Bobby Sparks II

Bobby Sparks II – Schizophrenia – The Yang Project (2019/2011)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 01:32:56 minutes | 1,73 GB | Genre: Jazz, Funk
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Leopard

Leaping twenty feet forward, this extraordinarily diverse collection of tunes captures the full range of keyboardist Bobby Sparks’ expansive vocabulary and inexhaustible spirit. From slamming funk to slow-grooving soul ballads to forays into straight ahead jazz, fusion, orchestral and world music, his aptly-titled Schizophrenia — The Yang Project covers a myriad of bases. On board the Battlespark Galactica for the exhilarating ride is a host of his Dallas homies as well as a parade of all-stars, including bassists Marcus Miller, Pino Palladino, MonoNeon and Hadrien Feraud, trumpeter Roy Hargrove, singers Frank McComb and James “J. Rob” Robinson, Snarky Puppy’s Michael League and Jason “JT” Thomas, guitarists Lucky Peterson and Eric Gales and drummers Mark Simmons, Brannen Temple and John “Li’l John” Roberts.
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Bobby Sparks II – Paranoia (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 02:20:38 minutes | 2,68 GB | Genre: Soul, Jazz, R&B, Funk
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Leopard

Keyboardist-composer-arranger-conceptualist Bobby Sparks continues his staggering output with Paranoia, a companion piece to 2019’s ‘Schizophrenia – The Yang Project.

An all-star outing featuring contributions from guitarists Mike Stern, John Scofield, Dean Brown, Andy Timmons and Eric Gales, saxophonists Chris Potter and Keith Anderson, bassists Pino Palladino, Hadrien Feraud, Chuck Smith, Mononeon, Jay Mck and Reggie Washington, drummers Lil John Roberts, Dennis Chambers, Brannen Temple, Mike “Blaque Dynamite” Mitchell and Mark Simmons, and singers Lizz Wright, Dnessa Perry, Jojo Hill, Chuckii Booker and James Robinson. Paranoia is dedicated to the keyboardist’s father, the late Bobby Sparks, Sr., a lifelong bebop and blues fan.

Also on board for this exhilarating ride are Sparks’ Snarky Puppy bandmates – bassist-founder Michael League, guitarist Mark Lettieri and drummer Jason ‘JT’ Thomas. The influences of keyboardists Bernard Wright, BernieWorrell, George Duke and Stevie Wonder as well as funk overlord George Clinton and Sparks’ own background in church music come to bear on his ambitious second release as a leader for Leopard.

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