By Lauren Useda Law, The LOOMIS Agency, Director of Business Development: Advertising & Brand Strategy
One week ago today a cool thing happened. My talented friend, Tre Nagella co-owner of Luminous Sound, 4-time Grammy award winner, and sound engineer extraordinaire had three projects released the same day.
Aaron Lazar—the Impossible Dream. Aaron is a Broadway star who was recently diagnosed with ALS. This inspired him to call on many of his Broadway star friends to come together and create an album of American standards and famous Broadway show tunes, with each song being a duet between Aaron and another Broadway icon. The album features stars Josh Groban, Kristen Chenoweth, Leslie Odom Jr, Lin Manuel Miranda, Neil Patrick Harris, and many more. A portion of the proceeds from the album are going to the ALS Network charity. Tre was the mix engineer—the last engineer working on the project, responsible for the album’s final sound. I’m especially fond of this album because the title song was one of my dad’s favorite songs of all time. I also like that Lazar brought these incredible musical talents together to create a memorable piece of music that will become musical history— proceeds will help end ALS with hope and music. The production of this piece reminded me of the “We Are The World” song produced by Quincy Jones and Michael Omartian and written by Lionel Ritchie and Michael Jackson in 1985. The multi-platinum song was originally recorded by the supergroup USA for famine relief in Africa and featured many famous singers of that time, including Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Cyndi Lauper, Tina Turner, and Bruce Springsteen, to name a few. Enjoy the Impossible Dream by Aaron Lazar.
For classical music fans listen to the Dallas String Quartet – Romani: The Untold Story album. The Dallas String Quartet is a #1 Billboard charting string quartet known for instrumental string arrangements of popular songs, but for this project, created an album of all original material telling a story of the Romani people who were persecuted during World War II. The quartet is backed by the famed London Symphony to create a huge, dense sound, and the album feels like an epic movie soundtrack. Enjoy Romani: The Untold Story.
And, for Latin music lovers, check out Luminous Music’s artist, Kikiiii’s newest single, Se Fue. Luminous Music is an independent record label co-owned by Tre and based out of Luminous Sound. Kikiiii is an up-and-coming regional Mexican artist with a unique sound. Watch out for him in the future and enjoy his single, Se Fue (Log into Spotify to listen).
Over his 20+ year career, Tre has worked with some famous musical artists including Kirk Franklin, Ed Sheeran, Blake Shelton, Lady Gaga, Travis Scott, Brandy, and Monica, to name a few. But you’d never know it. Being with the famous hasn’t changed him at all. He rarely posts on social media about himself or what’s consuming his time—he’s humble and focuses his efforts on the work that matters to him most. He’s like the closer in a baseball game—using his musical stamina, strength, and accuracy to put the exact finishing touches on his clients’ beautiful work.
