Smooth Jazz Therapy

Pieces Of A Dream - Fired Up

 

With the duo of James Lloyd and Curtis Harmon very much at its core, the story of Pieces Of A Dream is nothing short of remarkable.  It is well chronicled how Lloyd and Harmon at age 16 and 18 respectively released their first recording in 1981. Not long after that they hit the road performing in Grover Washington Jr.’s rhythm section and opening for him as Pieces Of A Dream.  Washington Jr. took Lloyd and Harmon under his wing and signed the band as the first group with his brand new production company.  They released three albums in quick succession, ‘Pieces Of A Dream’ (1981), ‘We Are One’ (1982) and ‘Imagine This’ (1983).  Those recordings included some of their biggest early hits, including ‘Warm Weather’, ‘Mount Airy Groove’ and ‘Fo Fi Fo’.  The band recorded its Shanachie debut, ‘In The Moment’, in 2013, followed by 2015’s ‘All In’, ‘Just Funkin Around’ from 2017 and ‘On Another Note’ in 2019.

Brian Culbertson - The Trilogy Part 1: Red

When, in the midst of lockdown and using his weekly YouTube Live ‘The Hang’ sessions as ‘fan feedback’, Brian Culbertson began creating a collection of songs that he quickly found arranged themselves into three distinct groups.

Some were clearly all about passion and love. Others were melancholy, sad and really made the listener think introspection. The third group of songs was more fun, happy and hopeful.  It was a trilogy and one that mirrored the arc of a typical relationship, the steamy beginning, the often-rocky middle and finally the transition to living happily ever after.

Not only that, Culbertson began to identify the parts of the Trilogy by color and, as a consequence, ‘Red’, ‘Blue’ and ‘White’ were born.

Larry Carlton & Paul Brown - Soul Searchin'

What do you get when two giants of the genre go head to head in the most sensational of ways?  The answer is ‘Soul Searchin’ the exciting new release from guitar greats Larry Carlton and Paul Brown that hit the streets September 24 on the Shanachie Entertainment label.

Carlton, who was a member of both The Crusaders and Fourplay is also a successful composer for television and film.  His writing credits include the theme music for ‘Hill Street Blues’ (with Mike Post), ‘Who’s The Boss’ and the film ‘Against All Odds’.  He first partnered with Paul Brown in 2000 when Brown produced several tracks for his ‘Fingerprints’ CD and although it has taken a while the idea of making an album together has been in the works for some time.

Collectively, Carlton and Brown have collaborated with everyone from Joni Mitchell, Steely Dan and Quincy Jones to George Benson, Patti Austin and Norman Brown, to name but a few.   It is a track record that cannot be denied and which with ‘Soul Searchin’ has just rocketed to another level.

Dee Brown - Deep Secrets

 

Those who have been with him for the long haul will recall Dee Brown’s 2007 debut recording ‘No Time To Waste’.  The follow-up, ‘A Little Elbow Room’ came along two years later while his 2014 project, the delicious ‘Brown Sugar, Honey-Coated Love’, included ‘I’m Here For You’ that he co-wrote with his then fiancée Shaunia who sadly passed away in 2016.   In fact he dedicated his appropriately titled 2018 outing ‘Remembering You’ to her but now, with an eye on the future, he is back with his third release for Innervision Records, the silky smooth ‘Deep Secrets’.

‘Deep Secrets’ has already tallied up a string of hit radio singles including the foot tapping ‘Tie The Knot’ that features trumpeter Lin Rowntree who here is in his best Tom Browne ‘Funking For Jamaica’ mode.  Just as good and also on radio is the extremely easy grooving ‘Smooth Talk’ that has Mike Partlett on sax and Valdez Brantley on keys.  Brantley also happens to co-write (with Brown) nine of the eleven choice tunes while the third track to be lifted from ‘Deep Secrets’ is the epitome of smooth jazz, ‘The Prize’.  Elsewhere Brown gives a nod to his spiritual roots with the uplifting ‘Praise Is What I Do’ and although ‘Surrender’ proves to be yet another easy on the ear cut it is ‘Make Up Your Mind’ (with Darryl Willams on bass and Tony Moore on drums) that takes center stage as a triumph of rhythm and melody.

Williams and Moore are also around to lend a hand with the funky yet rhythmic ‘Love You Too’ and it is Merlon Devine on soprano sax and flute who adds his own magic to the decidedly dreamy ‘Controlled Passion’.

Throughout ‘Deep Secrets’ Brown confirms himself as the perfect purveyor of a feel good vibe and this is particularly so with the breezy ‘Wake Up’.  When he ups the tempo for the dazzling title cut the result is just as good and talking of results that’s exactly what Brown gets with the sumptuous ‘Pretty Girl’ which, with Nate Harasim on keys, is right up there with the best that ‘Deep Secrets’ has to offer.

Brown recorded ‘Deep Secrets’ remotely during COVID-19 quarantine with his band and collaborators sending their tracks to him and Brantley by email. Production and mixing assistance was provided courtesy of heavy hitters Blake Aaron, Darren Rahn and Nate Harasim with the overall outcome being a high quality addition to the discography of Dee Brown.

