Brian Culbertson

It’s a rare feat for a recording artist to release 30 albums and score more than 40 Billboard No. 1 singles. It’s even more exceptional for an artist to hit that milestone while firmly in their prime, continuing to grow and evolve with each release. Rarer still is for that genre-crossing songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist to be a dynamic performer who presents their music in ways never before seen, both on stage and online. And beyond that, the artist has built a premium festival brand around unique fan experiences. Brian Culbertson checks every one of these boxes. Culbertson’s sonic approach has been to craft primarily instrumental music fusing jazz, R&B, funk, and pop. He’s been doing it at the highest level since he exploded onto the scene after the release of his debut album, Long Night Out, in 1994. That hit-filled set recorded in his college apartment in Chicago instantly established Culbertson as a core artist in the newly emerging smooth jazz genre. Now, on his 30th album, The Midnight Tapes, Culbertson does something he’s never done before: he played every single instrument* on the album himself. “It was exciting and terrifying at the same time! I knew it had to be as good as if session players played the parts,” said Culbertson, who wrote, produced, arranged, engineered, and performed the nine-song set entirely on his own. “What was particularly challenging was that the drums, guitar, trumpet, bass, and others are not my main instruments (like piano and trombone). But because I could work non-stop without waiting to schedule other sessions, it turned out to be the fastest album I’ve ever made — just three months from writing to fully mixed. I had a blast!”The Midnight Tapes transports listeners to the 1970s, a different world sonically, while still being a modern sounding record. In the music video for the first single, “’76 Monte Carlo,” you’ll see a vintage reel-to-reel tape machine and it wasn’t just a prop like the old Monte Carlo…