Smooth Jazz Therapy

Warren Hill At The Smooth Jazz Cruise 2006

Warren Hill came to the main stage on the final night of his own Smooth Jazz Cruise 2006 (WHSJC) basking in the success of what again had proved to be a hugely successful event. Twelve months earlier the talk had been of his soon to be released CD ‘Pop Jazz’, a project that at the time was so new many of the tracks had not yet been named. The album has since garnered the long standing radio hit ‘Still In Love’ and moved the spotlight away from Hill’s prowess as a cruise innovator and, deservedly, back onto his music. He used his back-to-back solo performances at the WHSJC to share ‘Pop Jazz’ with his audience and, in addition, remind them of some of his earlier hits.

Nick Colionne With A Hit On His Hands

Smooth jazz radio top thirty most played for the seven days ending February 24, 2006. The Nils track ‘Summer Nights’ climbs a further place to 3 and Richard Elliot remains at the top with ‘Mystique’. It’s from his excellent album ‘Metro Blue’. Other climbers in the upper echelon of the chart are Kim Waters at 6 with ‘Steppin’ Out’ and Paul Brown up three to 7 with ‘Winelight’. Najee who has been around for some time with ‘2nd 2 None’ is up three places to 8 but one artist making great strides is Chicago based guitarist Nick Colionne. He is at 20 with ‘Always Thinking Of You’ from his brand new CD ‘Keepin’ It Cool’. Check back here soon for a complete review of ‘Keepin’ It Cool’.

Kenny G - The Essential Kenny G

The debt that smooth jazz owes to Kenny G is immense. Throughout a career that is now in its thirtieth year he has provided stimulus and direction to make possible the many achievements of those who followed. Above all he made the music accessible. He gave smooth jazz a reference point. He took it to television and made instrumentals fashionable again. Not only that he did it for a worldwide audience and in so doing influenced musical taste like no other since the Beatles. Suddenly it was OK to be smooth and although some might argue that G always lacked the edginess, the funkiness, of some of his successors this view blatantly trivializes a body of work that overall is as varied as it is engaging. His live performances still bear testimony to this and now, if further proof were needed, comes the release on Arista of ‘The Essential Kenny G’.

Jeff Golub At The Warren Hill Smooth Jazz Cruise

The smooth jazz pedigree of Jeff Golub seems impeccable. Paul Brown produced his latest CD ‘Temptations’, he collaborates with the best in the business and this year will be on the Guitars and Saxes tour with Gerald Abright, Richard Elliot and Peter White. Yet when he plays live Jeff Golub is undeniably very different. With a style molded by many influences from rock through blues and on to jazz he can cut loose like no other and as part of the line up on the Warren Hill Smooth Jazz Cruise 2006 (WHSJC) he did exactly that. The flow of cocktails that were delivered to him on stage by eager to please fans fostered the image of a hard drinking rocker who, during a career that now spans twenty six years, has played with everyone who is anyone and a few more besides.

Eric Darius Hits The Chart - Richard Elliot At The Top

Smooth jazz radio top thirty most played for the seven days ending February 17, 2006. As predicted, Eric Darius enters the chart at 26 with ‘Steppin’ Up’. It’s the first radio single from his soon to be released ‘Just Getting Started’. Elsewhere the major news is a change at the top. After an extended run as leader of the pack Brian Simpson’s ‘Its All Good’ drops to 2 and is replaced by Richard Elliot ‘Mystique’. This represents a major triumph for Elliot as the first two singles from his excellent CD ‘Metro Blue’ have now made it to first place. Another significant climber is the Nils track ‘Summer Nights’. Now at 4 this has been a Smooth Jazz Therapy favorite from the get go and offers Nils the chance to emulate Elliot’s two number ones, the first single and title track from his ‘Pacific Coast Highway’ CD having enjoyed an extending stay at 1 in 2005. Rick Braun and ‘Shining Star’ stays at 3, Marion Meadows ‘Suede’ strengthens two places to 5 and Paul Brown makes it into the top ten at 10 with ‘Winelight’.

