Seasonal greetings from Smooth Jazz Therapy; The love of music is all about preference and since 2006 I have been sharing what I identified at the time as being my Top Twenty Tracks of the year. For several reasons, not least of which has been the increase in cover versions, the search for great new music has become increasingly fraught. However, all is not lost and with an eye firmly on quality rather than quantity I am delighted to reveal, in no particular order, my Smooth Jazz Therapy Top Twenty Tracks of 2021.
‘Esselle’s Dance’ by gguitarist Les Sabler from the CD ‘Tranquility’. Sabler first found his way onto the Smooth Jazz Therapy radar screen in 2007 with the CD ‘Sweet Drive’. In fact a song from it, ‘I’m Not The Same’, (with featured vocals from Toni Scruggs and Rahsaan Patterson) made it into my top twenty contemporary jazz tunes for that year. Now fourteen years on he has done it again with this track that reverberates with the sort of spine tingling melodies that have become Sabler’s calling card.
‘Say What’s On Your Mind’ by Larry Carlton and Paul Brown from their album ‘Soul Searchin’. Relaxed yet edgy this is a number that sums up the entire collection.
‘Night Vibe’ by Greg Chambers from his 2021 project ‘No Looking Back’. With serial hit maker Adam Hawley on guitar this sumptuous song is arguably the album’s best track.
‘Back In The Day’ the stand alone single from Dreaming In Colour. Constructed around the band’s core members of Kevin Ellis and Chris Noonan the line-up has often, over the years, been complemented by some of the genre’s top artists and this is particularly so with the band’s latest single where velvety horns and a piano solo from Michael Scherer really get the job done.
‘Better Days’ by Greg Karukas from the CD ‘Serenata’. This, the thirteenth solo project from original Rippingtons keyboard player and 2013 Grammy winner Gregg Karukas is his very first collection of piano solos.
Read on for the remainder of this years top twenty and if you have your own list of favorites from 2021 why not e-mail it to me at denis.poole@yahoo.com. Happy New Year!!
‘Wayman’ by Steve Cole from the album ‘Smoke & Mirrors’. Free of trickery or sleight of hand ‘Smoke and Mirrors’ was Cole’s way of offering up a glimpse of his true musical self. This, the second single to be lifted from it was Cole’s tip of the hat to former NBA player turned smooth jazz icon Wayman Tisdale who succumbed to cancer on May 15, 2009.
‘Smoothing Out’ by Pieces Of A Dream’ from the CD ‘Fired Up’. With superb interplay between James Lloyd on keys and Alexander Zonjic on flute this was Pieces Of A Dream at its blistering best.
‘Walk With Me’ by Richard Elliot from his ‘Authentic Life’ project. Co-written by Elliot and Rick Braun this R&B tinged cut checks all the right smooth jazz boxes.
‘Exhale’ by Patrick Bradley from the album of the same name. This moody, turned down title cut comes complete with an addictive hook that might well get in your head and not go away.
‘So Many Ways’ by Brian Simpson from the album ‘All That Matters’. With percussionist Brian Kilgore bass player Alex Al, guitarist Ray Fuller and drummers Michael White all in support this wonderful slice of smooth jazz was the first single from the CD to be selected for radio.
‘On The Move’, by Vincent Ingala, from the CD ‘Fire & Desire’. Described at the time as arguably one of the best smooth jazz numbers of the year this high-octane charmer found Ingala at his funky finest.
‘Pandora’ by Marion Meadows from the CD ‘Twice As Nice’. Co-written by Paul Brown, who also came up big with his distinctive sound on guitar, this wonderfully easy grooving track was a pure delight.
The sultry title cut from U-Nam’s run away hit album ‘Love In Motion’. Subtitled ‘Future Love Part 3’ this gem from writer, producer and guitarist Emmanuel “U-Nam” Abiteboul built on the theme that U-Nam sensationally brought to market in 2019 with ‘Future Love’.
‘Commercial Free’ from Swedish keyboard player Mattias Roos. Flourishing in the artistically friendly confines of Skytown Records, Roos delivered this joyous mellifluous and uplifting single that found him in cool collaboration with hit maker, guitarist and double Grammy winner Paul Brown.
‘Sway’ by Julian Vaughn from the CD ‘Chapters Of Love’. Featuring Donald Hayes on sax this vibrant number reinforced the reputation Vaughn has been building since 2012, first with the appropriately titled ‘Breakthrough’ and then with a string of critically acclaimed albums including the 2015 ‘Limitless’, the 2017 ‘Bona Fide’ and ‘Supreme’ in 2019.
‘Release’ by Trippin N Rhythm recording artist Lin Rountree from the project ‘Fluid’. Following on from the success he enjoyed in 2018 with the album ‘Stronger Still’, trumpet and flugelhorn player Lin Rountree came roaring back release with what turned out to be (and excuse the pun) an outstanding release.
‘Autumn In New York’ by Chris Standring from his album ‘Wonderful World’. With a 19-piece orchestra, assistance from some of the world’s best jazz musicians and a set of sublime arrangements by Geoff Gascoyne, Standring took the listener on a guided tour of the Great American Songbook.
As musical masterpiece followed musical masterpiece the Ella Fitzgerald standard ‘Autumn In New York’ proved to be a true standout and although technically ‘a cover’ this one made it here on merit.
‘Lets Roll’ by Richard Smith. 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 was 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 was totally appropriate the that he would 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.
‘Shine A Light’ from writer, producer and keyboard player Michael Broening. After two decades of making hits for a veritable who’s who of smooth jazz talent Broening stepped from the shadows with his debut recording ‘Shine A Light’. This easy grooving number was co-written by Broening with long time sparring partner Thano Sahnas and featured label mate Mel Brown on bass.
‘Crescent City Strut’ by Les Sabler from his current album ‘Tranquility’. In doing this for fifteen years I have never, up until now, selected two ‘tracks of the year’ from the same album. This time I have and whether this is due to a lack of new quality music or simply that ‘Tranquility’ is a truly top-notch collection hardly matters. What is for sure is that this decidedly seductive cut is right up there with the best of this or any other collection. Supercharged by the horn section of Lee Thornburg and Greg Vail, it was co-written by Sabler and Shane Theriot.