WILL MAGID – DEBUT ALBUM – MIDNIGHT HIGH
OUT NOW – ON HAPPY RABBIT MUSIC

“A golden touch. Something special I don’t see that often” -Jeremy Sole (KCRW)

Making Midnight High was a journey for Producer and Trumpeter Will Magid. Having deep roots in Jazz, Electronic Dance Music, and musical traditions from around the world, he has fused these rich and varied influences into a sound that is his own. Midnight High will take you to Havana in the summertime, to a Ghanaian funeral and simultaneously, a French dance club. It will take you to soul music in Japan, then to the cusp of the end of the world, where everyone’s dancing because they have nothing to lose.

On “Cuban Swing,” Will brings together his obsession with DJ Culture, and his childhood obsession with 1920’s Swing, all with a delicious Afro-Cuban flavor. The Electronic elements of the song make the piece very contemporary. It’s roots in Jazz and Afro-Cuban give the piece a timeless quality that transports listeners and dancers through both space and time.

Will’s magical mix of sounds can be heard on the dance floor banger of the album, “Love Step.” For this song, Will brings to bear the powerful rhythmic pulse of Balkan Brass with Electro and Dub.

The final cut on the album, “Brown Paper Bag” is a fitting finale! The song is reminiscent of Paul Simon’s Graceland mixed with the eerie modern nature of Animal Collective. Written in his childhood room in Palo Alto, after returning from college in L.A.

The trumpet will holler vibrantly no matter what. And it’s a flexible instrument, well suited for this record’s victorious leaps among sounds from the past, sounds from here and sounds from elsewhere.

While he’s devoted to his trumpet, Will is truly a multi-instrumentalist/producer. On his new record, he plays the guitar and the keyboard, he sings, and he employs a wide array of samples. He’s joined on select tracks by Iggy Mon (Trinidad), Pleasuremaker (Afrolicious) Ezekial McCarter on vocals, Ben Altieri on guitar, and Aaron Leibowitz on guitar and sax. The resulting pieces are buoyant, multifarious jams packed with rich layers of celebratory horns, bouncing percussion, classical strings and even a bit of ambient noise.

Will has been very busy in studio. In addition to producing his own record, Will is currently in the midst of producing several other artists’ records and recently added his talents to Jeremy Sole’s official remix for the band Little Dragon. He’s also had the honor to play and collaborate with many talented arists from diverse genres of music, such as Solomon Burke, Soji Odukogbe (Fela Kuti), Baba Ken Okulolo, Ocote Soul Sounds, Pangea Collective, CocoRosie, Bushwalla, Rumen Shopov (Master Romani Musician), Afrolicious, J Boogie, and Inspector Gadje.

Will has been burning up the Bay, packing club shows with his band, The Will Magid Trio. His first Will Magid’s World Wide Dance Party, featuring special performances by members of Fela Kuti’s Band, in January was a smash success sold out show. He has also broken into the DJ world and is rocking dance floors with his unique DJ/Trumpet sets.

A collector of sounds, Will layers the familiar with the curious, building imaginary worlds somehow both strange and close to home.

Tracklisting:

1. Cuban Swing

2. The Box (Feat. Ezekiel McCarter)

3. Love Step

4. Midnight High

5. Ghanaian Pavane

6. Brown Paper Bag