PRESS RELEASES
Bayete’s “Worlds Around the Sun” Gets Reissued on Vinyl for the First Time Since its 1972 Release
Jazz Dispensary and Vinyl Me, Please Partner to Reissue Bayete’s Worlds Around the Sun on Vinyl for the
First Time Since its 1972 Release
The Reissue, Which Marks the 50th Anniversary of Pianist & Composer Todd Cochran’s Debut,
Features Bobby Hutcherson, Fred Berry, Oscar Brashear, Michael Carvin and Wayne Wallace
Available Now on 180-gram Sun Swirl Vinyl
“Worlds Around the Sun is indeed a masterpiece that sounds every bit as convincing in the 21st century as it did upon release.” — All Music
Angela, a short film by Emmanuel Afolabi, featuring Todd Cochran’s composition “Free Angela”
Five decades ago, 20-year-old pianist and composer Todd Cochran, professionally known as Bayeté early in his career, released his solo debut, Worlds Around the Sun. The expansive, textural and boundary-spanning album would go to be one of Cochran’s best-known works and sampled by Kendrick Lamar, De La Soul and others while Santana covered “Free Angela.” Jazz Dispensary, Concord’s cosmic jazz imprint, teamed up with Vinyl Me, Please to reissue Worlds Around the Sun for the time since the album’s initial release in 1972 on Prestige. The vinyl reissue, limited to 1,000 copies, was mastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio with AAA lacquers cut from the original analog tapes.
Before releasing Worlds Around the Sun, Cochran performed in the Bobby Hutcherson Quartet – later composing for and appearing on the vibraphonist’s 1971 Blue Note album, Head On. Hutcherson – who plays on Worlds Around the Sun along with trombonist Wayne Wallace, saxophonist Dave Johnson, trumpeters Fred Barry and Oscar Brashear, bassist James Leary, and drummer Michael Carvin – wrote, in the liner notes for Worlds Around the Sun:
“Bayeté is one of those beautiful young brothers who is vibrant and full of energy. He has a hell of a sense of humor. He’s truthful and has a deep communication for other people’s feelings. Constantly aware of music around him, he’s easily able to transmit his thoughts and feelings about what positions he holds in this universe to music. Love, peace, revolutions, personal failures, and triumphs, the oppressor and the oppressed.
“He loves heroes… Constantly moving and on the go, it seems like he’s doing three or four things at the same time… He holds a joy that is as elusive as a rabbit but still as apparent as the very earth he stands on… It’s really a groove to know him, feeling as I do about him-to be able to bullshit as we do on the telephone, or walking and talking – and then to be with him on the same bandstand and have all our questions and thoughts become music.”
About Todd Cochran
The more avenues an artist can draw upon the more original their music will tend to sound. With years devoted to classical music study followed by the tutelage of American jazz masters, pianist and composer Todd Cochran’s music reflects a wide-ranging musical palette. In his art he has continued to build upon this foundation, incorporating diverse musical influences from the traditions of African and Asian diaspora, global pop, and contemporary art music culture. Todd’s happenstance was to grow up in San Francisco during the civil rights era, a transformational time in America’s story. The city was multi-dimensional and the echoes of being a child of the cultural revolution have never left him.
Garnering attention at a young age his associations with legendary jazz musicians began when he was 17, playing and recording with, or composing for John Handy, Bobby Hutcherson, Rashaan Roland Kirk, Woody Shaw, and Julian Priester. And while classical art music was always the foundation of his interest, early in Todd’s career the rock band Santana re-recorded a composition from Todd’s first solo album “Worlds Around The Sun.” This became his entrée into the world of edgy electric underground and alternative music, ultimately leading to the formation of the innovative band Automatic Man.
Todd’s work as a pianist, composer and electronic musician has significantly influenced others. A short list of his collaborations includes Herbie Hancock, Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Maya Angelou, Joan Armatrading, Freddie Hubbard, Stanley Clarke, Stewart Copeland, André Watts, Hubert Laws, Jeff Beck, Burt Bacharach, Stan Getz, Natalie Cole, and Neil Diamond.
Says Todd, “This vinyl release of “Worlds Around The Sun” is particularly meaningful, because reflecting back, I can now see the larger shape of the story I was looking to tell. As an artist communication is everything and more than anything, I knew there were frontiers to be explored. There’re solutions to be found by leaving the space you’re in and finding other areas to be discovered. And for me this curiosity is the essence of what really connects us to each other as human beings.”
For more information on Todd Cochran, please visit:
For media inquiries, please contact:
DL Media · (610) 420-8470
Don Lucoff · don@dlmediamusic.com
Leah Concialdi · leah@dlmediamusic.com
For the Preferred Artist
Information and press materials (including album covers, promotional photos
and bios) on all DL Media artists can be found at our website: dlmediamusic.com
###