WIN - Jazz FM's Album of the Week

New York City-based singer, songwriter and pianist Jon Regen will release his never-before-issued 1996 instrumental debut album From Left to Right via JRM/Symphonic on April 24. Recorded direct to two-track on Carnegie Hall’s former Steinway Model D at the famed Systems Two Studios in Brooklyn, the album captures a young Regen in a trio setting with the late bassist Earl May (Billy Taylor, John Coltrane, Charlie Parker) and drummer Sunny Jain.

In the era before Spotify and CD Baby, Regen sold copies of the self-produced CD at gigs and used it as a calling card around New York. The album’s opener “One for KB” landed him a spot as one of five finalists in the Great American Jazz Piano Competition, securing him press and gigs both domestically and abroad. Not long after the record’s release, Regen would be called to anchor the bands of artists like Kyle Eastwood and Little Jimmy Scott, and also take center stage as a solo singer and songwriter.

“It’s amazing how much mileage I got out of that recording, even though it was never widely-released,” Regen reflects. “I was busy writing new songs and making new records. But after my song ‘Fillmore’ was used in the thriller Cold Copy, which premiered at the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival, I listened to the album first the first time in years and I was surprised at how fresh it sounded. I wanted it to be heard. I took a different path with my later records, focusing more on the singer/songwriter side of things, but the album showcases the jazz that’s embedded in my DNA.”

Fittingly, the record kicks off with “One for KB” dedicated to Barron. Regen will perform it along with other tracks from his debut when he hits the road for a UK tour in May.

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