Photo: PRNewsfoto/Legacy Recordings
Legendary singer-songwriter Paul Simon will release his 14th studio album, In the Blue Light, on September 7. The album is produced by Simon and Roy Halee, who have worked together since the 1960s. It features a talented cast of musicians joining Simon to lend fresh perspectives on 10 of his favorite - though perhaps less familiar - songs. The tracks were selected from his repertoire, originally appearing on previous albums, beginning with 1973's There Goes Rhymin' Simon to 2011's So Beautiful or So What.
Among the many musicians refreshing and transforming Simon's compositions through new arrangements and collaborations on the forthcoming album are jazz icons trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, guitarist Bill Frisell, and drummers Jack DeJohnette and Steve Gadd. Two of the compositions, "Can't Run But" and "Georgette Magritte with Their Dog After the War," were recorded with the New York-based chamber ensemble sextet yMusic.
"It's an unusual occurrence for an artist to have the opportunity to revisit earlier works and re-think them; to modify, even completely change parts of the originals," Simon explains in the album's liner notes. "Happily, this opportunity also gave me the gift of playing with an extraordinary group of musicians, most of whom I hadn't recorded with before. I hope the listener will find these new versions of old songs refreshed, like a new coat of paint on the walls of an old family home."
The release of In the Blue Light will coincide with the final leg of Simon's "Homeward Bound - Farewell Tour" in September, which will include four final performances in the New York City area and culminate with the Final Performance on September 22 in Flushing Meadows Corona Park.
