Michael Lington is a busy guy. He’s a saxophonist with a burgeoning music career that’s gaining him recognition and fans, and an entrepreneur with his own line of wine and cigars.
His eighth studio recording Soul Appeal was released to acclaim earlier this year and numbers from it climbed up the charts.
He will sample selections for fans at the Long Beach Jazz Festival, Saturday, Aug. 9 at Rainbow Lagoon Park on the backside of the Long Beach Convention Center on Shoreline Drive.
For his latest album, he wanted to get in touch with his love of American rhythm and blues and soul. Growing up in Copenhagen, Lington was a teenager when he discovered, and was influenced by, Marvin Gaye, Al Green, Sam Cooke and Wilson Pickett.
Jazz fans will hear the title track from the album, which has been #1 on the Groove Jazz Music Chart for an unprecedented 16 weeks; and the second single, Uptown Groove, was released to contemporary jazz radio last week where it’s been getting lots of air play.
“It’s exciting to be embraced by radio,” says Lington. “Hearing your songs on the radio never gets old.”
Lington, who became a citizen in 2008, came to America in 1990, “with just a suitcase and my sax. My dream was to be a working musician and live in L.A. I was 21 and thought I was prepared. I soon saw that the level of musicianship and artistry is so high here.” So he started practicing hours a day.
By 1996, Lington had his first record contract with Nu Groove, and has been with several companies since.
For Soul Appeal, his first album with a live band, Lington and Barry Eastmond wrote more than 40 songs, “working to recreate that authentic 1966 vibe.”
The result is nine originals described as “vibrant, hip and contemporary yet drenched in retro cool.”
