Though they're not mentioned below, it is rumored that the Jazz Passegers, Marc Ribot, the Mingus Big Band and Lee Konitz also made contributions to the album. Tom FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 17, 2003 NEW ELVIS COSTELLO ALBUM 'NORTH' SET FOR SEPTEMBER 23 RELEASE BY DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON The new Elvis Costello album 'North' is to be released on September 23rd by Deutsche Grammophon. The record presents eleven new compositions written at the piano by Costello between Autumn 2002 and New Year's Day 2003. The album, which features Steve Nieve on piano, Peter Erskine on drums and Mike Formanek on double bass, displays a tender and intimate vocal side never before showcased on record as the eleven ballads are sung predominately in his baritone register. The instrumentation on the album ranges from solo piano to a forty-eight piece ensemble, composed of a rhythm section, horn nonet and twenty-eight string players. All the orchestrations were arranged and conducted by Costello. The horn nonet consists of alto flute, Bb flat clarinet, bass clarinet, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, Flugel Horn, two French Horns and trombone. The featured soloists include Lee Konitz on alto saxophone ('Someone Took The Words Away') and Lew Soloff on Harmon-muted trumpet ('Let Me Tell You About Her'). Elvis is reunited with The Brodsky Quartet on 'Still,' the string parts for which were co-written with Steve Nieve. Elvis plays piano on 'Let Me Tell You About Her' and 'I'm In The Mood Again' but there are less than 12 bars of electric guitar on the entire record. The album was recorded at Avatar Studios and Nola Recording in New York City between April and May and produced by Elvis Costello and Kevin Killen, who engineered and mixed the record. Describing the contents of the album, Costello said "The record begins with a song called 'You Left Me In The Dark' and ends with a track called 'I'm In The Mood Again.' You have to listen to what goes on in between to find out why." Asked about the significance of the title 'North,' Costello replied "That's Where I'm Headed." In May, at the 20th Annual ASCAP Pop Music Awards in Los Angeles, Elvis received the Founders Award, which honors pioneering songwriters who have made exceptional contributions to music. Past Founders Award recipients include James Taylor, Burt Bacharach & Hal David, Stevie Wonder, Tom Waits, Joni Mitchell, Leiber & Stoller, Quincy Jones and Walter Becker and Donald Fagen to name a few.