no Surrender

Daniel Castro released his debut CD, No Surrender in late 1999. Produced by Daniel and Lee Parvin at Parvin Studios in Pacifica, California, No Surrender features interpretations of well-known blues standards that Daniel put his own twist on, such as a very funky version of Muddy’s “Got My Mojo Working" and a soulful, moving version of Albert Kings “I’ll Play The Blues For You”, in which Daniel plays a mournful, yearning guitar solo, a fitting tribute to one of his guitar heroes. No Surrender also features six original compositions.

Daniel Castro is a force on guitar. With his pure passionate sound reminiscent of B.B. King, Albert King, and Albert Collins, he is on the forefront of the Bay Area Blues Scene.
Arriving in the Bay Area only a short time ago with his trademark Fender Telecaster and backed by one of the hottest bands around, he has already gained quite a reputation as a Bluesman.
Born in 1954, Daniel started playing guitar at the age of 12, when his older sister gave him a $13 guitar and a stack of B.B. King albums. She taught him his first three chords and he's had the Blues Bug ever since…..[[/quote]

Listeners familiar with Scottish composer James MacMillan through such acclaimed works as The Confession of Isobel Gowdie (1990) or the Seven Last Words from the Cross (1993) may suspect that his music is usually somber and more than a little dour; indeed, his religious and politically themed pieces are quite earnest, and have given some the feeling that it might do MacMillan good to lighten up.

29-song set. “Candy’s Room” returns to the set. Four songs from 2020’s Letter To You: “Ghosts,” “Last Man Standing” and “I’ll See You In My Dreams.” “Last Man Standing” features a new arrangement. “I’ll See You In My Dreams” is performed solo acoustic to end the show. One song from 2022’s Only the Strong Survive: “Nightshift” (written by Franne Golde, Dennis Lambert and Walter Orange, popularized by The Commodores). Concert stalwarts like “Because The Night,” “Dancing in the Dark,” and “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out” are performed in tighter, shorter versions.

A few years after the release of her fourth album with Verve, a gospel-themed set of reinterpretations titled Fellowship, Lizz Wright signed to the Concord label with an eye toward concentrating on original material. The vocalist made a connection with veteran multi-instrumentalist and producer Larry Klein and recorded Freedom & Surrender with a stable backing band that included drummer Vinnie Colaiuta, percussionist Pete Korpela, bassist Dan Lutz, guitarist Dean Parks, and keyboardists Pete Kuzma and Billy Childs. For most listeners, the change of label and mostly new set of supporting musicians will seem transparent. Like Wright's previous albums, Freedom & Surrender is graceful and exacting, yet those qualities come across in a fashion that does not seem deliberate – remarkable for material that draws from folk, blues, jazz, soul, and gospel and often fuses two or more of those genres. Longtime collaborator Toshi Reagon contributes only two songs, "Freedom" and "Surrender," but they neatly begin and end the album in spirited and assured form. David Batteau and Jesse Harris separately collaborated with Wright and sometimes Klein on the writing of seven selections.