Latest News
New Album entitled FULL CIRCLE - coming July 16th, 2013!
- FULL CIRCLE is Lawson's 4th collaboration in a row with
multi-platinum producer Dominic Camardella (Ottmar Liebert, Flora Purim, 3rd Force),
Grammy-winning violinist Charlie Bisharat (Shadowfax), versatile bassist Randy Tico
(Strunz & Farah, Airto, Benise, Jeff Bridges, Jake Shimabukuro), percussionist Dave
Bryant (Ottmar Liebert + Luna Negra, Baba Olatunji) and saxophonist/flutist Richard
Hardy (Carole King, Dave Matthews Band).
FULL CIRCLE press release here.
"Full Circle" cover - enlarge
Pre-order now on iTunes or Amazon.com:
 
- All-Star Compilation CD! A track by Lawson is on the brand new album Guitar Greats: Best of New Flamenco, Volume 3. Artists included on this compilation are Jesse Cook, Armik, Govi, Johannes Linstead, Young & Rollins, Oscar Lopez, Pavlo, Luis Villegas, and Incendio. This is the 8th compilation of its kind Lawson has been on and it's one of the best yet with such a stellar line up!
- Lawson was recently the "Celebrity Guest DJ" host of Sirius-XM 'Watercolors' Channel 66. Listen to the one hour show HERE.
- LATEST VIDEO: "LOCOMOTION" It elevates the intensity a notch higher than the level already set by his wildly popular videos "The Fire Cadenza" and "Santa Ana Wind", which have been viewed millions of times on the internet, 7.5 million alone on Youtube. View it here.
"LOCOMOTION" press release here.
Updates on the 2011 album ELEVATION:
- ELEVATION features the track 'Daybreak,' a certified Billboard top 25 contemporary jazz radio hit! Chart here. Visit the ELEVATION page for more info.
- "Santa Barbara Song" - the second single from ELEVATION serviced to jazz radio stations across the U.S. - was the number 1 'most added' song of the week on Billboard! The 'most added' chart is here.
- Sirius-XM satellite radio: The "Daybreak" single was the number 1 most played song on Sirius-XM's Watercolors channel 66. Chart here.
- National Geographic chose the track "Persian Night" from ELEVATION as their 'Song of the Week'. See the write-up here.
Reviews of ELEVATION:
- Guitar Player Magazine (Feb. 2012 issue): "He possesses ungodly classical chops, with dazzling speed, uncanny accuracy, and a beautifully delicate touch...Lawson incorporates jazz, Brazilian, Latin, and world music influences into his complex musical stew, making for an intriguing listen." Full interview and review here.
- Vintage Guitar Magazine states, "Even 'world music' seems an inadequate blanket to wrap around what Rollins has created here. But whatever it is, he is a master of it." Full review here.
- Inside World Music: "Another astounding album of world fusion and avant-garde jazz...Rollins reaches new musical heights." Full review here.
- Wandering Educators music critic Dr. Jessie Voigts: "Lawson has crafted a work of pure genius." Full review here.
- Jazz review website Straight No Chaser: "Elevation, the latest CD from finger picking guitar whiz Lawson Rollins, is a true world music album." Full review here.
- Midwest Record: "This is right in the center of the winner's circle of adult listening albums to come out this year... it doesn't get any better than this." Full review here.
- Read the new interview Lawson did for GUITAR WORLD MAGAZINE here.
- Don't miss the in-depth interview here with Music Web's guitar-guru Robert Silverstein, who described ELEVATION as "one of the great instrumental guitar albums of 2011...a masterpiece of high guitar art.".
- MainlyPiano.com music critic Michael Debbage: "Rollins continues to elevate his game, making Elevation not only a great album title but a terrific way in effectively describing his musical attitude, altitude and aptitude." Full review here.
- Radio Chart Action: "Daybreak", the first radio single from ELEVATION, has been a national radio hit on the following charts: Billboard Chart, MediaBase Chart, Top 50 Chart, and the Indie Chart. Recent Adds: Sirius-XM Watercolors channel 66, WLFM Chicago, KILE Houston, KYSJ Coos Bay OR, WTCC Springfield MA, WVST Richmond, WGRV Melbourne FL, and KIHT St. Louis.
- High Resolution Downloads! - All of Lawson's music - including ELEVATION - is now available in high resolution download format (24bit, 88.2kHz - more than twice the resolution of cds) through LINN. To hear every nuance of the music, discover the difference super high resolution sound quality makes. (Tip: to play back the 24bit, high-resolution 'studio master' files through your computer, simply download the easy-to-use, free player "VLC" here for Macs and here for Windows PC computers.)
- Visit Facebook here for a free download of the song "Voyager's Tale" from the new album ELEVATION.
Following the success of "Moonlight Samba" and "Havana Heat" on jazz radio over the past several months, the third radio single from the album ESPIRITO - entitled "Return to Rio" - soared on radio in the U.S. and Canada and spent 4 months in a row on the top 20 Indie Chart and the SmoothJazz.com Top 50 Chart. Also designated by Billboard radio as 'Most Added', 'New and Active' and 'Most Increased Plays' on the Billboard chart.
After the #1 hit "Moonlight Samba" set airwaves afire for the past 10 months on U.S. radio, "Havana Heat" - the second single from ESPIRITO - spent over 4 months in a row on the Billboard Indicator top 30 radio chart. View chart here.
#1 Billboard Radio Single: The first radio single from ESPIRITO entitled "Moonlight Samba" hit #1 on the Billboard Recurrent Chart, which tracks songs that have spent more than 20 weeks on the radio single charts. View chart here. "Moonlight Samba" also came in at #22 on the 2010 year-end Groove Jazz Top 50 Internet Chart.
"Moonlight Samba" debuted on radio back in January, 2010 as the #1 Most Added song on stations monitored by SmoothJazz.com and Nielsen. The single and album were highlighted here on Broadcast Architecture's industry standard Jazz Network website.
"Moonlight Samba" (from the album ESPIRITO) and "Infinita" (from the 2008 album INFINITA) are played regularly on the Sirius-XM "Watercolors" channel 71. Send in a request for the song here.
The songs "Return to Rio," "Havana Heat", "Blue Mountain Bolero", "Rumba del Sol" and "Footprints" off ESPIRITO were featured on National Public Radio's popular show Morning Edition. Playlists are here, here, and here.
Read the press releases about ESPIRITO here.
Reviews of ESPIRITO are located here.
Internet and TV video hits:
Reviews of INFINITA
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