Smooth Jazz Therapy

Alex Bugnon - In Conversation

Since the release of ‘Love Season’ in 1989 composer, producer and keyboard player Alex Bugnon has been a sophisticated and high quality constant on the contemporary jazz scene.  His latest album is titled ‘Harlem’ and those remembering Bugnon’s 1995 track ‘Harlem On My Mind’ might be forgiven for expecting something that is smoothly moody throughout.  Yet, with the exception of a couple of songs, it’s no criticism to say that this is very different music and when recently I got the chance to talk to Alex from his home in New York I started out by asking him what his motivation for the new CD was. 

“I wanted people to see the complete Alex Bugnon” he told me, “And to experience the entire range of styles that I love to play whether that be gospel, straight ahead, funk, soul or contemporary jazz.  Although people know me for a certain brand of jazz I have never been satisfied in making music according to a formula.  In fact I have never done that.”

Khari Parker & Lamar Jones - In Conversation

What marks out the real ‘A-List’ performers of contemporary jazz is the ability they have to surround themselves with the best supporting artists that the genre has to offer.  Despite often being consigned to the small print of CD liner notes, these players are the real power behind the throne and in this respect there are none more so than drummer Khari Parker and bassist Lamar Jones.  Not only do they both call Chicago home but also are great friends. Over the years of playing together have built up the kind of understanding that defines what it means, rhythmically, for the bass to ‘lock in’ with drums.  By moving as one single unit the bass player and drummer become the invincible force that drives the song.

An Interview With Greg Adams

I am indebted to Andrea Adams for drawing my attention to the following article on the wonderful Greg Adams.  It recently appeared in the publication Herald de Paris and is reproduced here with the full permission of Greg and of his management.

The sound of Greg Adams is one of the world’s best-known musical signatures.  His musical journey has spanned nearly four decades and from the early ‘70s, when he first arrived on the San Francisco Bay Area music scene, he has been a driving force in defining an artistry that transcends musical genres.  Still seeking out a course not yet traveled, Adams is at his best when testing his own innovative boundaries.  Not only that, his diversity has made him the consummate performer, setting no boundaries and seeking no labels.

Adams is a founding member of Tower Of Power and his horn arrangements, that made the TOP horn section a sought-out entity all its own, have become legendary.  Today, TOP is still traveling the world and playing the arrangements that will forever include the musical signatures Greg invented so very long ago.

Chester County Jazz Festival - Anita Broady In Conversation

Fifteen years ago Anita Broady attended the Montreal Jazz Festival. At the time she knew little about the music she would grow to love but walking amongst the various stages and hearing a wide range of artists perform she was immediately struck by the global nature of the genre and the way it so obviously brought people together. She vowed to one day bring a jazz festival to her own neighborhood and from that point everything changed. Fast forward to 2012 where now ardent jazz fan Broady has used her considerable business experience in event management to make the Chester County Jazz Festival a reality. It all gets started on the evening of June 29 when smooth jazz superstar Peter White opens up with a performance at the Asplundh Concert Hall on the campus of West Chester University.

When recently I talked with Anita from her home in the lovely town of West Chester, just thirty-four miles west of Philadelphia and nestled in the Brandywine Valley, I asked her more about her motivation to make the festival happen.

Attila Molnar - In Conversation

From Budapest by way of Washington DC, writer, producer and keyboard player Attila Molnar is currently in the United Kingdom as part of smooth jazz superstar Peter White’s touring band. When recently I caught up with him at the Cinnamon Club, in the southern suburbs of Manchester, he had just come off stage after playing the first set of the first night of White’s now customary UK autumn tour and I began by asking him what the experience had been like.

Maysa - In Conversation

With a style that is both soulful and sophisticated, vocalist Maysa Leak is known both for an ever more dazzling solo career and a twenty year collaboration with the band Incognito. 2011 promises to be really special for her and got off to quite a start with the February release of ‘The Very Best Of Maysa’ on the N-Coded label. It adds a couple of all new tunes to treasures taken from the three CD’s she recorded for them in the period 2000 – 2004 and when I talked to her recently from her home in Baltimore, MD I was curious to know what she thought about this dazzling retrospective. “To my mind,” she revealed, “a ‘best of’ compilation such as this is a landmark in any artist’s career. I’m flattered that N-Coded should consider my work to be worthy of such treatment. It feels good.”

Chris Standring - In Conversation

Ever since the release of his debut album ‘Solar System’, Chris Standring has differentiated himself with a sound that marks him out as one of the most soulful smooth jazz guitarists around. Much of the excitement to surround his brand new release ‘Blue Bolero’ has been about how the compositions, arrangements and choice of instruments have shown off a different side to his musical persona yet just as interesting is how, in pursuit of his musical dream, he originally relocated to the USA.