Brenda Russell At The Warren Hill Smooth Jazz Cruise

With twenty eight years in the business and a discography of ten high class releases Brenda Russell came to the Warren Hill Smooth Jazz Cruise 2006 (WHSJC) not only with a massive pedigree but also on the crest of a career wave that is resurgent on many fronts. Of late she has slotted perfectly into the smooth jazz format adding depth and soul to the live shows in which she has participated with the likes of Norman Brown and Peter White. In addition she has co-written both the lyrics and the music for the Broadway show ‘The Color Purple’. This stage version of the 1985 movie starring Oprah Winfrey opened on December 1 2005 and continues to receive rave reviews. If that was not enough, Brenda’s new CD, ‘Between The Sun And The Moon’, a wonderful and eclectic collection of soulful heartfelt tracks, was released in October of 2005. She shared some of the best of it with the WHSJC audience and, in addition, brought a whole lot more besides.

Euge Groove At The Warren Hill Smooth Jazz Cruise

Euge Groove is one of only a few smooth jazz stars who can put on a show that becomes a genuine multi dimensional entertainment experience. He is an outstanding player at the very top of his game and, with every live performance, is maturing into an engaging and charismatic front man. At the end of a year that has been his most successful yet he took the Warren Hill Smooth Jazz Cruise 2006 (WHSJC) by storm with the kind of funky high octane performance that he is rapidly making all his own.

Eric Darius To Be The Sensation Of 2006

Smooth jazz radio top thirty most played for the seven days ending February 10, 2006. Brian Simpson’s ‘Its All Good’ retains top spot and Richard Elliot is up one place at 2 with ‘Mystique’. Rick Braun, Euge Groove and Walter Beasley are at 3, 4 and 5 respectively but the big news this week is of an up and coming artist still just outside the thirty. Sax player Eric Darius, pictured here with Brian Culbertson and Don Harris, was the surprise package of the recent Warren Hill Smooth Jazz Cruise 2006 and promises to be the smooth jazz star of the entire year. Since joining Brian Culbertson’s touring band he has been a sensation wherever they have played and his first solo CD ‘Night On The Town’ has attracted favorable comment. This is all about to intensify with the March 7 release of the follow up ‘Just Getting Started’. The first single from it ‘Steppin’ Up’ was officially released to radio in January and is already making waves on the play lists.

Acoustic Alchemy At The Warren Hill Smooth Jazz Cruise

With music throughout the week tending toward the funky rather than the smooth it restored some balance to have those adult contemporary pioneers Acoustic Alchemy in the line-up for the Warren Hill Smooth Jazz Cruise 2006 (WHSJC). Although taking main stage billing they were shunted away into the none prime time slots of Sunday and Thursday afternoon where competing attractions were many and varied. Consequently, at least for their second show, the audience was not all it should have been but, as the band wound back the clock to the days before the line-up was expanded, those who did come were hugely appreciative of their hallmark acoustic sound.

Richard Elliot At The Warren Hill Smooth Jazz Cruise

2005 was an excellent year for Richard Elliot. He partnered with Rick Braun, their long-time manager Steve Chapman, and industry veteran Al Evers to create the ARTizen Music Group and his latest CD ‘Metro Blue’ was released to critical acclaim. The first single from it, the cover of The Stylistics classic ‘People Make The World Go Round’, enjoyed an extended period as most played on smooth jazz radio and the follow-up, ‘Mysique’ is currently in the top five of that chart. Consequently when he arrived onboard the Warren Hill Smooth Jazz Cruise 2006 (WHSJC) there were high expectations both from those who have just discovered his music and the fans that have been with him since his days in Tower Of Power.

Sax Pack At The Warren Hill Smooth Jazz Cruise

Sax Pack is a loose collective that rotates its line-up regularly, and in any combination, between Kim Waters, Jeff Kashiwa, Steve Cole and Marion Meadows. At the Warren Hill Smooth Jazz Cruise 2006 it was Waters, Kashiwa and Meadows who got the gig and they were given main stage billing for what turned out to be a high energy and entertaining performance by three of the most talented sax players around. Indeed the ‘street cred’ of Waters, the understated sensual sexiness of Meadows and the smooth jazz stage presence of Kashiwa really hit the spot for the audience, the female contingent of which positively thrived on their collective sex appeal.

