New Orleans In Stride brings listeners on a musical history tour of New Orleans. Although Lemmler’s eighth album, In Stride stands as Lemmler’s first solo release as a New Orleans Piano Professor, featuring songs through the ages with Lemmler shining alone on piano and vocals.

In Stride is a new feat for Lemmler, the artist and composer who once feared singing; it wasn’t until the tragedy of the failure of the federal levees due to Hurricane Katrina and incredible soul-searching that Lemmler found the courage to sing. Yet, In Stride is also a continuation and evolution of his passion to share New Orleans music with the world. By stripping down the ensemble to Lemmler’s rhythmic and enlivened piano-playing and dynamic, soulful singing, Lemmler has added a deeper and somehow more emotional element to classic songs and unique arrangements.

Each song, or montage of songs, is a tribute to quintessential New Orleans musicians, including Louis Armstrong, Ellis Marsalis, Harry Connick, Jr., and Jelly Roll Morton to name a few. The House of the Rising Sun/St. James Infirmary arrangement is a throwback to the New Orleans Storyville District and Jelly Roll Morton; this masterful song combination is the only track on In Stride that features a guest artist on vocals and banjo, Don Vappie.

In addition to performing In Stride as a concert experience, Matt Lemmler and the NOLA Jazz Revival also present In Stride in an educational, multimedia format in schools and churches, continuing the thematic mission of the work of his ensembles, such as the New Orleans Jazz Revival and the New Orleans Jazz Professors: to share the distinctly diverse New Orleans culture with the world, and to ensure its legacy among future generations via collaborative mentorship and education grounded in world class musicianship.

New Orleans In Stride is a NOLA Jazz Revival release. It was produced by Matt Lemmler and Misha Kachkachishvili; recorded, mixed, and mastered by Misha Kachkachishvili at Esplanade Studios; and with photography and album design by Jason Kruppa.

Volume One & Volume Two Matt Lemmler: vocals, piano, arranging

Volume One Matt Lemmler: vocals, piano, arranging

1. When You’re Smiling/Smile 7:46—Inspired by Louis Armstrong and silent filmmaker/actor/composer Charlie Chaplin and jazz pianist/vocalist Nat “King” Cole
2. I’m Confessin’ 6:35—Inspired by New Orleans legend George French and modern jazz pianist/composer Thelonious Monk
3. House of the Rising Sun/St. James Infirmary 8:15—A musical tribute to the New Orleans Storyville District and dedicated to Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong, King Oliver, Sidney Bechet, Lulu White and featuring guest New Orleans vocalist/banjoist-Don Vappie
4. Buddy Bolden’s Blues 5:20—Composed by Jelly Roll Morton, inspired by Phil Parnell
5. La Vie en Rose 4:34—Composed by Edif Piaf and inspired by Louis Armstrong and France
6. The Song is Ended 5:10—Composed by Irving Berlin, inspired by Louis Armstrong and the Mills Brothers
7. Stardust 7:13—Composed by Hoagy Carmichael, inspired by Louis Armstrong
8. The Way You Look Tonight 4:22—Composed by Jerome Kern, inspired by Frank Sinatra
9. It Had to Be You 6:14—Inspired by New Orleans entertainer, Harry Connick, Jr.
10. The Odd Couple 5:01—Inspired by New Orleans saxophone legend, Alvin”Red” Tyler. Lemmler remembers always hearing “Red Tyler” performing this Neal Hefti composition at jazz clubs around town, and Lemmler, as a young boy, used to watch this TV show while growing up in the lower ninth ward on Caffin Avenue, blocks from New Orleans Piano Legend Fats Domino.
11. Desperado 5:23—The Eagles
12. When It’s Sleepytime Down South 6:04—Inspired by Louis Armstrong’s theme song

Volume Two Matt Lemmler: vocals, piano, arranging

1. The Blues in the Night 4:55—Composed by Harold Arlen, inspired by Louis Armstrong and jazz pianist Oscar Peterson
2. Nevertheless 4:43—Inspired by New Orleans legend Danny Barker
3. I Cover the Waterfront 5:45—Inspired by Louis Armstrong
4. Come Rain or Come Shine 6:16—Composed by Harold Arlen, inspired by New Orleans piano professor/legend James Booker
5. If I Only Had a Brain/If I Only Had a Trane 7:00—Composed by Harold Arlen from “Wizard of Oz” and inspired by Jazz Saxophonist/composer John Coltrane’s Giant Steps and Lemmler’s jazz piano mentor/New Orleans jazz pianist, Ellis Marsalis, Ed Frank, Willie Metcalf, Phil Parnell
6. The Godfather Waltz 4:20—Composed by Nino Rota and dedicated to all immigrants to New Orleans and my old friend, Charlie Occhipinti and Frank Sinatra
7. Cheek to Cheek 4:44—Composed by Irving Berlin, inspired by Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald, and the assisted living resident in Hawaii who requested this song to “strip” to!! Beautiful memory and request!
8. Same Girl 4:02—Composed by Randy Newman and dedicated to the City of New Orleans
9. The Man I Love 7:02—Composed by George and Ira Gershwin
10. Blackbird 7:28—Composed by Paul McCartney/John Lennon
11. Ballad of the Sad Young Men 6:15—Dedicated to Louis Armstrong and Frank Sinatra, inspired by jazz pianist Keith Jarrett and vocalist Boz Skaggs
12. Happy Trails 6:19—Composed by Roy Rogers and Dale Evans

Artist: Matt Lemmler CD Title: New Orleans In Stride, Volume 1 & 2 Label: Nolajazzrevival Website: www.mattlemmler.com www.nolajazzrevival.com