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It is a phenomenon of the times that many musicians write all songs themselves and record them as multi-instrumentalists. Marcus goes a few steps further. He produces and mixes the songs and markets them on his own label. He even has made under his own name some of the musical instruments he plays on. But let us turn our attention to the present album. In My Own Lane Talk is, so to speak, the greeting from the kitchen, a sound painting as a small prelude followed by the Intro itself. Starting with a hard beat Marcus develops a captivating melody on sax accompanied by two minimalistic chords. That way the focus stays on the theme. It's Possible is featuring L.A. residing soul vocalist Lina Loi who gives the melodramatic trend of the song with her erotic voice a special spice. In My Own Lane is the suitable title for Marcus' self-determined composition, which has so little in common with the contemporary smooth jazz trend and yet exerts its own charm in an indescribable way. Vibe With Me doesn't care about the usual recording habits and that's what makes it so attractive. The sax is in full reverb, the drum machine is in manual mode and the keys are whispering the atmosphere. For The People sounds at first like a rehearsal. Marcus treats ecstatically snare and cymbals with percussion brooms, while he occupies the theme emotionally charged on the saxophone. Las Olas relies on a minimalistic modified finger snipping beat while the melody is shared by guitar and sax in a question and answer style. Halftime Interlude cites Grover Washington's famous Mr. Magic revealing Mitchell's great role model. On BWI To Las Vegas Marcus develops another experimental approach that has its origins in the field of hip hop. Lenny B is Marcus' tribute to the late Lenny B. Robinson, who became known as the Baltimore Batman after dressing up as Batman and visiting children in Baltimore, Maryland-area hospitals. Blues Alley is an homage to the finest jazz and supper club in Washington, DC. Marcus excels with a superior and complex horn arrangement while the keyboard chords create the targeted mood and the drums groove in a brisk rhythm. Trumpet and guitar are finally heating up the vibes. Excellent! Dinner For 2 draws on elements of smooth jazz that are generally associated with romanticism. Scarface Fitted is featuring iNTELLECT, a Christian Hip-Hop emcee, producer from Toledo, OH. Marcus comments: "I wanted to step outside the box and feature some great artist." Seldom does the title and content of an album fit together as well as it does with Marcus H. Mitchell's In My Own Lane. Courage, economic independence and a huge portion of unbridled creativity are the basic prerequisites for this. My respect and admiration for so much genius.
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Album Information
Title: In My Own Lane |
Marcus
H. Mitchell founded in young years the label 24th Music, a
division of MHM Entertainment Group. In 2005 he released on this
label his debut album Jumpin'. His second album R&R
– Rest & Relaxation followed in 2007. His album
All About You (2015) was his fifteenth. His new album is
titled In My Own Lane (2019).
