Home

News!!"  Paul and Friends have COMPLETED their 3rd CD project

"Journey of the Heart!!

This CD is quite eclectic and features a series of original tunes which fall into the categories of jazz-rock, acoustic rock, blues, pop, easy listening, Brazilian jazz, and Christian."  I know that sounds like quite a potpourri, but it definitely works.

The album was recorded almost entirely at "Studio in the Country in Bogalusa, Louisiana."  The engineer on the project was Ben Mumphrey."  Two gems on the album are Sammarco's own up-beat, jazz-rock title track – "Journey of the Heart, featuring the great vocals of Michael Klaus, and "Bad Habits, and the talented Richard Toups."  The latter tune is the first US release of this high-energy Australian swing hit recorded by Billy Field."  Sammarco has attempted to retain the original flavor of the tune, but mixing William Mosking's setting with his own hand and re-arranging it."  In "Laughter in the Rain, the Neil Sedaka tune, Sammarco cleverly combines the arrangements of Sedaka and Jeffrey Foskett (Brian Wilson's music director for his tours) and adds his own spice to the mix."  "Call Her Mellow is a lilting Brazilian-style tune which will have you swinging and swaying."  Both of these latter tunes feature the smooth and beautiful vocals of Ben Melancon."  "Lost and Found is an acoustic rock story song delivered by Michael Klaus, which will keep you listening like you were watching a movie."  "Yesterday's Dream is a tune about a mother's advice to her daughter – a blues tune featuring the soaring voice of Sarah Sullivan on lead and the inimitable style of Jason Ricci (Grammy Award Winner, with Johnny Winter) on harmonica."  What a combination!"  "Beautiful Day is another light Brazilian-style story song, which will set your mind at ease."  It has been re-arranged by Sammarco and re-recorded after its original 1970 release, and once again features Ben Melancon on lead vocals."  "Find Your Paradise is a light rock tune featuring Michael Klaus on lead vocal."  It has a bit of a dark theme about drug addiction, but offers light at the end of the tunnel."  "Out of the Woods is an instrumental about the ying and the yang of life, but coming out OK, despite it all."  It features wonderful musical interpretations on sax by Roger Kimball, the cutting and tasteful guitar of Mark Trentecosta, and the multi-talented Rachel Billiott on synthesizer.

The Christian tunes are firstly "The 23rd Psalm, with a Children's Prayer," with the story of the 23rd Psalm ("The Lord is my Shepherd") set as a child's dream sung by two choirs."  The second Christian tune is "The Lord, He Knows," an acoustic tune with heavy vocal harmonies, again featuring Michael Klaus on lead vocals."  The third is "Create in Me a Clean Heart, a beautiful Christian hymn, featuring the wonderfully talented Donna Sammarco on solo piano."  There are also four "Bonus Tracks on the CD."  They are brief sections taken from Paul and Friends" second CD "Smooth Sailing where all instrumentals have been stripped from the recording to fully reveal the beautiful and complex acapella vocals associated with them."  The tunes featured here are "Have You Ever Seen?", "Drift Away", and "Just One More Time."  The singers are Martin Hart, Lindsay Melancon Ogle, Ben Melancon, and Paul W. Sammarco.


Welcome! P&J Records is not your average record company. We are based in the New Orleans area. We specialize in "presenting the standards of the future, striving to provide fine music production in the tradition of the standard timeless, easy-on-the-ear music to be enjoyed and appreciated through generations. We do this because we feel that in the long run, P and J will have more to offer the listener and the world of music."

Enter and learn more about our Christian solo piano release On Eagles Wings by Donna Sammarco, and our smooth rock, or soft rock, CDs Smooth Sailing and Hang On to Your Dreams, by Paul and Friends.

Donna Sammarco is a well known and respected pianist in southern Louisiana. Her premier CD On Eagles Wings is a beautiful solo piano CD which has received tens to hundreds of thousands of streams and downloads in 9 different countries since its release! It offers some of the finest Christian music around, featuring arrangements by some of the best arrangers of Christian music in the US. Mark Hayes (Dove Award Winner), Carol Tornquist, and John Carter. The CD is warm and meditative in nature. It will melt your heart and mesmerize your soul. Please click here for more information on and sound clips from this release. If you like soothing, Christian music, you should not miss this recording.

