![\"Jazz](\"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/images\/21-1006-tony-hightower-696x522.jpg\")
PHOTO CAPTION: Jazz Singer Tony Hightower.<\/em><\/p>\n
His sophomore project, “Legacy,” finds Hightower moving assuredly from original compositions such as the soulful scat-laced \u201cAll to the Good,\u201d the seductive Brazilian bossa nova \u201cRendezvous\u201d and the tender Al Jarreau-esque love beg \u201cI Need You\u201d to swingin\u2019 covers of Earth, Wind & Fire\u2019s classic \u201cCan\u2019t Hide Love,\u201d a mean shuffle boogie through Al Green\u2019s \u201cLove and Happiness\u201d and a smoldering tiptoe through the 1929 Andy Razaf standard \u201cGee, Baby, Ain\u2019t I Good To You\u201d made further famous in 1944 by<\/p>\n
Tony\u2019s greatest vocal hero, Nat \u201cKing\u201d Cole.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t have a choice about doing this music,\u201d Hightower confesses. \u201cMy mother, Theresa Hightower, lived her life onstage. She was a fiery and versatile vocal pro by age 16 and had me when she was 19. So, you could say I\u2019ve been performing since the womb.\u201d Growing up under a local legend mother – a Funk-Rocker who could sing anything and mentored many singers coming behind her – Tony learned music first-hand from Bobby Blue Bland and the Platters to Mother\u2019s Finest. And as mother Theresa evolved as a first-class singer – shifting her focus to Jazz that resulted in her historic residency at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in once fiercely segregated Buckhead. GA – so, too, did Tony\u2019s taste begin to broaden.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen my mom followed Freddy Cole at The Ritz Carlton, he became a fan and then they became friends. Later, Mr. Cole called to ask me to accompany him on drums. By then, he was more like family. One day, he told me in earnest, \u2018You need to start writing your own songs. We need new songs!\u2019 I hesitated but by his nudging and God\u2019s, I started on some songs that worked. My hope was to create The New Standard, thus the title\/concept of my debut CD.\u201d<\/p>\n A man of the Hip Hop\/R&B generation, Tony is known for singing with Soul luminaries such as Gerald Levert, Lionel Richie, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis and OutKast. However, the last 7 years have found him totally devoted to jazz, on a mission into bring the real deal to fresh young audiences in memory of his mother and Mr. Freddy Cole, at whose funeral he tearfully blessed in song. \u201cI worked hard on my first record to ensure that my tone was tight and that my songwriting mirrored the timeless songs of yesterday. On Legacy, my sound is evolving into something that\u2019s more uniquely soulful and \u2018me\u2019 that I believe the pure jazz world will respect but that can also play in the soul-pop world like Al Jarreau was able to do.\u201d<\/p>\n No statement could be truer with one listen to Hightower\u2019s divinely varied latest offering, Legacy, so titled as a tribute to the memory of his mother who was honored with a proclamation from the city of Atlanta and October 29 being declared \u2018Theresa Hightower Day\u2019 upon her passing. \u201cMy mother was my best friend,\u201d Tony says softly. \u201cWe used to always have this one debate. I\u2019d say music is about melody. She insisted it was all about the lyrics.\u201d<\/p>\n At a recent intimate performance during the Candlelight Series at Piedmont Park, Hightower sang a repertoire of all Ellington music show. Onstage, he spied a pair of pretty ladies who could not have been older than 22. His heart was gladdened. \u201cWhen I say these things, I really mean it. My influences stretch from Mel Torme\u2019 and Marvin Gaye to Charlie Wilson (lead singer of The GAP Band) and Aaron Hall (lead singer of Guy),\u201d Hightower concludes. \u201cI\u2019m finding ways to sing that makes all of that appropriate. That\u2019s what makes me unique as a Jazz singer.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLEGACY\u201d CD debuts November 5, 2021<\/p>\n For more information, contact: <\/strong><\/p>\n J\u2019ai StLaurent-Smyth<\/p>\n Inque Public Relations \u2013 917.627.9161<\/p>\n Inquepublicity.pr@gmail.com<\/p>\n Keep up with Tony by visiting:<\/strong><\/p>\n Facebook: https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/tony.towerz<\/a><\/p>\n Instagram: @thetonyhightower<\/p>\n Instagram Business:\u00a0@tonyhightowerstandard<\/p>\n Twitter: @tony_hightower<\/p>\n YouTube: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UC4bieJ1z_Yx__leYAZTFZgA<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Singer](\"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/images\/21-1006-tony-and-theresa-696x522.jpg\")
PHOTO CAPTION: Singer Tony Hightower and his mother legendary jazz singer Theresa Hightower.<\/em><\/p>\n![\"LEGACY](\"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/images\/21-1006-legacy-hightower-696x696.jpg\")
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