Saxophonist Cali Jones Releases New Single “Midnight Strut” | LISTEN!
Cali Jones
“Midnight Strut”
When contemporary jazz saxophonist Matt Willard landed at LAX last month to work with two-time Grammy winning producer Paul Brown, he arrived as the artist he had always been. A week later, he flew home with 2 finished tracks… and a new name: Cali Jones.
Becoming Cali Jones isn’t a marketing ploy or a rebrand, but an identity shift years in the making. Growing up in Virginia, Willard was captivated by the smooth, soulful sound of the west coast. The music of Boney James, Richard Elliot, Peter White, Rick Braun, and other California greats is what shaped his imagination.
Encouraged and eager to break through the next level, Willard reached out to Brown, the producer behind more than 80 no. 1 Smooth Jazz hits, many from the very California artists who inspired him, and Brown agreed to meet. What Matt didn’t expect was a transformation that went far beyond the music. As the two worked together, Paul began calling him “Cali” casually at first. “It felt natural. It felt right,” Willard recalled. A few days later, Brown posed a question that shifted everything, “Why don’t we start from scratch? Not just your sound… your whole persona.”
Willard sat with it, “I thought about the doors I wanted to walk through. The stages I wanted to stand on. The artist I was becoming, not just the one I had been. So in that moment, I made a choice, not just to change a name, but to claim an identity. From that moment on, I was no longer just dreaming of the west coast sound… I WAS the west coast sound. I became Cali Jones.”
Jones returned home with two fully produced tracks from Paul Brown, including his next release, “Midnight Strut”. Brown plays guitar on the track, which he co-wrote with Buddy Jordan (bass, keyboards, drum programming). Ron King guests on flugelhorn.
“Midnight Strut” is an energetic, yet silky Smooth Jazz groove that channels the unmistakable moods of the Quiet Storm era. Built with late-night elegance and rhythmic drive, the track blends lush melodies with a confident pulse designed to keep listeners locked in from the first note.
Website: calijonesmusic.com
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