Dan Bacon

Adult contemporary pianist Dan Siegel has been helping to shape the smooth jazz genre since his recording debut in 1980. Having released several chart-topping records, Siegel now returns with Inside Out, his first all-new studio release in over six years. Inside Out is a collection of ten original tracks featuring special guests Boney James, Jeff Kashiwa, and Brian Bromberg. The recording is characterized by smooth urban grooves, insightful melodies, and mood-setting atmosphere. The recording opens with "Just Like That," a melodic distillation of piano finesse, ambient electronic instruments, and inventive programming. "Inside Out" is ripe with the beauty of percussive syncopation and the sonority one hears from an array of castanets, congas, and other percussion.

One of the seminal boogie-woogie pianists, Yancey was active in and around Chicago playing house parties and clubs from 1915, yet he remained unrecorded until May 1939, when he recorded "The Fives" and "Jimmy's Stuff" for a small label. Soon after, he became the first boogie-woogie pianist to record an album of solos, for Victor. By then, Yancey's work around Chicago had already influenced such younger and better-known pianists as Meade "Lux" Lewis, Pinetop Smith, and Albert Ammons.