New York, NY (PRWEB) September 30, 2015
“Reverend Zen The Videos” marks the return of New York’s award winning rock, blues, jazz group. The collection features ten newly created song videos by the band. It provides a first listen to their upcoming single “Magdalena New Wings”.
Reverend Zen’s video collection covers the band’s recordings from 2006-2015. It was inspired by the box constructions and collages of New York visual artist Joseph Cornell, 1903-1972. Bandleader Jack Evans recalls, “A friend took me to a Cornell retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. It was incredible. His box constructions and collages were a world distantly magical, beautifully quirky and nostalgically home.”
“For the past nine or ten years people asked about Reverend Zen videos but we’d never gotten around to doing any. With music video sites having such prominence now, I tried to think of a creative way of doing a series of song videos.”, remarks Evans. He envisioned treating each video storyboard like a Cornell construction. Photos, objects and scenes create collages out of each video’s frame, depicting the songs’ stories.
Joseph Cornell may have served Evans as an artistic inspiration but personal events inspired him as well. “I did the ten videos in my spare time over a nine month period. My mother was ill and dying part of that time. Any hours I spent on the videos felt almost therapeutic.” He continues, “She was very brave and loving right to the end. Witnessing her strength and spirit served as both personal and artistic inspiration.”
Reverend Zen first appeared on the music scene with their 2006 cd Angels, Blues & the Crying Moon. Producer and host Paul Sedowski of ABC Radio Radio Networks Fame Games, 2006-2010, remarked, “Reverend Zen rocked our show. Here’s an extremely credible band whose professionalism and class are apparent, with great musicianship and musical taste.” Fame Games annual Effigy Awards in Spain bestowed the group 2007/08 Best Song honors.
From 2006-2012 the band received seventy music industry awards and airplay around the world in North America, South America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, the Middle East and Japan. The group won Best Song, Best Artist at the 2007 Los Angeles Music Awards in Hollywood. In Denver the group was named the Golden Wave Music Awards 2008 Artist of the Year. From 2006-2009 they were Finalists at France’s 100% Song Contest in Paris, at LA’s Unisong International Song Contest and VH1’s Song of the Year Contest. WCH Radio in St. Louis named the band 2007 Artist of the Year. From 2008-2012 they received five ASCAP Plus Awards in New York.
The songs of Reverend Zen’s video collection feature a stellar group of musicians who have performed and recorded with Bruce Springsteen, Ray Charles, John Mayer, Eric Clapton, Aretha Franklin, John Scofield, Sheryl Crow, Sting, Stevie Wonder, Paul Schaeffer, Annie Lennox, B.B. King, Joni Mitchell, Donald Fagen, Shawn Colvin, Albert Collins, David Sanborn, Pearl Jam, Joe Cocker, Boz Scaggs, Lenny White, Madonna, Lenny Kravitz, Celine Dion, Aerosmith, Michael McDonald, the Manhattan Transfer, the Average White Band, Dr. John, Milton Nascimento, Bernard Wright, Dennis Chambers, Chaka Khan, George Benson, Omar Hakim, Foreigner, Bette Midler, Lenny White, Lyle Lovett, Marcus Miller, David Bowie, Jennifer Lopez, Diana Ross, Mongo Santamaria, Spyro Gyra, kd Lang, Eliane Elias, Phoebe Snow, Joss Stone, Bettye Lavette, Jonathan Butler, Kirk Whalum, Patti La Belle, Jewel, and Elvis Costello.
“Reverend Zen The Videos” contains newly created videos of their songs from 2006-2015. It includes award winners “Bad Attitude”, “Dangerous Times”, “The Boston Shakedown” and their upcoming single “Magdalena New Wings”.
