Hear The Ambitious Debut By The Michael Leonhart Orchestra, The Painted Lady Suite, Exclusively via WBGO
Album release shows with Nels Cline confirmed for The Jazz Standard in NYC July 17 and 18
No passports needed. No packing bags. Just a sense of freedom to travel; the same sense Michael Leonhart mines to create this majestic new recording.– WBGO
Michael Leonhart, the GRAMMY-winning trumpeter, composer, producer, arranger, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and Steely Dan and Mark Ronson collaborator is streaming his debut album, The Painted Lady Suite, with The Michael Leonhart Orchestra through WBGO. Check it out here. The album will be officially released June 22 via Sunnyside Records.
The Painted Lady Suite is inspired by the butterfly of the same name. While Leonhart was initially attracted to its flamboyant coloration and wing ornamentation, it was the butterfly’s incredible migration, which spans over six generations and 9,000 miles — twice that of the Monarch butterfly, that sparked his imagination.
The journey of the Painted Lady butterfly parallels the story and development of the Michael Leonhart Orchestra and The Painted Lady Suite— a large group takes a journey utilizing the past generations’ wealth of knowledge and arrives triumphantly in a kaleidoscopic array.
The record release shows will take place at the Jazz Standard in New York City on July 17 and 18 and will feature Nels Cline. Ticket link and more tour dates below.
About Michael Leonhart
Michael Leonhart is a Grammy-winning multi-hyphenate: trumpeter, composer, producer, arranger, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter. As a trumpeter, Michael has performed with rock legends Steely Dan since 1996, recording two albums with them, including 2000’s four-time Grammy winning Album of the Year, Two Against Nature,on which he was a featured soloist, arranger and conductor. He also appears on Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars’ Grammy-winning 2016 Record of the Year, “Uptown Funk.” Michael has composed music for stage and screen, including a song for Meryl Streep, whose performance he directed on the Decca soundtrack album Songs of Lahore. Leonhart recently composed music for the score to Rockstar Games upcoming Red Dead Redemption 2. In 2015 Michael produced Karrin Allyson’s Grammy-nominated album, Many A New Day: Karrin Allyson Sings Rodgers and Hammerstein. Michael has performed and/or recorded with music legends Ringo Starr, Brian Eno, Paul Simon, Elvis Costello, Bruno Mars, Mark Ronson, Eric Clapton, Levon Helm, A Tribe Called Quest, Caetano Veloso, Bette Midler, Yoko Ono, Q-Tip, Raekwon (Wu-Tang Clan), Busta Rhymes, Henry Mancini, Phil Collins, Randy Newman, Steve Winwood, Bill Withers, Michael McDonald, Boz Scaggs, Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon (Sonic Youth), John Barry, Steven Tyler (Aerosmith), Bobby McFerrin, Wynton Marsalis, Todd Rundgren and Bonnie Raitt, Alicia Keys, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, Sean Lennon, Lauryn Hill and Antibalas.
The Michael Leonhart OrchestraLive
July 17 & 18 – The Jazz Standard – Tickets
Michael Leonhart Online