Smooth Jazz Therapy

Smooth Jazz Therapy - Top 20 Of 2023 - Part 1

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. As I reported last year, the search for great new music has become increasingly fraught with each passing year. Less albums and more singles are both contributory factors yet with an eye firmly on quality rather than quantity I am delighted to reveal, in no particular order, part 1 of my Smooth Jazz Therapy Top Twenty Tracks of 2023. Check back here very soon for part 2 and the remaining ten tunes.

‘Soul Connection’ the title track from Brian Simpson’s eleventh studio album. This zesty cut was everything you would expect from an artist who enjoys status that might best be described as smooth jazz royalty.  Not only that, the supporting musicians he is able to routinely enlist for all his projects is a glowing tribute to the regard in which he is universally held right across the genre. ‘Soul Connection’ was a case in point with Steve Alaniz on sax, Adam Hawley and Caleb Middleton on keys, Ray Fuller and Adam Hawley on guitars, the ‘go to’ Alex Al on bass, drummer to the stars Michael White and the ubiquitous Ramon Yslas on percussion. Read on for more of my top twenty tracks of 2023.

Steve Oliver - A New Light

For guitarist Steve Oliver 2022 was quite a year. Having whetted the collective appetites of his myriad of fans with singles such as ‘Morning Touch’ and ‘New Heights’ he released the album ‘Sojourn’ to critical acclaim. Now, just over a year later he has back with ‘A New Light’ a collection of smooth jazz radio ready originals that finds him in the company of hit co-producer Michael Broening, saxophonist Jeff Kashiwa, legendary drummer Vinnie Colaiuta, and bass player Larry Antonino.

‘A New Light’ is soon up and running with the easy grooving ‘Slingshot’ which is quickly followed by the sumptuous ‘Skyway’ that earlier this year enjoyed success on the smooth jazz radio play charts.

Incognito - Into You

From as far back as 1980 jazz funk powerhouse Incognito has been in the capable hands of its creator Jean Paul 'Bluey' Maunick. Although the band’s last CD, ‘Surreal’, was replete with the extremely accessible and retro tinged groove for which Incognito is best known its latest project, ‘Into You’, retains much of that trademark Incognito vibe with the addition of moods and influences drawn from a whole rage of predominately UK based jazz talent.

‘Into You’ was recorded, mixed, and mastered mainly at Bluey’s Colibri Sound Recorders studio in the east end of London by his co producer and engineer Mo Hausler. Collaborations abound and in this respect there is none more so than those that which harness the dance floor filling ‘Nothing Makes Me Feel Better’ where production duo Basile Petite and Drew Wynen from France and Belgium respectively lay down a killer groove.

The first single to go to radio was the predominately instrumental ‘Back On The Beach’ that, like several of the tracks, reverberates with a sumptuous brassy veneer.

Cindy Bradley - Promise

Not only was ‘The Little Things’ from Trippin n Rhythm recording artist Cindy Bradley a worthy to successor to her 2017 CD ‘Natural’ it was also her sixth studio project with the label. It delivered the sophisticated ‘Wind Chill Factor’ plus the wonderfully mellifluous ‘Stockholm Summer’ that both went on to become standout radio hits.

Earlier in 2023, and in preparation for the album ‘Promise’, Cindy was back, first with the rhythmically intoxicating ‘For The Cool In You’ and later with the high octane ‘Drive’.

Now, the latest single to be taken from ‘Promise’ is the title cut that is pure textbook Cindy Bradley and then some.

Check back here often for more on Cindy Bradley

 

 

U-Nam - California Funk Machine Volume 3

Back, and rich with the greatest funk of the seventies and eighties, comes Volume 3 of the genre defining series California Funk Machine that is out now across all platforms.

Indeed, much like Volumes 1 and 2, the driving force behind the project is none other than Billboard chart topping artist, Platinum producer and multi instrumentalist Emmanuel “U-Nam” Abiteboul who, since moving to Los Angeles from his native Paris, France in 2007, his built a reputation for knowing funk like no one else knows funk.

California Funk Machine Volume 3 is a concept, a style, a coming together of like minded musical brethren to breath new life into some of the hottest funk, disco, soul and jazz funk classics of what is widely regarded as a golden age.

U-Nam’s contribution to California Funk Machine Volume 3 reaches far and wide. As well as arranging both horns and strings, U-Nam also produces and arranges the entire album. In fact his own prodigious input extends not only to lead and rhythm guitars, talk box, vocoder, bass, moog bass, Rhodes, clavinet, synth guitar, keyboards, drums, horn programming and editing but also lead and background vocals.

Smooth Soul Survivor - Secret Garden

Smooth Soul Survivor is a concept that leverages memorable soul hits from the sixties or seventies that through time have become much covered gems. However, even the best music often needs a little accommodation and so it is with this latest selection, the DeBarge - Garrett - Jones - Temperton composition ‘Secret Garden’. It was featured on the 1989 milestone recording from Quincy Jones and, although the rules have had been bent a little to make ‘Secret Garden’ a Smooth Soul Survivor, it is nevertheless an incredible song that has first rate smooth soul credentials.

By 1989 the career of Quincy Jones had already spanned four decades. He was then and is now recognized as a writing, performing and producing legend who will probably be best remembered as the guiding light behind the greatest work of Michael Jackson. This was the year that Jones made his debut on his own label and, despite the fact that eight years had passed since the release of his critically acclaimed ‘The Dude’ on A&M, his new album, ‘Back On The Block’ proved to be his most extravagant, most star-studded and most brilliantly sequenced pop album to date.

Paula Atherton - Open Road

When in 2013 I reviewed ‘Enjoy The Ride’ from New York based singer, songwriter and woodwind player Paula Atherton I commented that for those who had yet to discover the magic of Paula Atherton this was a tremendous place in which to start.

Since then Paula has delivered gems such as ‘Ear Candy’ in 2015, ‘Shake It’ in 2018 and ‘Can You Feel It’ that followed two years later.

Much of her 2023 has been all about taking the Billboard charts by storm with the single ‘Open Road’, which was written and produced by the always-excellent Greg Manning.

Check it out.

 

 

Dave Koz & Friends - The Christmas Waltz

As that revolving door of smooth jazz superstardom, The Dave Koz & Friends Christmas Tour 2023, wends its way around the USA, the fresh new line-up evokes memories of the 2022 incarnation of what remains a standout event of the smooth jazz year.

Back then it was pianist David Benoit, trumpeter Rick Braun and guitarist Peter White on stage with Dave while vocals came courtesy of rising star Rebecca Jade. The tour was supported by Dave’s eighth seasonal CD, ‘Dave Koz & Friends: Christmas Ballads (25^th Anniversary Collection’) so sit back, relax and enjoy a track from that album ‘The Christmas Waltz’ with Koz, Benoit, Braun and White doing Christmas like only they can.