Closer 2023

NOW That's What I Call Proud! is an installment in the American compilation album series "NOW That's What I Call Music!" It was released on May 5, 2023. It is notable for being the second NOW! album in the US to be specifically focused on LGBTQ+ pride after NOW That's What I Call Pride!. NOW! Proud does not include any Billboard Hot 100 number ones, but the closest entry was the sixth track, "Stay With Me", peaking at number two.

GRAMMY Award winners Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer perform songs from their award winning film and DVD of the musical theater piece, "ALL WIGGED OUT." The show is a comedy musical about Marcy's experience with cancer including 10 original songs and two covers by close friends of the duo. In this studio album, they are joined by the cast band, Janet Cramer on drums and Stacy McMichael on bass. There are extended versions of songs from the show, plenty of humor and harmony.

Named for the Grateful Dead song that concludes this inspired double album, Uncle John’s Band features masterful guitarist John Scofield at his most freewheeling. Wide ranging repertoire finds his trio with Vicente Archer and Bill Stewart tackling material from Dylan’s “Mr Tambourine Man” to Neil Young’s “Old Man”, from Leonard Bernstein’s “Somewhere” to the Miles Davis Birth of the Cool classic “Budo”. And jazz standards including “Stairway to the Stars” and “Ray’s Idea” rub shoulders with seven Scofield originals that are variously swing, funk and folk-inflected. The red thread through the programme is the trio’s tremendous improvisational verve. “I feel like we can go anywhere,” says John Scofield of the group’s multi-directional versatility. Uncle John’s Band was recorded at Clubhouse Studio in Rhinebeck, New York, in August 2022.