CALEB QUAYE – WHOM ERIC CLAPTON ONCE CALLED

‘THE BEST GUITAR PLAYER IN THE WORLD’ -

 IS SUBJECT OF CROWDFUNDING CAMPAIGN

TO RAISE FUNDS TO COMPLETE ‘A VOICE LOUDER

THAN ROCK,’ A DOCUMENTARY BASED ON HIS

POPULAR 2006 AUTOBIOGRAPHY   

The U.K.-Born Musician, Who Rose To Fame With Elton

John’s Classic ’70s Bands, Tells a Fascinating “Rags To Riches

To Rags To Redemption Story” That Has Taken Him From

Touring The World To An Empowering Musical Ministry

LOS ANGELES - GloRoc Productions is launching a dynamic crowd-funding campaign to raise funds for the completion of “A Voice Louder Than Rock,”a documentary based on “A Voice Louder Than Rock & Roll,” the popular2006 autobiography by Caleb Quaye (www.newworldmusic.org), the spiritually and geographically well-traveled musician that none other than the legendaryEric Clapton once called “The Best Guitar Player in the World.”

Quaye wrote the book that the film is based on with Dale A. Berryhill.

While the production team has finished 49 percent of the project on essentially no budget, GloRoc is seeking a total of $100,000 between campaigns onFaithLauncher.com and Gofundme.com. The extra funds will go towards finishing primary photography, editing, post-production and travel expenses related to overseas travel for more artist and musician interviews that will help flesh out Quaye’s extraordinary story. The sites are administered by his nephew Darius Carlo, who masterminded the campaign, and multiple Emmyaward-winning producer Valerie J. Tucker, his manager and head of GloRoc Productions, who is producing the film.

A powerful “Rags to Riches to Rags to Redemption” story with built in appeal to rock fans and faith based audiences alike, “A Voice Louder Than Rock” chronicles Quaye’s journey from being a legendary rock sideman throughout the ’70s with greats like Elton John and Hall & Oates to launching a very different, even more vibrant life in ministry, overseeing the worship ministries at the prominent Foursquare Church called The Church on the Wayin Van Nuys, Calif. (where he was first baptized) and traveling and speaking throughout the country.

Beyond powerful footage of Quaye touring with Elton John, Hall & Oates and playing with groups like Frank Zappa’s Mother’s of Invention, the doc includes vintage clips of his father, British born singer, multi-instrumentalist and bandleader Cab Kaye, who worked with jazz legends like Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington and Dizzy Gillespie. It also features interviews with famedGenesis drummer Chester Thompson, Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist Ed King(co-writer of “Sweet Home Alabama”), Memphis blues guitarist Buddy Davis, longtime EJ guitarist and musical director Davey Johnstone, engineerStuart Epps, string arranger Paul Buckmaster and Dr. Jack Hayford,Founding Pastor of The Church on the Way.

Beyond the glamour, the fame and the touring, Quaye – who played a key role in launching Sir Elton‘s career, appeared on his seminal early ’70s albums and recorded and toured the world with the singer during his mid-’70s heyday – recalls the dark side which involved years of partying and taking drugs. He wondered several times, “Is this all there is?”

The story told by “A Voice Louder Than Rock” reveals that there is a Voicethat is louder than not only Rock but any other noise that take over our daily thoughts – unabashedly, and in line with Quaye’s powerful conversion experience in the early ’80s, that voice is Jesus. The film is a spirited chronicle of a great rock and roller working and touring with legends – but also offers, via his story, a message of hope and redemption. Quaye believes that in today’s world, where there is an abundance of misinformation and confusion, people still need to hear a story of hope – and as per his faith, that hope lies in Christ.

“When I was hobnobbing with some of the biggest stars popular music has ever produced - Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Pete Townshend, Lou Reed, Hall & Oates and most notably, Elton John – I thought I had what matters in life. If I had stopped to think about it, I would have dismissed the idea of religious faith as something unreal. Today, I see that it was the fame and the success that were unreal and transient and that it is my religious faith that is meaningful and lasting.”

