Geza Keller
Singer-Songwriter
News release
Contact: Geza Keller at
breakingthecode@gmail.com
Singer-songwriter Géza Keller Releases Debut Solo Album As Tribute to Pilot Friend Who Died On 9/11
Praise for GOT NOTHING TO LOSE:
"There's a lot to like here... There is the DNA of Glenn Frey, Nick Lowe and Marshall Crenshaw on this recording, but mainly, it's just a bunch of well-written songs sung and played from the heart. It's the kind of music that makes you want to listen closely."
--Michael Kinsman, founder/producer of San Diego Blues Festival
“This long-awaited collection of tunes is strung together like lights rolling on a highway. Many miles in the making, the stories sizzle with new life, rock-steady and road-ready.”
--Richard Malcolm of Los Unusual Suspects, Albuquerque, N.M.
“Great dance music with a full sound and rock-jazz fusion with a touch of big band horns, clicking to syncopated rhythms… a great blend of beats, rock, and soul.”
--Randy Hanson, co-founder of MohaviSoul, San Diego
“Wonderful, original retro homage--both to [Géza’s] late friend and the original material he delivers in this 12-song set. Powerful and fun. From the opener to the last, I loved the many tips of the hat, the homage to the Kinks, the gorgeous samba-esque tune. There are a few I would have loved to play on myself. Well done, sir, well done.”
--Robert Cowan, renowned harmonica player who has performed with Bonnie Raitt, Dr. John, the Neville Brothers, and Antonio Carlos Jabim
Singer-songwriter Géza Keller is releasing his debut solo album of 12 originals songs, “Got Nothing To Lose” on the 20th anniversary of 9/11 for a special reason. Originally called “That Day,” the title track was written as a tribute to his college roommate, Victor J. Saracini, the pilot whose hijacked plane was forced to hit the south tower of the World Trade Center on that fateful day.
Keller has put together a band to perform the songs live at a CD release party at Aztec Brewery in Vista on September 11, 2021, from 6:30-9:30 P.M. ($10 in advance, $12 at the door, gets you a CD and a ticket to the show). Click here to buy tickets.
Click here to watch the concert livestreamed on YouTube.
All album sales at the party will go to a scholarship fund in Victor's name at their alma mater, the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. The fund already contains $80,000 that Keller has raised through benefit concerts since 2012 and donations since 2005. In other sales, $1 of every album sold will also go to the fund. Anyone interested in donating separately to the fund can contact Keller directly at breakingthecode@gmail.com or through this website.
Keller, 66, has been writing songs since college, which he entered at 16 to study computer science and later, mathematics. But he carefully selected each of the 12 songs on this album to represent a playlist of an eclectic range of genres, hoping to appeal to a wide range of listeners and musical tastes.
From “Promise You’ll Come Back To Me,” an homage to the bossa nova beats of Antonio Carlos Jobin he grew up with, to his Kinks tribute, “Working Out The Kinks,” this album spans a lifetime of songwriting for Keller. By hiring the legendary local guitarist Jerry McCann and award-winning engineer Sven-Erik Seaholm as co-producers, Keller brought his songs to a whole new level. McCann and Seaholm are part of the live band, as are Adrienne Sims on flute and saxophone, John Simons on bass, and Jack Nathan on drums.
Based on a live performance album of original songs at the Belly Up, Keller’s band, breakingthecode (BTC), was signed by Angelic Records in 1999. The label said it would re-release the live album, but folded shortly thereafter. While his other band members were ready to go on tour, Keller had a thin-film optics manufacturing company to run and a young family to raise, so he had to decline.
Keller still runs that outfit, Infinite Optics in Santa Ana, which has grown into a $3.6 million-a-year company. He’s been a lead singer and band leader since college, when he launched his first band, Creamy Goodness. Fifty years and many bands later, this Hungarian immigrant, the son of a tailor and the administrative assistant to the editor of the Sacramento Bee, is finally fulfilling his lifelong goal of releasing an album of his originals into the world.
To learn more about Keller, the stories and inspirations behind each song on the album, the magical COVID-lockdown collaboration between Keller, McCann and Seaholm, and Keller’s friendship with his college buddy Vic Saracini, please explore the rest of this website, including the Events page for other dates Geza's band will be playing.