On February 12th of 2009, a plane crash took the lives of two members of Chuck Mangione’s band, guitarist Coleman Mellett and saxophonist Jerry Niewood. The musicians died on their way to meet Chuck for a concert in Buffalo.
Now on the 16th anniversary of Coleman Mellet’s passing, his widow, New Jersey’s renowned recording artist Jeanie Bryson, the only child of Dizzy Gillespie, has triumphed over her personal tragedy by completing the songs Coleman was working on just six days prior to his death.
Bryson and Grammy Award-winning producer and keyboardist Barry Miles joined WBGO's Doug Doyle to talk about the emotional and powerful project that will be released on all digital platforms on February 12, 2025.
Coleman Mellett’s solo album Sing You a Brand New Song captures a musical spirit brimming with warmth, optimism, and undeniable talent. The album offers a glimpse into Mellett’s private world of songwriting, influenced by the '70s singer-songwriters he adored, like James Taylor, Michael Franks and Paul Simon.
Jeanie Bryson always wanted the world to hear what her late husband Coley was working on. Though Bryson hasn't really sang in public since the tragedy, she did provide background vocals on one of the tunes of the new album. She has spent her energy on the project which also includes an award-winning documentary narrated by iconic singer Michael McDonald. Bryson admits the jazz community has lifted her up many different times and this album is a real example of that.
"The project was in many different stages of completion. There were some demos that were almost done. We all agreed it had to be done. Barry Miles and engineer Ron DiCesare came to my home, came to the studio, took the computer with all the hundreds and hundreds of files and takes. It was forensic genius that Barry and Ron were able to figure out how to put this beautiful record together."
Miles than got many influential musicians to contribute the album, including Chuck Mangione, James Taylor, Steve Gadd, Larry Goldings, Will Lee and others. Miles play keyboards on several tunes. Barry says Coley would have loved the final product.
"Coley and Jeanie would occasionally come down to Cape May where I was living at the time with my wife. He was working on some music at that time, his vocal songs with lyrics, and of course playing the guitar. He wanted me to help him take the album a step further. I was in San Francisco with my wife when the tragic event happened on February 12. The week after we said we would really love to finish this project. I had no idea what we were going to get ourselves into. We got whatever files would could off Coley's computer and hard drives. It was much more than we thought. The main thing was trying to figure out how we could actually do a whole album.
Many of the songs on Sing You a Brand New Song are love songs to Jeanie Bryson. Their love affair began shortly after they met at the Cape May Jazz Festival. Bryson says her favorite song on the record is "Come On Home" featuring James Taylor on background vocals and rhythm guitar.
"I had a gig in Instabul for five days by myself. I was working with musicians from there. I was gone for five days. I get home and Coley says he didn't like me going places because usually we'd either work together or he would be out with Chuck (Mangione). It was rare that I was working out of town without him because I loved working with him. He said 'I wrote this song. What do you think?' I said it's gorgeous but I was only gone for five days. He was a romantic. He had such a way with saying the simplest things we all feel with these simple melodies. That's really the shocker with this. His lyrics are kind of timeless. You hear every word. You understand what he's trying to say. That was the real surprise with Coley."
You can SEE the entire conversation with Jeanie Bryson and Barry Miles here.
