Austin-based Guitarist, Composer & Producer Mitch Watkins & Vocalist Dianne Donovan Unite to Create a Space-Funky ‘ChillJazz’ Bop from Debut Album, Back to the Light

In the vast ocean of sound, the artists that rise to the top usually ride a wave of their own unique voice and innovation. Enter eclectic jazz duo The AltoRays, who continue to carve their own exciting improvisational path with the third groovy single from their debut album Back to the Light, “The Hop” – check it out on YouTube here:

With a super funky, percolating bass line, driving, snappy percussion, tasty horn and keyboard hits and improv vocal scats, “The Hop” is a total groove mood and a time trip that zooms back to the swingin’ ‘60s and forward to the future at the same time.

The best music creators are one part mathematician, one part mad scientist. They need to know how to get the right sounds out of their instrument, but also delight in mixing all of it up into an exciting, sometimes boundary-pushing concoction. The unbridled joy of skilled experimentation is evident in this, The AltoRays’ groove-driven new release “Lift” – check it out on YouTube here:

“It took a pandemic!” Austin, Texas guitarist, composer, and producer Mitch Watkins says, giving silver-lining credit to the two-year, global health crisis for allowing him and Montréal-born-and-raised, now Austin-based vocalist Dianne Donovan enough time in their schedules to finally create their long-planned duo album, Back to the Light, released late last year.