That revolving door of female musical excellence Jazz In Pink was founded twelve years ago by the first lady of smooth jazz Gail Jhonson together with flautist Althea Rene and promoter Kyna Hubbard. Since then over fifty women have graced the stage with them, both as headline artists or side musicians, and now Jazz in Pink is making its Shanachie Entertainment debut with the CD ‘Joy’ that hits the streets today. Yet make no mistake ‘Joy’ is very much the Gail Jhonson show. With ten of her own impeccable compositions this long time Musical Director for Norman Brown produces and plays keyboards throughout. The fact she is joined in her endeavours by label mates Kim Waters. Marion Meadows and Paul Jackson Jr. serves simply as the icing on a particularly tasty cake, a fact that becomes obvious from as early as the opening track, the deliciously smooth ‘Joy Joy’, that incidentally was the first single to be serviced to radio.
This mellifluous cut finds Jhonson’s terrific playing complemented in no small measure by Waters on sax and Jackson Jr. on guitar while the album’s second and current single, the foot-tapping ‘Keystroke’, is a high-spirited bluesy number that Gail wrote several years ago as a dedication to two of her all-time keyboard heroes Ramsey Lewis and Billy Preston.
Both set the tone for much of what follows and in this respect there is none more so than the ultra catchy ‘Positivity’ that features Kim Scott on flute. Later, with Robin Bramlett on bass and Danielle Thompson on drums, the jazzy ‘Roll Out’ brings to life that authentically Jazz In Pink flavour and Gail retains this theme for ‘The Ride’ where her work on piano, synths and drums really dazzles.
In terms of personal favourites the easy grooving ‘Come For Me’ is beauty personified and another number right up there with the best that ‘Joy’ has to offer is ‘Steppin To The Keys’. This homage to what is a modern day dance phenomenon includes Nate Harisam on guitar, Tay Robinson on drums plus Josh Scott on bass and when, with ‘Smoother’, Harisam returns to lend a hand the title just about says it all. Talking of titles that say it all ‘All That Jazz’ is a quirky tune with fine interplay between Jhonson and Meadows yet all things considered the Smooth Jazz Therapy top track is the magical ‘Into The Nite’ where, with the tempo eased right down, Jhonson hits it out of the park.
Highly recommended.