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JACK SPANN TO RELEASE BEAUTIFUL MAN FROM MARS<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n Making The Strange and Fabulous Digestible One Song At A Time<\/b><\/p>\n New York City, NY March 16th<\/sup>, 2017\u2014<\/b>Jack Spann has had an incredible couple of years.\u00a0 The Saint Louis native has lived in New York City for the last 16 years and established himself as one of the city\u2019s in-demand keyboardists.\u00a0 His reputation led to an introduction to David Bowie\u2019s producer, Tony Visconti who hired him to play on the demos for what would be Bowie\u2019s final album, Blackstar.<\/i><\/p>\n As Spann told St. Louis Magazine, \u201cIt\u2019s hard to describe how nice [Bowie] was to me.\u00a0 He was really, really genuinely interested in how and what I was playing.\u00a0 Overall, he was just a delight to work with.\u201d During the demo sessions, Bowie asked if Spann would be available to tour, but then his illness and untimely death precluded that.<\/p>\n Spann\u2019s Visconti connection did not end there.\u00a0 It led to an introduction to Milwaukee-based producer, Gary Tanin, who worked with Spann on his 1st solo record, Time, Time, Time, Time, Time<\/i> and again on his 2nd upcoming full band release, Beautiful Man From Mars.<\/i><\/p>\n Beautiful Man From Mars<\/i> took a year to record and produce and is different from his last, a more straight up solo piano and vocal recording.\u00a0 Several guests appear for backing vocals while Spann provides lead vocals, piano, keyboards, guitar and bass.\u00a0 Rob Medcalf and Don Kelly play drums and percussion along with producer Gary Tanin adding additional keyboards.<\/p>\n The 13-song record kicks off with the title track, which Spann confesses he was inspired to write after working with David Bowie on the Blackstar<\/i> demos.\u00a0 \u201cIt was just a simple little melody that came while I was driving from New York to Vermont to play a gig and the lyrics wrote themselves.\u201d Spann played his acoustic guitar for the song, a handmade Bourgeois, which he considers himself \u201clucky to own.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTime\u201d is Spann taking aim at unraveling the mystery.\u00a0 \u201cThe second hand went first, the minute though he\u2019d try, pretty soon the hour hand had also gone by.\u201d\u00a0 The song becomes distinct by adding a metronomic piano and unique chord structure to the mix.<\/p>\n Another song that focuses on piano with a rousing solo towards the end is \u201cShe Makes Pornography on the Weekend.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cI wrote this song for myself,\u201d explains Spann, \u201cand anyone who\u2019s poor and striving to break out of the life they find themselves stuck in.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSongman\u201d keeps the rhythm moving sans guitar.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s just piano, bass, drums and a little organ and violin in the background,\u201d said Spann who tributes the song to fellow artists who have to play on the street, open mics or at songwriting circles.<\/p>\n \u201cMars in Twilight\u201d is a pastiche of instrumental sounds described by Spann as \u201cA free ride with no gravity, in the near space of the other side of Mars.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cDeep Inside\u201d opens as a pulsing piano song of love, confusion, resignation and fleeting hope, while \u201cJack Around\u201d is a little fun up-tempo instrumental ditty.\u00a0 The record ends with the fitting instrumental \u201cMan From Mars Reprise.\u201d<\/p>\n Spann\u2019s music has covered\u00a0 considerable ground over the past two decades.\u00a0 He was a founding member of the St. Louis group, Vitamin A and then took the risk of moving to New York City for his art.\u00a0 \u201cI got sidetracked for a while by the world of theater,\u201d he said.\u00a0 He got an onstage gig acting and playing bass in the show \u201cLost Highway, The Hank Williams Story\u201d and was then cast as \u2018Songman\u2019 in the Tony award-winning show \u201cWar Horse\u201d at Lincoln Center for three years.<\/p>\n His piano skills have been characterized \u201cCarnegie Hall-class chops\u201d and while he can play ragtime, pop, jazz, blues, rock and in several other musical genres, Spann claims to look upon \u201chonesty, emotion, and technique as a genre.\u201d His work has been compared to Elton John, Billy Joel, Joe Jackson, Ben Folds and even \u201cTony Banks\u2019 work with Genesis during their early 70\u2019s peak with Peter Gabriel\u201d (New York Music Daily).<\/p>\n Jack Spann is someone who\u2019s impassioned and obsessed with expressing truth through music.\u00a0 He is someone who performs emotionally and with pure abandon.\u00a0 \u201cI will spend hours and hours and hours writing the perfect line and I really want to make sure people \u2018get it\u2019\u2014 the idea with the original intent, when I deliver it,\u201d he explains, \u201cI care foremost about making them feel the same emotion that drove me to create it in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n Beautiful Man From Mars will release June 16th<\/sup>, 2017 in CD, Vinyl LP, and Digital formats through Big Boo Music \/ OARFIN \/ Alliance<\/p>\n ###<\/p>\n For more information:<\/p>\n www.jackspann.com<\/a><\/p>\n www.facebook.com\/jackspannband<\/a><\/p>\n