Smooth Jazz Therapy

Richard Smith - Lets Roll

By any account 2020 was a bad year but for guitarist Richard Smith it was worse than for most.  He was fighting a battle against stage three cancer of the throat that included radiation, chemotherapy and taking part in a clinical trial of a drug that involved four hours a day of intravenous infusion.  He was left with an eight-inch scar on his neck from the surgery but twelve months on he is cancer free.

 

Right through the process, whenever the doctors asked him if he was strong enough to continue with the treatment, Richard would simply say “Let’s Roll” so it is totally appropriate the that he should take this mantra as the title of his first US single in five years.  Co-written with Billboard chart-topping guitarist Adam Hawley (who also produced the track) and featuring sax-man Jeff Kashiwa ‘Let’s Roll’ is a very west coast, very LA kind of a number from a very west coast, very LA kind of a player.  In fact Richard remains a full professor at USC Thornton School Of Music while ‘Let’s Roll’ is in effect a sneak preview of Richard’s forthcoming 13^th album, ‘Language of the Soul’ that is expected to be released later this year.

Roberto Restuccia - With Every Turn

Out on the Trippin N Rhythm label, ‘With Every Turn’ is the excellent new project from UK guitarist and composer Roberto Restuccia.

 

Restuccia made his solo debut in 2016 with the album ‘Exposure’.  ‘When The Smoke Clears’ followed a year later and included input from Paul Hardcastle’s ‘go-to’ sax-man Rock Hendricks while now ‘With Every Turn’, with ten original compositions plus production from Oli Silk, could well be described as a quintessential contemporary jazz collection.

Gabriel Mark Hasselbach - Chill @ Will

When, in 2012, I reviewed ‘Kissed By The Sun’ by trumpet and flugelhorn player Gabriel Mark Hasselbach (aka Gabriel) I described it as not only living up to expectations but in fact blowing them sky high.  Not one to rest on his laurels Gabriel was back two years later with ‘Open Invitation’ that included contributions from A-List performers such as Bob Mintzer, Bob Baldwin, Cal Harris Jr., Rock Hendricks and, notably, keyboard player Greg Manning.  Further recordings came, first with the 2018 project ‘Twentieth Century Modern’ and then a year later with ‘Radio Gold’ while now, with a release date of June 7, comes Gabriel’s latest effort ‘Tongue & Groove’.

With a title that will resonate with woodworking enthusiasts everywhere this is a project that will include a range of guest artists with the first single, ‘Chill @ Will’, featuring the one and only Bob Baldwin on keys.  Offered up in standard radio format and as a stunning ‘Raincoast’ remix ‘Chill @ Will’ is already destined to be one the tracks of 2021.

Skinny Hightower - Now Or Never

‘Blue Moon’ is the fourth album release from Trippin n Rhythm recording artist and multi instrumentalist Skinny Hightower.  It follows his 2016 debut recording ‘Cloud Nine’, ‘Emotions’ that arrived a year later and ‘Retrospect’ from which came the single ‘One Way Street’.

‘Blue Moon’ is a modern day rarity in that it is a ‘two CD’ double album and was heralded in early in 2020 with the intensely rhythmic ‘Bittersweet’.  By the middle of that year the moody and sultrily hypnotic title cut had also found its way to radio while the latest single from this twenty four track extravaganza is the easy grooving piano driven ‘Now Or Never’ that, in every respect, is a top notch slice of contemporary jazz.

 

 

Marion Meadows - Twice As Nice

On April 23, 2021, Shanachie Entertainment will release the latest album from Nashville based sax-man Marion Meadows.  Titled ‘Twice As Nice’ it is Meadows sixteenth solo recording in a career that can be traced all the way back to 1990 and his debut project ‘For Lovers Only’.  Over that time Meadows has worked with a veritable who’s who of smooth jazz and R & B talent with his sophomore effort, ‘Keep It Right There’, finding him in collaboration with Will Downing, Bob Baldwin, Angela Bofill and Norman Connors.  Consequently it is no surprise that thirty-one years on he is still attracting ‘A-Listers’ of the genre. In fact ‘Twice As Nice’ features Paul Brown, Joey Sommerville, Jeff Lorber, David Mann, Steve Oliver and Chris “Big Dog” Davis.

Julian Vaughn - Sway

Back in 2012 smooth jazz bass player Julian Vaughn burst on to the scene with his appropriately titled ‘Breakthrough’.  Fending off obvious comparisons between his own playing style and that of the late Wayman Tisdale, Vaughn quickly emerged as very much his own man.  A string of crucially acclaimed albums followed including the 2015 ‘Limitless’, the 2017 ‘Bona Fide’, ‘Supreme’ in 2019 and his latest project ‘Chapters Of Love’.

Taken from it is the track ‘Sway’ that has recently been serviced to radio and features sax-man Donald Hayes.

Nice one.

 

 

KEM - Lonely

It is without doubt that Robbie Vincent is the preeminent contemporary jazz and soul deejay of our times so it was with great excitement that I heard he is back on the radio, on Jazz FM, Sundays at 1-00 pm, in the UK.  You can always rely on Robbie to come up with some gems and his first show was no exception.  Opening up with the Blackbyrds smash ‘Walking In Rhythm’ before, among others, splicing in cuts from George Benson (‘Breezin’), Keni Burke (‘Risin’ To The Top’) and S.E.I. (‘Falling’) the show was a delight from start to finish.

Not only that he also played ‘Lonely’ by KEM from his 2020 album ‘Love Always Wins’.  Check it out right here right now.  Featuring Brian Culbertson on keys this was a standout track of the entire year.

 

 

Justin Lee Schulz - Gruv Kid

One of the hottest new releases of 2020 was ‘Gruv Kid’ from the then thirteen-year-old multi-instrumentalist Justin Lee Schultz.  Out on the Shanachie Entertainment label and with featured performances from the likes of Bob James, Harvey Mason, Najee, Jonathan Butler, Gerald Albright, and Pieces Of A Dream this was a piece of work with quality that confounded Justin’s tender years.

The latest single to be lifted from it is the uplifting title track, a real foot tapper that glides along on Schultz’ mellifluous keys.