Tracks 3, 5, 12 & 13) * Nathan East – arrangements * Lendell Black – arrangements, conductor, orchestrations (12, 13) * Chris Gero – arrangements, orchestrations (12) * David Davidson – concertmaster * David Angell – contractor * Barry Green and Prentiss Hobbs – trombone * Jennifer Kummar and Patrick Walle –

French horn The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most ...

* Sam Bacco – percussion * John Catchings, Anthony LaMarchina, Carole Rabinowitz and Julie Tanner – cello * Craig Nelson – string bass * Monisa Angell, Seanad Chang, Jim Grosjean and Kristin Wilkinson – viola * David Angell, Carolyn Bailey, Zeneba Bowers, Weitsun Chang, Janet Darnall, David Davidson, Alison Gooding, Erin Hall, Elizabeth Lamb, Bruce Wethey and Karen Winklemann – violin

Production

* Nathan East – producer * Chris Gero – producer * Marcel East – producer (10), additional engineer * Bryan Lenox – engineer, mixing * Moogie Canazio – additional engineer * Alan Douglas – additional engineer * Elliott Eicheldinger – additional engineer * Ken Freeman – additional engineer *

Tom Keane Thomas Lawrence Keane (September 7, 1926 – June 19, 2001) was an American football cornerback. High school Keane played football and graduated from Linsly Military Institute in Wheeling, West Virginia (now known as the Linsly School) in ...

– additional engineer * Rouble Kapoor – assistant engineer * Tanner Lenox – assistant engineer * Max Moon – assistant engineer * Wesley Seidman – assistant engineer * Nick Spezia – assistant engineer * Dave Kutch – mastering at The Mastering Palace (New York City, New York) * JoAnn Tominaga – production coordinator * Anderson Design Group – design, layout * Kharen Hill – photography

References

{{Authority control 2014 debut albums Albums produced by Nathan East Jazz albums by American artists