Jazz pianist and singer extraordinaire, Kandace Springs, has recently released her 5th album Run Your Race.
She produced the album alongside Evan Rogers and Carl Sturken for SRP Records.
The new album is named for her father, the late Kenneth “Scat” Springs, who fronted his own R&B band and sang backup for everyone from Garth Brooks to Aretha Franklin.
As well, the title track, “Run Your Race”, is a gospel-tinged, spiritually uplifting summation of her life with her father; she wrote the song as a tribute.
“He was one of my biggest influences growing up, teaching me everything from how to sing, piano, sports and more,” recalls Kandace. “He was a track star in college. Some of the records he set still haven’t been broken. Due to health reasons, he spent the last two years of his life in a wheelchair, unable to run. Now he’s finally free to run his race.”
The official video features reminiscent photos of “Scat” collaged within footage of Kandace performing “Run Your Race” in a studio on piano, and at a local Nashville track where she used to run with her dad when she was a child.
Years before the pandemic, her music progressed, and so did her live performing career as she found herself in front of audiences around the world. When live performances were put on hold by the covid pandemic, Kandace returned to Nashville. The time off gave her clarity on her career.
What turned things around for Kandace was her father’s passing in 2021. “It didn’t hit me at first,” she says, “but about a year later I suddenly thought: I want to make an album to pay tribute to my father. And that’s what got me going again... He was such a huge influence on me, I needed to thank him for it in the only way I could now.”
To start with, Kandace was sitting on a treasure trove of songs that she had written throughout her career, that somehow had been overlooked through her first 3 albums. “I think maybe I was not confident enough to show them to everybody,” she expressed. “A lot of them I wrote when I was really young, and just learning. But they are honest, and they are all me.”
Her prior published music projects include Kandace Springs EP, Soul Eyes, Indigo, The Women Who Raised Me, and My Name is Sheba.
Her debut release landed her on The Late Show With David Letterman and Jimmy Kimmel Live! She’s performed at Royal Albert Hall and the Newport and Monterey jazz festivals.
Ms. Kandace also has won Germany’s Deutscher Jazzpreis for Best Jazz Vocal Album.
Kandace's musical journey also includes being musically mentored and collaborating with the late, great and globally beloved music icon Prince.
He saw a video of Kandace doing her version of Sam Smith’s “Stay With Me”, and messaged her directly. A week later, incredibly, she found herself performing with him at Paisley Park for the 30th anniversary of the album Purple Rain. They wrote songs and shared thoughts on all things musical.
Prince praised Kandace as having a “voice that can melt snow”. His influence can be heard most clearly on Kandace's Run Your Race via the song “Closer To Me” - a classic R&B love ballad that brings to mind such Prince classics as “The Beautiful Ones.”
Kandance Spring's additional collaborations include the likes of Norah Jones, Wu-Tang Clan’s Ghostface Killah, drummer/producer Karriem Riggins, Christian McBride, David Sanborn, Camille Gainer-Jones, bassist Caylen Bryant, flutist Elena Pinderhughes and DJ legend Sandy Rivera (Kings of Tomorrow).
True to her ever-growing independence and sense of musical freedom, Kandace sets no boundaries on herself as to her choice of material, even interpreting contemporary pop songs when they inspire her; that means migrating any song into her own world of jazz and soul, a process she calls “Kandacizing”.
Finally releasing Run Your Race after a wait of almost four years, Kandace has many feelings: satisfaction, closure, and relief.
“I feel that this album has been inside of me for a long time, and it’s so great to bring it out into the world for everyone to hear. When they hear it, I feel like they’re finally going to be meeting the real me.”
*VIDEO: Run Your Race > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qBcIzT9MTk
● SOURCE: Pianist/Singer Kandace Springs to Release Anticipated New Album “Run Your Race” on April 5th 2024. The Urban Music Scene > https://news.theurbanmusicscene.com/2024/03/kandace-springs-to-release-new-album-run-your-race/
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