Caelan Cardello's "Chapter One" Drops Today Digitally, Vinyl Edition On the Way! (updated with link to JazzTimes story)
Caelan's first studio album with his working trio— 8 original tunes, two covers
Before you read Caelan's personal press release, check out this Jazz Times story (Caelan's personal press release): A quick story about the conception of this album - I was playing a trio show at Mezzrow jazz club in New York City one night in February of 2024, and was approached afterwards by Geoff Hoefer (producer on the album and owner of JazzBird Records). He expressed to me how moved he felt by my performance, and then said he wanted to be the one to produce my first record. At the time, I was fresh off of putting out the album Rufus Reid Presents: Caelan Cardello, yet the idea of putting out my own music seemed foreign and daunting. But what stuck out to me (and what sticks out to most musicians who perform live) is the fact that something in the performance that night moved Geoff to the point of offering me a deal on the spot. Ultimately, as a performer and artist, my job is to use my music to heal and inspire others, and thats exactly what I did for Geoff. And here we are, a year and half later.
I strongly feel that this album represents me and my artistry to the fullest, and showcases the beautiful, soulful, swingin’ and strong playing of Jonathon Muir Cotton and Domo Branch. I am grateful to my trio for their artistry and companionship throughout this whole process, and for their innate ability to take a piece of music and bring it to life. I would like to give a special shout out to Chris Lewis for coming in and playing (saxophone) beautifully on “John Neely”, “Don’t Look Back”, and “Solidarity”
I’d like to give another special shoutout to Geoff Hoefer for seeing my vision and helping bring all this to life. None of this would have been possible without him. Thanks to my good friend, colleague and mentor Isaiah Thompson for coming in and giving amazing feedback and helping guide the recording sessions. Another shoutout goes to Chris Sulit (Trading 8s studios) for being such an easy engineer to work with, Duke Marcos for mixing the album and Marc Urselli at Audio Confidential for mastering it.
As most of you know, the album is available on all streaming platforms and CD currently, but we are working on a vinyl as well, which is courtesy of Michael Fremer and Liam Records. The release date will be announced soon, and will feature a very special song that will be exclusive to the vinyl!
I am so appreciative to all of you who have already pre-saved and/or pre ordered the album. For those who haven’t here is a link to do so!
Order “Chapter One” on CD - Click here
Peace and love
Caelan
Check out Chapter One tour dates below!
(end of press release)
Liam Records Vinyl Release
Since the release of the now sold out (2000 copies) Rufus Reid Presents Caelan Cardello, I have seen Caelan perform numerous times: once at Dizzy's in support of the album with Rufus Reid, at Birdland, twice at Mezzrow (once with his trio and once recently with Rufus), and once with Rufus Reid at a church in Wayne, NJ. I missed a big band performance because I was out of town, but I heard it was dazzling).
This entire adventure, especially watching Caelan's artistry grow, has been and continues to be among the most exciting things i've ever experienced close up. The performances have been memorable—starting with the first one at the Klavierhaus piano showroom that Liam Records released.
I've been working with Caelan for the past few months helping to get this just released digital and CD edition sonically finalized and he's given me "Co-Producer" credit on the album—all formats.
Some of you recognize the names Duke Markos, who engineered and mixed Rufus Reid Presents Caelan Cardello and Marc Urselli who engineered, mixed and mastered all of the outstanding Newvelle Records releases (an ongoing project).
Here Duke mixed, and Marc mastered for the JazzBird Records CD and digital release, which Liam Records licensed for vinyl, cut using the 96/24 files. I received a few acetate references and decided the one that works best for the project is from "our own" Dave McNair, who's new "tricked out" cutting system (deserving of a feature story and there will be one) sounded best.
The vinyl edition of necessity has fewer songs so we could keep it down to around 20 minutes a side, but it will contain a track unique to the vinyl record, and the two covers—one by Cedar Walton and one by Cole Porter—on the CD are on the vinyl as well.
As I write this, we are finalizing the jacket art. The new logo was created by the talented Gregg Greenwood who took an iPhone photo and created the Rufus Reid Presents Caelan Cardello album cover. There's still a jacket production lag time so once we have jackets, Dave will cut lacquers, QRP will plate and press and Acoustic Sounds will distribute as it did last time.
Here are some photos from the live performances:
Klavierhaus performance Jan. 14th 2023 that became Rufus Reid Presents Caelan Cardello
Dizzy's Time-Warner Center November 21st, 2023
Rufus signs some albums
Mezzrow November, 16, 2024
Rufus and Caelan play Mezzrow August 8th 2025