Her second CD – Here I Am, Lord – has now also been released internationally and is now also available from e-Retailers world-wide. The tunes range from contemporary Christian to new and beautiful arrangements of standard hymns. Again, the arrangers of the music are Mark Hayes, Coral Tornquist, Bill Wolaver, and Susan Callaway Naylor. The songs are gorgeous and spell-binding. Donna has once again done a masterful job on them. Listen to the sound clips on her page.

Paul and Friends is an adult contemporary/pop group that also does some jazz-rock and Christian music. Quite a mixture, ay? Very eclectic. Paul W. Sammarco (alias Paul Summers, his stage name in Australia) a talented singer-songwriter is the composer, arranger and producer of the group, and the Friends are the numerous musicians with whom he works.

Paul and Friends most recent release is entitled Smooth Sailing. It was recorded primarily at Ultrasonic Studios in New Orleans, with additional recording and mixing at Dockside Studios in Maurice, LA; Sound Services, New Orleans; Hart-to-Hart Studios in Qld., Australia; North Australian Audio-Video, Australia; Hart-to-Hart Studios, Australia; and Tajarc Productions, Mississippi. It features some of the finest musicians in the region. P&J feels that this release is a benchmark. It was 7 years in the making, with excellent production, literally defining a new type of music smooth rock/smooth jazz-rock. It is music to chill out by and allow your soul to be warmed. The musicians on this CD are predominantly from southern Louisiana, with a few Aussies thrown in. They include Todd Adams, Des Anthony (Three's Company), Kurt Brunus (The Kurt Brunus Project), Tracy Griffin (Allen Toussaint and Friends), Carol Hart, Martin Hart (Three's Company, Hart-to-Hart), Roger Kimball (Soul Survivors), Mark Liuzza (Benny Grunch), Larry Martin, Ben Melancon (Unmerited Favor), Lindsay Melancon Ogle, Brian O'Neill (Bonerama), Clyde Pellegrin, Curtis Pierre (Casa Samba), Joe Raines (Full FX), Hank Randle (Soul Survivors), Donna Sammarco, Jerome Theriot (Soul Survivors), Steve Theriot (The Kevin Koike Blues Band), Mark Trennecosta (Benny Grunch), and June Yamagishi (Papa Grows Funk). Yes that's quite a line-up. The primary engineer on the project was Steve The Wizard Reynolds. The second engineer was Dave Farrell.

Paul and Friends first CD is entitled Hang On to Your Dreams. Paul's co-Executive Producer on this one was G.J. Sammarco. This CD has been categorized as smooth rock, but it offers tracks which fall into the categories of R&B, country-rock, acoustic-rock, Christian, and blue-grass. A bit of a Waring Blender effect, but it all sounds good. That is the eclectic nature of Sammarco's approach to songwriting and production. Once again, P&J has captured the magic of some of the finest musicians in this region, let alone from other regions of the country and the world, particularly Australia. Musicians on Hang On to Your Dreams include Des Anthony, Cedric Geia, Martin Hart, John Haupt, Dave Henry, Leigh James (Leigh Wilkinson), Roger Kimball, Larry Martin, Mark McLean, Lindsay Melancon Ogle, Bobby Petrie, Jimmy Pollard, Victor Purkiss, Jeff Raymond, Donna Sammarco, Dustin Sammarco, Sandy Siepen, Steve Theriot, and Kai Underwood.

Listen to the sound clips (available at this site and many other e-retailers) and judge for yourself. Then order a CD for yourself or a friend to enjoy for a long time.

Downloads of individual songs or the entire CDs are available from this website. They are also available from such e-retailers as iTunes.com, Rhapsody.com, MSNMusic.com, MusicNet.com, MusicMatch.com, Napster.com, RealNetworks.com, and eMusic.com.

For even more information on P&J Records and its artists, see our other web-page on A&R-Unlimited’s site.

*All songs published by Endless Shores Music Publishing (ASCAP), unless otherwise noted.