{"id":806717,"date":"2020-04-23T09:00:22","date_gmt":"2020-04-23T15:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=988290"},"modified":"2020-04-23T09:00:22","modified_gmt":"2020-04-23T15:00:22","slug":"onyx-collective-turn-rodgers-and-harts-manhattan-into-a-jazz-age-dreamscape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/music-news\/onyx-collective-turn-rodgers-and-harts-manhattan-into-a-jazz-age-dreamscape\/","title":{"rendered":"Onyx Collective Turn Rodgers and Hart\u2019s \u2018Manhattan\u2019 Into a Jazz Age Dreamscape"},"content":{"rendered":"
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New York City jazz<\/a> outfit Onyx Collective have unveiled a starry-eyed take on the Richard Rodgers<\/a> and Lorenz Hart<\/a> classic, \u201cManhattan,\u201d which will appear on their tribute to the Rodgers and Hart\/Rodgers and Hammerstein songbook, Manhattan Special<\/i>, out <\/a>Friday, April 24th, via TMWRK Records.<\/p>\n

A New York City anthem since it arrived in 1925, \u201cManhattan\u201d has been performed by everyone from Ella Fitzgerald<\/a> and Tony Bennett<\/a> to the Supremes<\/a> and Rod Stewart and Bette Midler<\/a>. On their version, Onyx Collective fold the song\u2019s vintage Jazz Age charm into a contemporary soundscape as twinkling keys and a strolling saxophone venture through the city alongside group leader Isaiah Barr\u2019s effects-drenched vocals.<\/p>\n

Barr, a New York City native, tells Rolling Stone<\/i> that Onyx Collective wanted to \u201cpaint a dreamy kind of surrealist portrait of the fantastical side of Manhattan\u201d with its take on the tune. \u201cAll the references in the song are still things we romanticize about the city, so it seemed like a perfect soundtrack to a New York love story,\u201d he says. \u201cWe tried to create an atmosphere around the feeling you have on a perfect New York day in Soho or Central Park\u2026 a kind of grandiose delusional sense of reality we have as New Yorkers.\u201d<\/p>\n

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While \u201cManhattan\u201d is purely an Onyx Collective effort, most of Manhattan Special<\/i> will feature guest vocalists, such as Nick Hakim singing \u201cMy Funny Valentine,\u201d Ian Isiah singing \u201cBlue Moon\u201d and Kelsey Lu singing \u201cSpring Is Here\u201d and \u201cWhere or When.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barr says the tracklist was compiled by pouring over the Rodgers and Hart\/Rodgers and Hammerstein discography and choosing songs that not only stood out as favorites but ones that complemented each other and would allow for different musical styles.<\/p>\n

Onyx Collective listened to and studied past arrangements for inspiration \u2014 Barr specifically cited 1967\u2019s The Supremes Sing Rodgers & Hart<\/i> \u2014 but also just followed their musical instincts in the studio.<\/p>\n