Steve Cole Steps Up

Smooth jazz radio top thirty most played for the seven days ending February 3 2006. News last week was of the ‘Sax Pack’ and how two of that threesome, Kim Waters and Marion Meadows, are riding high on the chart with ‘Steppin Out’ and ‘Suede’ respectively. Well, Steve Cole, another sometime member of the trio that likes to vary its lineup, joins them this week with ‘Spin’, the title track from his 2005 CD that is brand new at 26. ‘Spin’ has been good for Cole in that as well as giving him a big radio hit last year with ‘Thursday’ it has added considerably to his quality body of work.

Steve Oliver At The Warren Hill Smooth Jazz Cruise

Steve Oliver has been steadily building his credentials over an extended period. From 1996 he was lead guitarist with the band led by Rippingtons co-founder Steve Reid. He wrote nine of the tracks that appeared on the bands ‘Mysteries’ CD and three more for the follow up ‘Passion In Paradise’. Oliver’s debut solo release, ‘First View’ in 1999, was nominated for an AFIM award for best smooth jazz recording and he found major success with his 2002 follow up ‘Positive Energy’. The radio hit ‘High Noon’ came from the album and it’s this tune that the majority of smooth jazz fans currently associate him with. However, when ‘3D’ came out in 2004 it added significantly to his body of work and he subsequently demonstrated his confidence by releasing his first ‘festive season’ album, ‘Snowfall’ in 2005. Despite this pedigree Steve Oliver proved to be a real surprise package of the Warren Hill Smooth Jazz Cruise 2006.

Brian Culbertson With Eric Darius At The Warren Hill Smooth Jazz Cruise

Many of those on board the 2006 Smooth Jazz Cruise (SJC) hosted by Warren Hill would have admitted that Brian Culbertson was at the top of their list of ‘must see’ artists. Having witnessed his performances it’s not difficult to understand why. He is quite simply a phenomenon. While most artists use live sets to showcase their most recent or most memorable releases Culbertson does something altogether different. He typified this with his two main stage solo shows where he fused together tracks from CD’s past and present into a unique entertainment experience that will live in the memory of all who were there.

Triple Threat At The Warren Hill Smooth Jazz Cruise

The ‘smooth jazz package’ is not new. The concept whereby a group of musicians come together to play both individually and collectively on the same bill makes great economic sense. It helps sell tickets and assists those performers who might not otherwise have the body of material to carry an entire evening. The ‘guitars and saxes’ shows have been touring since the mid nineties and the ‘Sax Pack’, that trio of Jeff Kashiwa, Kim Waters and Steve Cole (now replaced by Marion Meadows) continue to draw in the crowds. Such events tend to be driven by high octane fun where artists and audience combine to have a good time but where the overall experience rarely exceeds the sum of the individual parts. However one such ‘package’ threatens to defy that trend. The silky smooth combination of Bobby Lyle, Everette Harp and Paul Jackson Jr., now performing under the banner of ‘Triple Threat’, are an altogether more cohesive unit. Devoid of any visible individual ego they share the spotlight comfortably and together produce some of the tightest smooth jazz sounds around

Warren Hill Smooth Jazz Cruise 2006

Over the course of the next few weeks Smooth Jazz Therapy will be bringing you snapshots and memories of the Warren Hill Smooth Jazz Cruise 2006. It was the third such event that Warren Hill has staged and the second as a sold out, full ship charter of 1850 passengers. The fact that it has now been re-branded as ‘The Smooth Jazz Cruise hosted by Warren Hill’ signifies perhaps that among all the rival cruise packages now sailing this is ‘the’ original and the best. The 2006 cruise was a stunning combination of events that included nine full scale shows in the main arena and numerous fringe sessions featuring the biggest names in smooth jazz today. Smooth Jazz Therapy was around to capture almost every one of them so check back regularly for all you will ever need to know about smooth jazz cruising. First up is a review of the cruise performance by Triple Threat and I am also indebted to Rob Yarmo for the high quality photographs that accompany each article.