Bass players and songwriter Michael Haggins is based in Los Angeles. His music has featured in several feature films and on primetime television including such shows as 'Raising Hope' on Fox, 'Community' on NBC, 'Wake Up With Al' on MSNBC and the LA Channel 5 production 'KTLA Morning News'.
Now, and brand new for 2013, his signature song 'Daybreak' has been remixed as a radio single.
The brainchild of guitarist Chieli Minucci
and the late George Jinda, Special EFX first came to prominence in 1984 with its
self-titled debut CD. Now, with ‘Genesis’, Minucci looks back to the
band’s early beginnings. In doing so he welcomes
back old friends and invites a few new ones too for a superbly crafted grouping
of twelve all original tunes. Longtime
band members’ bass player Jerry Brooks, drummer Lionel Cordew and keyboardist
Jay Rowe all lend a hand and are joined by Special EFX alumni David Mann on sax
and the legendary drummer Omar Hakim who both miss no opportunity to make their
considerable presence felt.
The latest track to be lifted from
Randy Scott’s current collection, ‘90
Degrees At Midnight’, is the mid tempo ‘Everything
Is Everything’ that, as well as demonstrating the considerable depth of
this cool collection, also features a fine guitar solo from fellow Detroit
native Tim Bowman. ‘90 Degrees At Midnight’ is Scott’s fifth CD and with tracks such as
‘My Southern Belle’, ‘Touch’ and the highly rated title cut,
his silky smooth sax style is shown to be up there with the best that the genre
has to offer.
Not only that, he also delivers a
very decent version of the Taste Of Honey classic ‘Boogie Oogie Oogie’.
Over the past two decades The Brand New
Heavies have been delivering a rarefied blend of R & B, jazz, funk and soul
that, as well as making them trailblazers of the UK Acid Jazz movement has also
delivered no less than sixteen top 40 singles.
Now, reunited with the ultra soulful N’Dea Davenport and with new
British songstress Dawn Joseph also around to lend a hand the ‘Heavies’ are
back with the fabulous ‘Forward’.
When I reviewed the appropriately titled ‘Smooth’ by Phoenix based keyboard player
Cal Harris Jr I described it as one of the hottest singles of 2012. Taken from the CD ‘Shelter Island’ it was a number that not only featured Cal’s
rapidly emerging trademark sound but also included a delicious interjection of
sax from the highly regarded Elan Trotman.
Now, also from ‘Shelter Island’ comes the wonderfully easy grooving ‘By The Bay’ which, much like the title
of the album, betrays a decidedly San Diego based theme.
It was only a few days ago that I
commented on how smooth jazz continues to produce outstanding collaborations by
a whole host of seemingly unrelated artists.
Dave Koz and Friends certainly fall into that category and another is
BWB. In fact it was in 2002 when the considerable talents of Rick Braun,
Norman Brown and Kirk Whalum came together to tour and cut the excellent CD ‘Groovin’. With the passing of time it seemed
increasingly unlikely that the union would ever be repeated yet new for 2013,
and with a sixteen-city tour to back it up, these three musical musketeers are
back with ‘Human Nature’.
One of the more endearing facets of the smooth jazz
genre is the way that from time to time it throws up unexpected groupings of
seemingly unrelated artists. The Sax
Pack is but one example where three solo performers, in this case Kashiwa,
Waters and Cole, assemble on a part time basis to both perform and record. Another is the excellent Dave Koz and Friends
who on June 11, 2013 will release the album ‘Summer Horns’.
In this world of commercial imperatives and
‘radio singles’ its nice to hear a CD described simply as ‘friends making
music’. Yet this is exactly what ‘Feels Like Home’ by saxophonist Mike
MacArthur is and came about when MacArthur responded to a call from Brian
Bromberg to fly from his home in Tampa, FL to LA and record an album with
him. Once there the duo hooked up with
trumpeter Rick Braun, guitarist Jeff Golub, percussionist Alex Acuna, keyboard
players Jeff Lorber and Ron Reinhardt, drummer Frank Richardson and vocalists
Janelle Sadler and Alba Copeland. The
result is a predictably eclectic and jazzy mix with which jazz lovers of all
persuasions will find favor.
Lemonade
Alert! Please note, and to avoid any
possible confusion, in Hollywood, but now March 20-23, 2014, that smooth jazz
chameleon Bruce Nazarian will be hosting the newly conceived Citrus Music
Awards. That’s right, new date but same
fabulous vibe.
For the latest news and to check out the list of confirmed
performers that is building by the day go to www.citrusmusicawards.com
The Rippingtons latest project, the
appropriately titled ‘Built To Last’,
hit the streets on August 28 of last year and right from the get-go the album’s
first radio single, ‘Cougars’, quickly
blasted a path to the top of the charts.
This Latin spiced easy grooving number was, when compared to past
classics such as ‘Tourist In Paradise’,
a glimpse of The Rippingtons on the reflective side and for the follow up the
label has again opted for a selection which shimmers with that same mellow
magic.