Once upon a time, long before lockdowns and pandemics, smooth jazz superstars became increasingly fond of bringing their music to the UK. The niche audiences that awaited them flocked to venues such as the Stables and the Pizza Express yet the only thing missing was the backing musicians whose travel from the USA proved cost prohibitive.
Step up some of the United Kingdom’s finest performers to lend a hand and lend a hand is exactly what the likes of bass player Frank Felix, drummer Marc Parnell, sax-man Carl Stanley and keyboard player Oli Silk did.
And then of course there was guitarist Mark Jaimes.
From as far back as the late 90’s Jaimes had been making a name for himself. As part of Mick Hucknall’s famed band Simply Red he enjoyed a dynamic run, both on the road and in the studio serving as Simply Red’s full time guitarist from 1998-2003. The stint included more than one hundred and sixty dates over two world tours, a greatest hits tour, the 1999 album ‘Love and the Russian Winter ‘ and ‘Home’ that followed four years later.
Even after he stopped performing live with Simply Red, Jaimes played on each of the band’s subsequent albums right through to ‘Blue Eyed Soul’ in 2019. Parallel with this, smooth jazz trumpeter Rick Braun suggested he should think about recording a solo album.