As Quaye says in the two minute trailer that appears on both crowdfunding sites, “I wasn’t looking for God or Jesus or anything, or religion, but I was looking for answers to this existence we call life.” In the late ’70s, as his career was on the wane and his marriage was breaking up he heard a voice. “In my limited understanding,” he says “I knew I had been spoken to. I just didn’t know by who. So I made a little promise to myself. I said, ‘One day I am going to find out who that voice belonged to.”

Everything changed at a church service Chester Thompson took him to in1982, when he identified the voice as that of God, truly “A Voice Louder than Rock and Roll.” He realized he had been given a musical gift but could no longer play music for the same reasons as before. He gave up music entirely for a while to study the Bible and enter the ministry at The Church on the Way while working a series of regular jobs outside the music industry.

Some years later, while working as part of the music faculty at Life Pacific College, Quaye put together a band of fellow professors to play at an annual music conference at Biola University. After a number of years devoted solely to inspirational music, he ventured into making secular recordings for the first time, launching Caleb Quaye and the Faculty, which played gigs around Southern California and recorded an album called Out of the Blue and All The Way Live (recorded at Alva’s Showroom in San Pedro, Calif.).

“I felt a calling back to the music industry, and began playing instrumental compositions as a way to bring light into dark places,” Quaye says. “That desire is also the driving force behind this documentary. We’re living in a world where the problems are increasingly bad and people are so desperate for some kind of hope, a light to shine in the darkness. And so I want to take them from a place where I had all the supposed great things of the world but was selling instruments just to get my latest fix, to the light and hope I found in Christianity.

“I also want to be a positive musical influence,” he adds. “There are so many artists and bands that have come along, spewing angst and despair, desolation, hopelessness and futility. I’m proud of the contributions I have made to recordings that have stood the test of time and have touched several generations of Elton’s fans. And in the context of faith, I have had the privilege of experiencing the music I wrote and played affecting people’s lives for eternity. Those are the things in my life I’m excited to share in ‘A Voice Louder Than Rock.”

World-renowned guitarist Caleb Quaye along with his new band, The Faculty are serving up another round of tantalizing smooth jazz music from their new CD Out Of The Blue at the acclaimed venue Spaghettini Grill & Jazz Club in Seal Beach, CA on Wednesday, April 28.

The performance kicks off at 7 p.m. sharp. Reservations are highly recommended and can be made by calling Spaghettini directly at (562) 596-2199 or online at www.spaghettini.com.

For the loads of Jazz fans located outside of the Los Angeles/Orange County areas, the performance can be experienced live on their laptops thanks to Justin.tv via Caleb’s channel at www.valjtucmanagement.com at 7 p.m. PDT (10 p.m. EDT).

Caleb has earned praise from the legendary Eric Clapton, who has called him the world’s best guitar player. Fitting perfectly in the realm of smooth contemporary jazz, but with distinctive rock and fusion flavors, Out of The Blue celebrates the best of Quaye’s lifetime of diverse guitar influences. It also represents the edgy and infectious handiwork of an incredible ensemble of musicians whose work is so seamless, it could be part of a vastly cool jazz conspiracy. The nine-track instrumental set is Caleb Quaye And The Faculty’s first studio album and follow-up to their 2008 live CD One Night In San Dimas.

A Smooth Jazz radio campaign is underway for three tracks on Out Of The Blue: the title cut, which was recently the most added track on the Billboard Indictor chart, along with “Ask And You Shall Receive” and “Changing Seasons.”

In other news, Caleb will be speaking at the Phoenix International Film Festival (PICFF) in August.

EVENT RECAP:

Wednesday, April 28
Caleb Quaye And The Faculty
Spaghettini Grill & Jazz Club
3005 Old Ranch Parkway
Seal Beach, CA 90740
(562) 596-2199
www.spaghettini.com
Show begins at 7 p.m. sharp
All Ages welcome

**Reserved seating is recommended and is $10 per person, or first come first serve. Please call the club directly at (562) 596-2199 to reserve a table prior to the show.

