April 1, 2007. Peter White is without doubt the leading smooth jazz protagonist of his time. His single releases invariably find their way to the top of the chart of most played on smooth jazz radio and across the USA he performs in front of concert and festival audiences that can often be numbered in their thousands. Yet despite all that there is something very special about seeing White play in a small club setting. It’s here that he always seems at his most comfortable and relaxed. When the venue happens to be in his native United Kingdom then the bond he finds with his audience seems even greater. It transmits itself in a fluent outpouring of his music that is always high on entertainment value. Such was the case at the Cinnamon Club in the southern suburbs of Manchester where Smooth Jazz Therapy was fortunate enough to catch the late show he played to a crowd of less than 60 people. This was his second visit in just six months and, although ostensibly there as a prelude to the seven nights he was scheduled to play at London’s Pizza On The Park’, the local faithful delighted in what he had to offer.
With UK touring regulars Danny White on keys and Mark Parnell on drums both with him, and his number one sax man Jaared also back in the line-up, the band were pleasingly tight from the get go. They opened up powerfully with the title track from the 1993 album ‘Promenade’ and with White obviously at his genial best the show was quickly up and running. Switching to the ‘Confidential’ CD he found time to include the ever popular ‘Swept Away’ and, most notably, the Brenda Russell number ‘She’s In Love’. The vocals on the original were sung by Christopher Cross and here with Jareed stepping up to do his usual excellent job it proved to be one of the highlights of the night. Jaared also featured with ‘Happy Times’, the tune that he co-wrote with White for his own excellent 2002 CD ‘Hangtime’ and, as White continued to generously share his back catalog, Jaared again came up huge with his part in the seminal ‘Midnight In Manhattan’. As well as Whites trademark fusing of ‘San Diego’ with ‘Bullseye’, Autumn Day’, ‘My Prayer’ and ‘Perfect Moment’ all followed. Then, when as usual he revisited the motor city for ‘Who’s That Lady’ he seamlessly weaved in Tito Puente’s ‘Oye Como Va’ before adding a few bars of the Deep Purple classic ‘Smoke On The Water.’
It’s a feature of Whites live shows that he tends not to dwell too deeply on his current smash CD ‘Playin’ Favorites’. This was again the case although he did include his two massive radio hits ‘Mr. Magic’ and ‘What Does It Take (To Win Your Love)’. Respectively they gave Jaared the chance to sensationally fill the shoes of both Grover Washington Jr. and Junior Walker and when the applause of the crowd brought White back to the stage for his encore number he turned to ‘Playin’ Favorites’ one more time for ‘Hit The Road Jack’.
Perhaps, within the context of this intimate audience, a facet that best demonstrated Whites charisma was his solo spot where, with the band taking a deserved rest, he opened up gently with ‘Lullaby’ from ‘Caravan of Dreams’ before segueing into a medley of delicately played popular tunes that included the delightful ‘My Cherie Amour’. This in turn allowed a lady in the audience to share the fact that it was her birthday and, yes, her name was Cherie. Such levels of interaction were a huge factor in Whites winning performance and cemented his position as everyone’s favourite smooth jazz artist. The show was also a triumph for Smooth Radio’s Steve Quirk who, against all the odds, keeps on attracting top notch smooth jazz to the north west of England. He is already lining up future attractions that will include getting Peter White back in town sometime in October. For updates on this and a whole lot more visit Steve’s site at www.fusionflavours.com