Chris Standring - Wonderful World

As far back as 2010, and his genre busting tour de force ‘Blue Bolero’, guitarist, composer, and arranger Chris Standring has flirted with blending sumptuous string arrangements with his own impeccable style of contemporary jazz.  Yet in doing so he has always stopped short of employing a full orchestra.  That is up until now because on September 3 he will release his thirteenth studio album, ‘Wonderful World’ that, with a 19-piece orchestra, assistance from some of the world’s best jazz musicians and a set of sublime arrangements by Geoff Gascoyne, takes the listener on a guided tour of the Great American Songbook.

Vincent Ingala - Fire & Desire

Former Billboard Smooth Jazz Artist Of The Year Vincent Ingala knows all about making hit records. With eighteen top 10 smooth jazz radio singles and ten number one radio hits his stature simply goes from strength to strength and on September 17 will take another giant leap forward with the release of the highly anticipated ‘Fire & Desire’.

It will be Vincent’s seventh solo album, his third on the Shanachie Entertainment label, and the follow up to his excellent 2020 CD ‘Echoes Of The Heart’ which at the time I described as “being the sort of project that will continue Ingala’s fast track progress toward the upper echelons of the genre”.  This time around he plays every instrument, from saxophones and keyboards to drums, guitar and bass.  He also produces, records and mixes the entire set as well as writing all but one of the ten tasty tracks.

Greg Chambers - No Looking Back

Brand new from sax man Greg Chambers is the excellent ‘No Looking Back’.  With seven songs that place it somewhere between an EP and an LP, Chambers is revisiting a format that he last employed in 2013 with the seven track ‘After Hours’.  In doing so he is building on a discography that has been in the making since 2007 and his debut recording ‘City Lights’.

His quest for quality over quantity has often found him harnessing the talents of regular collaborators Matt Godina and Paul Brown while from time to time he has also tapped into a plethora of smooth jazz talent which this time around includes guitarists Adam Hawley, Nils, and Matthew Parris, bass players Mel Brown, Alex Al and Tyrone Coley, percussionist Ramon Ysalas, keyboard players Lew Laing Jr., Carnell Harrell and Judah Sealy, drummers Eric Valentine and Levi Bennett plus Russell Zimmer on muted trumpet.

Mark Jaimes - Hear At Last

 

Out now on Trippin ‘N’ Rhythm, ‘Hear At Last’ from UK based guitarist Mark Jaimes is a project that has been very much worth the wait.   In fact it was Rick Braun who originally suggested that Jaimes should record a solo album so now, several years later, it is appropriate that a nice ‘closing of the circle’ has occurred with Jaimes inviting Braun to appear on one of the collection’s outstanding tunes, the horn-drenched track ‘Heads Up’.  It is a real winner and much the same can be said of the first single to be serviced to radio, the mid tempo  ‘Evenin’ that includes a piano solo from Oli Silk and bass from Dwayne Smitty Smith.

Lin Rountree - Fluid

Following on from the success he enjoyed in 2018 with the album ‘Stronger Still’, trumpet and flugelhorn player Lin Rountree is back with his latest Trippin N Rhythm release ‘Fluid’. 

‘Fluid’ is quickly up and running with the sultry ‘Release’ that incidentally was the first single to be released to the airwaves and another track that has enjoyed early radio success is the extremely easy on the ear title cut that marks Rountree out as a leading purveyor of groove drenched urban jazz.

 

Brian Simpson - All That Matters

Pianist, composer and producer Brian Simpson is back and on fire with his latest CD, ‘All That Matters’, that was released June 25 on the Shanachie record label.

In every respect ‘All That Matters’ is a milestone recording.  Not only is it Simpson’s tenth album as a solo artist but is also heavily influenced by the global pandemic.   Forced into quarantine and without the musician’s lifeblood of touring and performing Simpson chose instead to focus solely on the creative process.

With Steve Oliver, Nicholas Cole and Oliver Wendell also on board this cool collective began by working virtually before, as restrictions eased, moving to ‘face to face’ collaborations.  The result is ten original choice tunes that find Simpson at the very top of his musical game.

 

‘All That Matters’ is also notable for the quality of the backing musicians that Simpson has assembled for the project.  Sax players Jim Pisano and Steve Alanis, flautist Najee, trumpeter Ron King, drummers Michael White and Tony Moore, bass players Dwayne “Smitty” Smith, Alex Al and Roberto Vally, percussionist Brain Kilgore and guitarists Ray Fuller and Yarone Levy are all variously around to lend a hand and it is White, Kilgore, Al and Fuller who support Simpson on the sumptuous ‘So Many Ways’ that also happens to be the first single to be selected for radio.