***Media can reserve a table for this performance at NO CHARGE. Please email chrissy@luckmedia.com ASAP for all media reservations.

Working With An Ensemble Of Renowned
Sidemen Known As ‘The Faculty,’ Caleb Quaye—Who
Eric Clapton Once Called “The Best Guitar Player
In The World”—Follows His Storied Rock And Faith Based
Careers With His First Studio Project
Following The Live Set ‘One Night In San Dimas’

As a member of Elton John’s band in the superstar’s early years and in his pop heyday circa 1975-76, Caleb Quaye toured the globe and performed in front of crowds of more than 50,000, including a legendary concert at Dodger Stadium in 1975. In the late ‘70s, Quaye worked similar electric magic for the famed duo, Hall & Oates.

Some years later, after departing the crazy world of rock and roll, Quaye performed for 300,000 fans in Myrtle Beach, SC as part of his second career playing inspirational music. In recent years, he’s also played in Japan, his native U.K. and Croatia—and last year he did a show at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

When Quaye takes the stage with his new band, The Faculty, at Spaghettini Grill & Jazz Club on March 3, 2010 to celebrate the release of their new full length Indie album, Out Of The Blue, the crowd will surely be more intimate. But from the moment he lets loose on his electric guitar—more specifically, his own Caleb Quaye Signature axe created by Brazen Guitars—the few hundred or so in attendance will experience the same mix of fiery passion and brilliant melodies that fans of his rock and faith based music have been enjoying for years. 

One of those fans is the legendary Eric Clapton. During a television with David Letterman some years ago, the host asked the legendary blues rocker, “So what’s it like to be the best guitar player in the world?” Clapton replied, “I’m not. Caleb Quaye is!”

Fitting perfectly in the realm of smooth contemporary jazz but with distinctive rock and fusion flavors, Out of The Blue celebrates the best of Quaye’s lifetime of diverse guitar influences, from Pat Metheny and John McLaughlin to Carlos Santana, Jimi Hendrix, Steve Cropper and Phil Upchurch. It also represents the edgy and infectious handiwork of an incredible ensemble of musicians that became a band by what Quaye calls an “accident,” but has evolved so seamlessly, that it seems part of a vastly cool jazz conspiracy. Out Of The Blue, a nine- track instrumental set, is Caleb Quaye And The Faculty’s first studio album and follow-up to their 2008 live CD, One Night In San Dimas, a show that was recorded at Life Pacific College.

A smooth jazz radio campaign is currently in the works for three tracks on Out Of The Blue: the title cut, “Ask And You Shall Receive” and “Changing Seasons.”

While Quaye’s resume lists the ‘who’s who’ in classic rock and pop —including Harry Nilsson, Beach Boys, Joan Baez, Al Kooper, David Foster, Liza Minelli, Pete Townshend and The Troggs—the associations of his compatriots in The Faculty are equally star-studded and diverse. Keyboardist Charles Williams has worked with everyone from Philip Bailey and Andrae Crouch to Deniece Williams, Ry Cooder and Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis, Jr. Bassist Robert “Pee Wee” Hill’s list includes Billy Preston, Sly Stone, Jimmy Smith, Rufus, Bob Dylan and T-Bone Burnett. Doug Matthews (drums) has kept time for some of the top names in Christian rock including Phil Keaggy, Howard Roberts, Rique Pantoja, Rick Elias, Red Young and Tommy Walker.   

Caleb Quaye And The Faculty performed in January 2010 at the NAMM show in Anaheim, CA to a rousing ovation at the Anaheim Hilton after one of the day’s events; Quaye was there to help promote his signature Brazen instrument, which is loaded with Seymour Duncan pick-ups. Quaye is also endorsed by custom guitar and bass amp manufacturer Mesa Boogie.  

