Out now on the Mack Avenue label is the appropriately titled ‘Epic Cool’ from legendary sax-man Kirk Whalum. It is a fine collection of sophisticated smooth jazz that owes much to the input of producer and Grammy nominee Greg Manning and the song writing prowess of Whalum as together they take the listener on a journey that is signposted by passion, spirit and soul.
Take for example the sultry ‘Pillow Talk’ that Whalum describes as the strongest song he has written in the last twenty years, the equally mellow ‘Love & Healing’ or the eminently danceable ‘Bah-De-Yah’. Talking of danceable ‘You & Sunday Morning’ will get feet tapping in a mid tempo kind of a way while ‘Crusaderation’ is Whalum’s tip of the hat to the Crusaders, the supergroup that did much to shape what eventually came to be known as smooth jazz.