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Pieces of Me

Carol Albert

Label: CAHARA
Released: 2025
Duration: 00:50:00
Views: 283

Tracks

Pieces of Me Sunshine Yellow Pink Flamango Seaside Story Neptune Passion Vertical Horizon City Walk Losing Myself Hidden Pages Pieces of Me

Personnel

Additional Personnel / Information

Euge Groove , Album Mastering, Producer, Mix Paul Brown, Producer, Mix Engineer Raheem Amlani, Recording Engineer Andrew Bailey, Bass Dennis Johnson, Recording Engineer

Album Description

Carol’s remarkable string of hits continues with the first two lead singles from her latest album Pieces of Me, the latest of her melodically infectious, rhythmically eclectic and thematically driven collections chronicling and reflecting on different chapters in her life and the world around her. The vibrant, fast rolling Latin-influenced pop-jazz jam “Sunshine Yellow,” produced by Carol and bassist Roberto Vally, featuring guitarist Peter White and mastered by Euge Groove, reached #1 on the Billboard, Mediabase and Smooth Jazz Network charts and was SJ Network’s top song of the year, Billboard’s #3 and Mediabase’s #2 song of the year. The second single, the Euge Groove produced breezy, tropical flavored mid-tempo ballad“Seaside Story” hit the hit the Top Ten on Billboard, Mediabase and Smooth Jazz Network.

Bookended by different versions of the title track – the first darker and bluesier, the finale driven by a pop-flavored, slightly more positive vibe – Pieces of Me is a dynamic, emotionally relatable collection chronicling an journey that’s artfully balanced between life’s high spirited, joyful moments andintrospective moods reflecting more challenging “pieces” where we face sorrow and struggle.

Six of the tracks were produced by two-time Grammy winning guitarist, producer and mega hitmaker. These include the opening version of “Pieces of Me,” co-produced with Lew Laing; the upbeat, whimsical “Pink Flamango” and meditative, atmospheric ballad “Vertical Horizon,” both featuring Brown’s guitar complementing Carol’s beautiful, flowing melodies; the playfully strutting “City Walk,” the dreamy, hypnotic “Neptune Passion” (which showcases the soaring, soulful duality of Carol’s piano and guest artist Adrian Crutchfield’s graceful soprano sax) and the meditative ballad “Losing Myself,” whose lush, stirring bass solo by Brian Bromberg adds deeper emotional gravitas.

Carol self-produced “Hidden Pages,” a magnificent, ambient chill jazz electronica vibing tune whose title emerged from a moment when Carol and Euge Groove were working on “Seaside Story” and searched for a hard-to-find file. Taken metaphorically, she equates it with when we search hard for a solution and it’s simpler than we thought, there in front of us all along.

As on Carol’s previous genre albums, Pieces of Me finds Carol working with many of the genre’s top studio musicians. Paul Brown’s crew includes bassists Roberto Vally and Timothy Bailey, Jr., guitarists Shane Theriot and Andre Frappier, drummer Lil John Roberts and keyboardist/guitarist Jeffrey LeRoy Smith (also a co-writer on “Vertical Horizon”). In addition to the aforementioned Peter White, Brian Brombergand saxophonist/flutist Adrian Crutchfield, guest artists include guitarist Dan Baraszu, saxophonist Paula Atherton, flutist Ragan Whiteside and vocalist Tierra Stuart.

The title track “Pieces of Me,” which gave rise to the entire project, was inspired by an introspective poem the pianist/composer wrote while walking in the woods near her home in North Georgia. A key line reads, “A closer look reveals the shattered glass/Each piece from times in my past/Should I attempt to reassemble?/Or is it more beautiful as a symbol?”

“I was thinking about pieces of something that was broken on the pathway I was on, and how it metaphorically resembled different pieces of my life,” Carol reflects. “Instead of trying to put them all back together, I thought of each piece as symbolic of important lessons I have learned along the way - and the importance of taking those to heart while moving forward. There’s this sense that we are a sum total of the chapters of life we have experienced, some happy, some difficult, and each song on the album represents a small piece of my life, with different moods touching on different points along the way.”

Album uploaded by Carol Albert