Brian Clay - This Is Me

 

Chicago born and Atlanta bred; keyboard player Brian Clay has been a staple of that city’s vibrant music scene since the mid eighties.  Over that time he has released a total of seven albums and has just made that eight with the tight, in the pocket, ‘This Is Me’.  With a playing style that has been compared to that of Joe Sample, Bob James and George Duke it is fair to say that ‘This Is Me’ is everything smooth jazz aficionados would expect and none more so than the opening number, ’88 Likes’.

This easy grooving cut gets ‘This Is Me’ started in exactly the way it means to continue and continue it does with ‘Into The Deep’ that, despite a smoky sax driven intro, provides the perfect showcase for Clay’s artistry on keys.

The decidedly moody ‘Tiemo (Bahari Beach)’ is another track that is among the best that ‘This Is Me’ has to offer and in this respect it is in the good company of the deliciously mid tempo ‘Honey Grove Lane’ that is enhanced in no small measure by cool interjections of sax.

U-Nam - Love In Motion (Future Love Part 3)

Spring is here again and love is not only in the air but is very much in motion.  ‘Love In Motion’ from writer, producer and guitarist Emmanuel “U-Nam” Abiteboul hits the streets on May 28 and subtitled ‘Future Love Part 3’ builds on the theme that U-Nam sensationally brought to market in 2019 with ‘Future Love’.

Marc Antoine - Something About Her

As a celebration of twenty-five years with his wife Rebecca, guitarist Marc Antoine delivers a musical love letter with ‘Something About Her’ that will be released May 21 on the Shanachie Entertainment label.

Richard Smith - Lets Roll

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 is 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 is totally appropriate the that he should 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.  In fact Richard remains a full professor at USC Thornton School Of Music while ‘Let’s Roll’ is in effect a sneak preview of Richard’s forthcoming 13^th album, ‘Language of the Soul’ that is expected to be released later this year.

Roberto Restuccia - With Every Turn

Out on the Trippin N Rhythm label, ‘With Every Turn’ is the excellent new project from UK guitarist and composer Roberto Restuccia.

 

Restuccia made his solo debut in 2016 with the album ‘Exposure’.  ‘When The Smoke Clears’ followed a year later and included input from Paul Hardcastle’s ‘go-to’ sax-man Rock Hendricks while now ‘With Every Turn’, with ten original compositions plus production from Oli Silk, could well be described as a quintessential contemporary jazz collection.

Marion Meadows - Twice As Nice

On April 23, 2021, Shanachie Entertainment will release the latest album from Nashville based sax-man Marion Meadows.  Titled ‘Twice As Nice’ it is Meadows sixteenth solo recording in a career that can be traced all the way back to 1990 and his debut project ‘For Lovers Only’.  Over that time Meadows has worked with a veritable who’s who of smooth jazz and R & B talent with his sophomore effort, ‘Keep It Right There’, finding him in collaboration with Will Downing, Bob Baldwin, Angela Bofill and Norman Connors.  Consequently it is no surprise that thirty-one years on he is still attracting ‘A-Listers’ of the genre. In fact ‘Twice As Nice’ features Paul Brown, Joey Sommerville, Jeff Lorber, David Mann, Steve Oliver and Chris “Big Dog” Davis.

Greg Karukas - Serenata

 

Original Rippingtons keyboard player and 2013 Grammy winner Gregg Karukas has twelve solo projects to his name and is about to make that thirteen with his very first solo piano album, the wonderful ‘Serenata’.  Make no mistake, for his myriad of fans that first discovered Karukas through seminal tracks such as ‘Girl In The Red Dress’ this is quite a departure. It represents a nostalgic return to the Brazilian music that he first found as a fledgling musician when learning his trade in the Washington DC - Baltimore area.  Indeed, right from the get-go, the lush melodies of artists such as Milton Nascimento and Dori Caymmi proved to be a wonderful counter-point to the jazz fusion that back then he was writing and playing.  He looks back on his days touring with Sergio Mendes and Ricardo Silveira as some of his favorite musical experiences and now, with ‘Serenata’, he is bringing these magic moments to an all new audience.

Mindi Abair - The Best Of Mindi Abair

In the ultra competitive world of smooth jazz saxophone differentiation is the name of the game and that is even more the case when applied to the female of the species.  Whether it be Paula Atherton, Candy Dulfer, Jeanette Harris or Pamela Williams, they have all found elements of uniqueness with which they define their musical identity yet when it comes to Mindi Abair she has elevated uniqueness to a whole new level.  Just what that represents is about to become clear with her first ‘Best Of’ collection that will be released April 2 on the Pretty Good For A Girl label.

Her earlier albums such as ‘Always And Never The Same’, ‘It Just Happens That Way’ and ‘Come As You Are’ were top-notch smooth jazz collections but then along the way something happened.  Maybe it was her appearances as the sax player on American Idol, the fact she toured with rock band Aerosmith or that she shared the stage with Bruce Springsteen but Mindi began to emerge from her contemporary jazz cocoon as something of a rock chick.  This was underlined with her 2014 project ‘Wild Heart’ and reconfirmed with the thunderous ‘Mindi Abair & The Boneshakers Live In Seattle’.