Zach Deputy

On his upcoming release Another Day (Eusonia Records, 2011), Zach Deputy demonstrates his extraordinary ability to perform and record in multiple contexts and conveys the sensibilities of a mature singer/songwriter. Another Day offers another look at Zach Deputy and seeks to help him cross over into other audiences. Rich with ballads and mid-tempo songs, the music on this recording is best described as soulful rhythm and blues, with flavors of Al Green, Taj Mahal and Stevie Wonder emerging in the swells, changes and modulations of the music, in the voice and even in the lyrical content. The record will appeal to fans of contemporary artists like Jack Johnson and Amos Lee, but the origins of the style and feel remain classic.

“Among the many gifts given with both hands to formerly local, currently New York-prowling singer-songwriter Kaleigh Baker – aside from that Swiss Army knife of a voice – is her innate grasp of momentum. On her new EP, The Weight of It All, Baker and producer Justin Beckler play the puppet masters, building suspense without ever seeming coy about it. Baker is capable of communicating volumes with a simple vocal lilt, and on the moments in which her register nose-dives headfirst into the emotional muck (“Sugardaddy”) or propels like a jet into the stratosphere (“Love Letter to a Burning Man”), she never fails to rouse the senses.” ” The Weight of It All is the roar of a soulful lioness and will go a long way toward proving to the world what Orlando’s known for a long time: Kaleigh Baker is a legend in the making.” – Justin Strout, Orlando Weekly

She takes another hit of whiskey and heads out with her band, a star sextet she’s amassed from members of local jazz crew Swing in Time and Sam Rivers’ Rivbea Orchestra. And then, she goes nearly deaf.

“I couldn’t hear anything. I was in some weird zone,” says Baker.

What happens after that moment is entirely unpredictable and nearly magical. With impeccable swagger, vocal chops as playful as Diane Schuur with a Patti Smith bent and backing musicians telekinetically linked to Baker’s every whim, she shrugs off the jitters and brings the house down. Behind the enraptured masses and off to the side sits Baker’s benefactor, Alexandra Sarton, that inescapable invisible hand of Orlando’s female music scene, grinning knowingly and nodding her head.