The formation of Caleb Quaye And The Faculty was purely organic. “There was seriously no grand plan in making this group come together,” says Quaye. “Our name came from the fact that Charles, Doug and I were part of the music faculty at Life Pacific College. I got a call one day from a woman in the film department at Biola University, asking me if I could put a band together to play an annual music conference there. Charles and Doug agreed first, and then I brought in Pee Wee, who I’ve known and worked with for 30 years. We booked a rehearsal, had a great time playing the event and thought it would be cool to get together and play in a less formal setting sometime. We set up shop at a coffee house in San Dimas, California and began playing strictly for our own enjoyment. “

“I started writing songs and the jazz rock instrumentals began flowing effortlessly,” he adds. “It’s a style that has emerged naturally over the years, and this new band situation was a wonderful opportunity to play the kind of heartfelt music I have always wanted to play. Most of my writing comes out of riffs I discover at practice sessions. I’ve played guitar for 50 years now and it’s natural that many of those internalized influences come out in my playing. Suddenly a riff or chord sequence pops up, or maybe a groove comes to me, and my job is to catch it as it’s flying by!”

Caleb Quaye And The Faculty decided to lay down four original tracks with all the musicians playing live in the same room at Hill’s home studio in Pasadena. When those sessions went well, Hill suggested they do more tunes, so Quaye went back to “his cave” and quickly emerged with charts for five additional songs, which the band also cut live; the only overdubs were a few Hammond B-3 parts and synth strings. Of the nine tracks on Out Of The Blue, the guitarist’s personal favorites are the spiritually inspired “Ask And You Shall Receive,” a sensual, hypnotic piece he dubs a “mix of mild be-bop and funk,” and “Just Passing Through,” which features a cool, melodic vibe and relaxed 7/4 time signature. It was inspired by his belief that life is a journey, that where we end up is more important than how we started, and that the earth is not our ultimate home.

Quaye’s longtime association with Elton John, which includes participation on classic EJ recordings like Empty Sky, Elton John, Tumbleweed Connection, Madman Across The Water, Rock Of The Westies and Blue Moves, ensured that his own musical journey is also a collective part of rock history. He met Sir Elton originally when the two of them were part of Long John Baldry’s backing band Bluesology, when Elton was known as Reg Dwight. When Bluesology disbanded in 1967, Quaye released a single under the artist name Caleb and later played guitar with Elton at live concerts in the London area. In 1970, Quaye formed Hookfoot with three musicians who had also backed Elton’s earliest live shows; Hookfoot’s self-titled debut was a mix of rock and jazz, while their follow-up Good Times A-Comin’ was a more straight ahead rock effort.

After several more releases, the band disbanded in 1974 and Quaye stayed in the U.S. to become a session musician. All told, he played off and on for more than ten years with Elton both as a session player and later, a full band member, appearing on all of his earliest recordings through 1972. He became a full-time recording and touring member of the Elton John Band in 1975-76. In 1978, Quaye and two other members of this band, Kenny Passarelli and Roger Pope joined Hall & Oates. In the early ‘80s, Quaye shifted gears musically and spiritually and began incorporating faith into the songs he wrote, recorded and performed. Now, after spending several years performing inspirational music, he’s excited about making his long-awaited return to the jazz scene with Out Of The Blue.

“I am very proud of all of the work I have done, both in the rock and faith arenas,” Quaye admits. “It’s fun to think back to the days with Elton, when we were truly the pioneers of stadium rock. We’d play to crowds of 90,000 people some nights that were so loud, the guys in the band would have to scream to communicate onstage. I made good contributions to recordings that have stood the test of time and have touched several generations of Elton’s fans. In the context of faith, I have had the privilege of experiencing the music I wrote and played, affecting people’s lives for all eternity.”

“Many people would come to church messed up with substance abuse, or just confused about things,” he says. “Sometimes as quickly as a single verse and chorus into a song, they would be moved by the music and lyrics which had the power to change their lives. No matter what kind of music I’m playing, I know it’s always about reaching out and making that connection. The band and I are very excited about getting out there and playing jazz now at festivals, wineries and clubs. I’ve been doing this professionally for over 40 years, but there is always something to be excited about!”