Lady Gaga’s new “Harlequin” release kicks off with the jazzy, vintage Hollywood classic “Good Morning.” But some of this album was recorded over good nights in Las Vegas. Gaga’s backing band and more than 20 Vegas musicians and singers assembled at Studio at the Palms this past June and July.
Gaga’s bandleader and trumpet great Brian Newman led the core band, with Alex Smith on keys , Steve Kortyka on saxophone, Daniel Foose on bass and Donald Barrett on drums. Newman and Foose have most recently been booking the bands and (in Foose’s case) performing fairly regularly at Bruno Mars’ The Pinky Ring at Bellagio. They are joined by the wildly talented guitarist Tim Stewart, who has performed at Dolby Live and NoMad Library.
Gaga and Grammy-winning studio wizard Ben Rice co-produced “Harlequin.” Rice produced “A Star Is Born - Soundtrack.” “I can’t say enough about what a fun record this was to make,” Newman said in a phone chat from New York on Saturday.
“It was amazing. I hate to use the word ‘organic,’ but it all came together very naturally.” Most of the Vegas players in the “Harlequin” sessions were part of Gaga’s “Jazz + Piano” orchestra at Dolby Live.
They alternated sessions at Palms Studio while performing at Dolby Live or, for Newman’s band, at “After Dark” at NoMad Library. Local players credited on “Harlequin” who have also performed in “Jazz + Piano” are Lauren Cordell and Rahmaan Philip on violin; Tiann.