Tag Archives: Album launch

GRAMMY WINNER RON KORB LAUNCHES LATEST ALBUM “GLOBAL CANVAS” WITH OCT. 4 CONCERT IN TORONTO

Internationally-renowned flutist and composer Ron Korb is again sharing his love of world music with his latest album full of Latin, Middle Eastern, European and Asian influences, played by outstanding culturally diverse musicians. The physical CD of Global Canvas drops officially on Friday October 4th with a special concert on at the 3030 Dundas West club (details at end of blog). He will be joined on stage by many of the artists who recorded the 18 tracks with Ron, including Bill Evans (piano/keyboards), Steve Lucas (bass), Xiaoqiu Lin (erhu), Larry Crowe (drums), Victoria Yeh (violin), Rick Shadrach Lazar (Latin and Middle Eastern percussion) Ray Hickey Jr (guitar & koto) plus other guests.

I’m going to let Ron tell you about the project himself…..

You always give us beautiful cover art (photographs) and liner notes on your albums. Your wife, Jade, is a talented photographer and a brilliant design collaborator, creating such beautiful covers for all your albums. It was pointed out to me by one of your dedicated fans that this is the first time you’re shown without a flute in hand. Why the change in style….are you re-branding? The Global Canvas cover and album design wasn’t a conscious rebranding but the image just felt right. It is the idea of having a blank page from which the inspiration will spring. If you look closely you will even see subtle white brush strokes adding some texture and the white shirt I am wearing just blends into the canvas texture. We did try the opposite approach of having explosive vivid colours representing the energetic world music grooves on the CD but in the end this seemed more true somehow. Now that I think about it, the introspective cover portrait really captures the look of someone working out ideas in their head.

Ron incudes a track called “Angkor Wat” that was inspired by a trip to Cambodia with Human Rights activist Arn Chorn Pond, to whom Ron was introduced by one of the most famous artists of the past 40+yrs. Watch this video to learn who….

And what’s next once Global Canvas is out in the world…do you have special performances lined up or more film work? I have been invited to perform in Ricky Kej’s group in Dubai in January. Ricky is a 3 time Grammy winning artist and very well known and popular in his home country of India. There are some other great performing opportunities materializing in 2025. I also play on Ricky’s new album and also Masa’s new single Kashira. In my life, I never know what new thing is around the corner. Film work or studio always comes up very quickly so we shall see what the New Year will bring.

If you’d like to join Ron at his launch concert in Toronto you can click on his website for full details: www.ronkorb.com
GLOBAL CANVAS album release concert
Friday October 4^th at 3030 Dundas West in The Junction (Toronto)
Doors open 7pm – Show starts 8pm
Tickets $35 at door or $30 in advance from Ron’s website or via Eventbrite.ca
To reserve your table, contact club 3030 Dundas W at 3030.table.reservations@gmail.com

Follow Ron on social media: Fcbk + IG @RonKorb

INTERNATIONALLY ACCLAIMED FLAUTIST/COMPOSER RON KORB DEBUTS 20th SOLO ALBUM IN TORONTO

Last night (Wed. Oct.17), Grammy-nominated and internationally acclaimed RON KORB delivered a sizzling show from the stage of Toronto’s Jazz Bistro, introducing tracks from his latest solo album, WORLD CAFE, showcasing Latin-themed original instrumentals. Ron was joined on stage by world-renowned musicians who also played on the album: Bill Bridges, Bill Evans, Steve Lucas and Larry Crowe, with special guests Hilario Duran (piano) and Joseph Macerollo (accordion).

That same day, nomination ballots for this year’s Grammy Awards were also distributed to academy members around the world and all fingers are crossed that Ron receives another Grammy nod like his previous album, Asia Beauty.
In World Café, Ron takes us to sunny Spain, the island of Cuba, and the alluring lands of South America where he merges a rhythm from one region with a melody inspired by another. World Café represents a meeting place where people from many cultures can intermingle, laugh and make friends in a relaxed space – much like his own multicultural Toronto where this album was recorded.The packed audience at Jazz Bistro swayed to the rhythms and there was a lot of chair dancin’ during the two sets; the show must have blown up on social media based on all the phone cameras held high to catch the action….like this beautiful accordion solo from Joseph Macerollo…

The evening was hosted by the always-charming Miss Ziggy Lorenc (Zoomer Media) who many in the crowd remembered from her Citytv days – Ziggy now hosts a nightly show during the week on Zoomer Radio AM640 called Stardust and Midnight Blue. Here she is (below, L) with friend Barbara (R) and on stage MC’ing the show. As for many of Ron’s albums, the cover and accompanying 24-pg full colour booklet was designed by his talented wife, Jade, seen here (below, R) with fans. This next brief video was hard to shoot – all I wanted to do was dance!! So please pardon my cha-cha-cha moves and enjoy another brief taste of World Café here:

Ron’s final set resulted in multiple encores and lots of CD sales with some audience members purchasing multiple copies as presents for friends and family! To learn more about Ron, listen to World Café and previous albums, visit www.ronkorb.com or you can download World Café from Spotify, iTunes or Amazon. Thank you for supporting Canadian musical artists.

ALEXIS BARO BURNS UP THE LULA LOUNGE STAGE FOR CD LAUNCH!

Wow, what a night! Mother Nature threw down her mic and a ton of rain on the city, but inside Lula Lounge, Afro-Cuban trumpeter ALEXIS BARO and his Pueblo Nuevo Project band tore up the stage with two sets of hot hot hot Latin jazz.Launching his brand new CD, SUGAR RUSH, Alexis entertained a near-capacity house with new tunes as well as many of his previous hits. In fact, to celebrate the recent release of the official video for “Eres” from his Guilty Pleasure album, Alexis was joined on stage by Cuban hip-hop artist TELMARY (below) for the first ever live performance of their song. The crowd went crazy!Alexis and Telmary were interviewed by AfroGlobal Television (below) …..….and even Snap’d newspaper (below) came out to shoot the crowd enjoying the showA truly memorable concert…the fans left with smiles on their faces and copies of the Sugar Rush CD in their hands! You can get your own copy or download via Alexis’ website: www.alexisbaro.com You can also catch Alexis performing tomorrow at The Rex (9:45pm) and Saturday at The Pilot (3pm), two of Toronto’s finest live jazz venues.

Big THANK YOU to the fabulous folks at Lula Lounge – one of the best teams to work with for live music presentation and promotion. www.lula.ca/ Just look how beautiful this venue looks even without people