Seattle native Robert Damper is on his fifth passport. The other four are filled with the hundreds of stops he has made over the past thirty years as Kenny G’s trusted keyboard player, musical director and co-collaborator. He’s played music on all of the biggest stages in the world, the most prestigious jazz festivals and the biggest television shows. Damper’s performed with some of the most important artists in the world, from R&B legends, Stevie Wonder & Patti LaBelle, to jazz greats, Roy Haynes, Jack DeJohnette and Branford Marsalis.

The good news is that during those two decades, whenever there was an opportunity to record music with musicians he loved, he took full advantage of it.  The beautiful result is "D" Tales.  The first featured single from the CD, "OJ" has been released on May 15, 2016.  The full CD will follow this August 2016.

OJ (Oldskool Jam) Radio Edit (Preview)

Seattle native Robert Damper is on his fifth passport. The other four are filled with the hundreds of stops he has made over the past thirty years as Kenny G’s trusted keyboard player, musical director and co-collaborator. He’s played music on all of the biggest stages in the world, the most prestigious jazz festivals and the biggest television shows. Damper’s performed with some of the most important artists in the world, from R&B legends, Stevie Wonder & Patti LaBelle, to jazz greats, Roy Haynes, Jack DeJohnette and Branford Marsalis.   Traveling the world non-stop for close to three decades has made it hard to find the time to focus on releasing his own CD, a dream he’s had for over 20 years. The good news is that during those two decades, whenever there was an opportunity to record music with musicians he loved, he took full advantage of it. 
The beautiful result is D Tales Project and the first single from the CD, Feel So Good, is being released right in time for Valentine’s Day. The full CD will follow this spring.  Damper wrote Feel So Good with R&B singer, Skyler Jett, a one-time vocalist with Kenny G’s band, who has subsequently worked with scores of music legends including Sly Stone, Celine Dion, Mariah Carey, Patti Austin, Sting and Chaka Khan, to name just a few. Skyler also replaced Lionel Ritchie when he left the Commodores and toured with them in over 30 countries.   This is a very personal song for Skyler, who wrote the song for his wife. He remembers the moment fondly, “ I wrote the song while sitting at the piano just before we married. The song came through me as my heart was filled with love and awe that life had orchestrated our paths to cross."  

Not surprisingly, Kenny G is a featured soloist on this romantic old-school R&B ballad.   Damper has been playing music since he was in first grade. “The first CD I ever bought was jazz trumpeter Lee Morgan’s, Candy. “I was in the third grade. I got hooked on jazz and began immersing myself in the work of other great jazz trumpeters like Clifford Brown, Miles Davis and Freddie Hubbard as well as the inspiring music of the best of the jazz pianists, McCoy Tyner, Oscar Peterson, Kenny Barron, Chick Corea and Art Tatum”.   After high school, Damper attended the University of Washington and Seattle’s prestigious music school, The Cornish Institute of Allied Arts. During this time, he became an integral part of a legendary local funk/soul band, Cold, Bold & Together, which featured his high school friend, Kenny Gorelick, better known as Kenny G.    Damper moved to the East Coast to attend The New England Conservatory of Music, playing music as a member of the New York Jazz and R&B scene for a decade. An opportunity to move back to Seattle and become a student of Emmy Award winning composer Hummie Mann’s PNW Film Scoring Program and play in Kenny G’s “G-Force” band, turned out to be a smart move.  

"I’ve been very lucky to have a career like this,’ he says with humility and an appreciation for successfully being able to live a life of music.  Now with the release of D Tales Project, a busy global touring schedule and a desire to release more CDs and continue his study of film composing, Damper is focused and energized for whatever musical adventures the future holds.   

Feel So Good Credits  
Produced by Robert Damper & Skyler Jett Associate Producers and Engineers: Karl Martin and Dwight Goodman Recorded at Hybrid Productions, Seattle, WA. Music and Lyrics by Skyler Jett & Robert Damper Mixed by Urs Weisendanger @ Fast Peak Recording Studio Mastered by Dan Dean   

The Players  
Robert Damper- Keyboards 
Skyler Jett- All Vocals  
Dwight Goodman-Keyboards and Drum Programming  
Kenny G. – Saxophone      

Graphic Design by Nick Jessen  
	 

OJ (Oldskool Jam) Radio Edit (Preview)

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