Sir Wick – Seal My Heart b/w I Love You – Jai Alai 7″

Continuing with the theme of finding and releasing quality 21st century CD-only tracks on to 7” vinyl, Jai Alai present their fourth release which showcases the stand-out tracks from the only two albums released under the name Sir Wick.

Chad ’Sir Wick’ Hughes is probably best described as a musician (trombone, piano, percussion), composer, teacher, adjudicator and clinician, but somehow that doesn’t seem quite enough to describe such a unique musical talent. Born in Detroit, and graduating from the same High School as Diana Ross, Paul Thompson, & Ron Carter, he went on to study composition and arranging, and holds regular clinics around the north and mid-west US states sharing his expertise.

The topside on this limited edition release is the lead track from his debut album “An Interpretation Of A Universal Language” (2007 Sir Wick Entertainment LLC) which features the sublime vocals of Sedalia Marie, a beautiful mid-pacer, whilst the other side “I Love You” features the mellow vocals of Anthony Saunders on a track from Chad’s opus work “A Tale Of Two Fools”, which he began in 1996 but only finally orchestrated and released as his second album in 2017 – a soundtrack featuring a full orchestra comprising eight woodwind parts, full strings, big band brass, and seven-piece rhythm section.

Originally intended as an operetta, it was evolving into something bigger; an opera, musical or stage play maybe, but he finally referred to it as a ‘novical’ (a musical novel), which best describes this story of a young musician falling in love for the first time. A biopic, maybe?

One could easily take these two fabulous tracks at face value as simply just another great double-sider, but isn’t it nicer to know the full story?