Smooth Jazz Therapy

Spotlight On Eldon T Jones

With the release of the highly addictive single ‘Sweet Serenity’ by sax-man and Portland native Eldon T Jones there has never been a better time to take a look back on the career to date of this talented performer.

In fact Eldon fell in love with music from an early age. Inspired by luminaries such as Grover Washington, Jr., Wilton Felder and Kirk Whalum he started the band N Touch in 1995 that went on to release its debut album in 2001. Attracting a strong local following in the Portland area N Touch opened for the likes of Tower Of Power and Earth Wind & Fire while in 2015 Eldon’s version of ‘Love Will Find A Way’ was featured on the album ‘Bespeak Love’ that reached #1 on the UK Soul charts.

In 2017 the World Arts Foundation recognized Eldon’s music as a blessing to the community with a Lifetime Achievement Award and a year later, in front of a sold-out crowd, the original N Touch members took to the stage of the Alberta Rose Theatre to relive what had proved to be an incredible era.

Eldon released ‘ T’s Jam’ as a single in October 2021. Mixed by Darren Rahn it peaked at number 54 on the Smooth Jazz Network Top 100 and bolstered by this success Rahn signed Eldon to his Side 2 Music label from where this fledgling partnership quickly got to work on capturing Eldon’s signature sound which resulted in the follow up single ‘Captured By Love’ that hit the streets in May 2022.

Now, coming full circle Eldon is back with ‘Sweet Serenity’

 

 

Marc Staggers - With Me

Thing is with old school soul is that it never (ever) gets old and that goes a long way to explain the enduring delight of smooth soul vocalist Marc Staggers. In fact Smooth Jazz Therapy first picked up on Staggers with ‘Bring Me Back’ the lead single from his 2015 project ‘Dream Catcher’. Stunningly good and with Staggers sounding remarkable like the late Luther Vandross this was one of the best tracks of the year so it is particularly pleasing that Marc is back with his latest single ‘With Me’.

Check it out

 

 

Greg Manning - Your Love Is Good

Greg Manning's new radio single is ‘Your Love Is Good’ and was inspired by some of the great songs by the legendary Earth Wind & Fire. In fact Greg called Morris O'Connor, who is a touring guitarist with the EWF entourage, to sprinkle some retro magic over this choice cut.

It’s the sort of detail that helps Manning stand out from the crowd with a case in point being his 2020 single ‘Twinkle’ that was written by Earl Klugh and featured Darrel Crooks on guitar.

Born in Nigeria and brought up in Switzerland, composer producer and keyboard player Greg Manning moved to Los Angeles in the nineties. Since then he has been building a niche position in the world of contemporary jazz with quality collaborations with a whole host of smooth jazz ‘A-Listers’. As a solo artist his CD’s ‘Dance With You’, ‘Sugar & Spice’ and ‘The Calling’ were all released to critical acclaim while the single ‘Top Down’ made it to #1in 2019 on the Billboard Smooth Jazz Airplay chart.

 

 

Ellis Hamilton - My Heart Is Yours

Now for some brand new music from saxophonist and Berklee graduate Ellis Hamilton who is about to take the world of smooth jazz by storm with the mellifluous ‘My Heart is Yours’. Leaping in short order into the number two position of most played on radio it’s a track that has already caught the attention of contemporary jazz heavyweight Najee and which promises much for the rapidly emerging Hamilton.

 

 

Michael J Thomas - Outside The Door

Sax-man Michael J Thomas has been releasing songs one at a time since December of 2021. It started with the original Holiday song ‘It's Christmas’ that featured two-time Grammy-nominated vocalist Maysa and was followed by ‘The OG Bounce’, a brass driven spectacular that really had a Parliament, Funkadelic, Tower Of Power thing going on. Then came Thomas’s reworking of ‘Everybody Wants to Rule The World’ that included trumpet from the legendary Randy Brecker while ‘H.A.D’ featured Chieli Minucci of Special EFX on guitar. This drop feed of radio ready gems concluded with a rendition of Stevie Wonder's ‘I Wish’ that was underpinned by a brass section of Steve Patrick on trumpets, Barry Green on trombone and Mark Douthit on alto, tenor and baritone saxes.

Now these five radio ready gems have been released in EP form under the title of ‘Outside The Door’ which interestingly is being provided using the Dolby Atmos Music audio technology that has already transformed the world of cinema and home theater by providing an immersive three-dimensional sound experience and is now aiming to do the same for music.

 

 

Jessy J - Right On Time

Jessy J has been a significant presence on the smooth jazz scene since 2008 and the release of her debut recording ‘Tequila Moon’.  Born in Portland, Oregon and raised in Hemet, CA, in part she takes her musical influences from her Mexican-American heritage.  Indeed her Mexican born father and mother filled the family home with festive, live Latin music and on graduating from USC with a degree in jazz studies she enjoyed instant success as a session player.  In 2005-06 Jessy toured with both The Temptations and Jessica Simpson but when she decided to focus her talents on contemporary jazz, she immediately knew she wanted to work with Paul Brown.  As Jessy signposted her career with a succession of hit albums Brown has remained a guiding light throughout with a case in point being her 2015 project, the very cool, very understated and very sophisticated ‘My One And Only One’.   ‘Blue’ followed in 2022 and now she is back with a brand new single ‘Right On Time’.

Nice track

 

 

Boney James - Coastin (Sped Up)

Released September 2022 on Concorde Records, ‘Detour is Boney James’ eighteenth solo album and follows his 2020 outing ‘Solid’ which became his twelfth  #1 on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz Album chart.

Recorded largely at Boney’s L.A. home studio, ‘Detour’ included the mellifluous ‘Coastin’ that featured vocals from 5-time Grammy winner Lalah Hathway.  It was arguably the album’s standout track and now Boney has put a whole new spin on it with the ‘sped up’ version that has just been serviced to radio,

Same fabulous song but speeded up to sensational effect.

Check it out, right here right now

 

 

U-Nam - It's Only Love

From his current hit album  ‘Sunshine Of Mine’ comes ‘It’s Only Love’ by Billboard chart-topping artist and multi-platinum producer Emmanuel “U-Nam” Abiteboul.  It is everything one would expect from an artist who has been variously described as being innovative, daring and fearless in the way he repeatedly shakes the world of smooth jazz to its core.

A case in point is his classy reimagining of the Barry White smash ‘Its Only Love’ that, with Kim Chandler on background vocals, U-Nam makes sound brand new.

‘Its Only Love’ is slated to hit the radio waves on July 10 so look out for it.