Indeed, given his residency in Los Angeles, CA, Standring is very much the Englishman abroad. When recently I talked with him, I wanted to know what had taken him there in the first place.

Jaared - In Conversation

May 5, 2010. With Jaared’s brand new album ‘Manhattan Nights’ already garnering critical acclaim there was added significance to his appearances with Peter White’s band at the Pizza Express Jazz Club. I caught up with Jaared as he prepared for the third of seven dates at this famed London venue and understandably the conversation ranged from his work with Peter White to how ‘Manhattan Nights’ had come to fruition.

Jaared told me that he first became acquainted with White during the 2002 Oasis Awards. Regular contact by e-mail quickly led to him being co-opted into Peter’s band and since then he has performed with him often. Parallel to this Jaared has also been building an increasingly successful solo career that started out as far back as 2001 with the Marcus Johnson produced ‘Foreward’. ‘Hang Time’ (which included guest spots by Peter White, Ken Navarro and Roberto Vally) followed a year later while his 2008 CD ‘Addiction’ found him partnering heavily with English keyboard player Oli Silk. It marked Jaared’s debut on Trippin n Rhythm Records and he has stayed with this label for his latest project.

Dee Brown - In Conversation

Since the 2006 release of his excellent album ‘No Time To Waste’ silky smooth guitarist Dee Brown has been firmly on the Smooth Jazz Therapy radar screen. The track ‘El Spanyo’ made it into the Smooth Jazz Therapy top twenty tunes of 2007 and when the CD was subsequently re-released on nuGroove it became one of the surprise packets of 2008. Not only that, it signalled a relationship with the label that now looks even stronger with the launch of Dee’s latest project ‘A Little Elbowroom’. When recently Dee talked to me from his home in Detroit, MI I asked him about the creative process that underpins this outstanding piece of work. We also found time to reflect on his musical progression, the state of the economy, his major influences and an exciting new development that has taken him behind the microphone of smooth jazz radio.

Bob Jamieson Goes Smooth Cruising

Although, to music fans, the name of Bob Jamieson may not be instantly recognizable he is in fact one of the shrewdest business brains in the industry. He is credited with the high profile turn around of the then ailing RCA Records and his work in this respect resulted in him being made the subject of a Harvard Business School case study.

In the music business for most of his working life, Jamieson has been responsible for signing some legendary performers. Now he is using that same business nous and passion for music as the driving force behind the new look (and freshly named) All Star Smooth Cruise. When I caught up with Bob at his office in New Haven, CT I first asked him about his motivation to get involved with the project.

Alan Hewitt - In Conversation

Despite five solo albums, recorded over an eleven year period, Alan Hewitt has often been regarded as ‘one of music’s best kept secrets’. Yet much of this time spent behind the scenes has been done so purely through choice. Although this has fuelled a creative process that continues to deliver impressive writing credits for both television and film, Alan Hewitt is at long last all set to grab the headlines. When I caught up with this multi platinum writer, producer and keyboard player at his studio in Palm Springs CA I first asked him how he would sum up his own writing process. He explained that composing music for shows such as ‘Oprah’ or ‘The Osbornes’ brought with it a discipline and a training that he has found invaluable when writing music both for himself and others.

Shilts - In Conversation

It was Sting who sung about an Englishman in New York but it would seem that, in smooth jazz terms, there are also quite a few in Los Angeles. Paul ‘Shilts’ Weimar is the latest to follow in the footsteps of Peter White and Chris Standring who, among others, have journeyed from England to California to seek and ultimately find smooth jazz stardom. Although he has only been resident in the LA area since 2004 Shilts is by no means new to the scene. He is in fact the face of the live incarnation of the band Down To The Bone (DTTB), an association that now extends back nine years and when I recently caught up with him at his home studio he took a break from working on new material to talk about the exciting turns that his career has recently taken.

To Grover With Love - In Jason Miles' Own Words

Albums that can stand the test of time don’t come along every day but one recording that already carries the hallmarks of classic status will be re-released on July 18. The Jason Miles tribute to Grover Washington ‘To Grover With Love’ first came out in April 2001, sixteen months after Washington’s untimely death and when I recently talked to Miles I first asked him about the knack he has for turning what at first sight appears to be ‘the tribute concept’ into an art form. He was quick to stress that “these records should not be viewed as collections of covers” and anyone who has heard his Grammy winning ‘ A Love Affair : The Music Of Ivan Lins’, the nod he makes to ‘Celebrating The Music Of Weather Report’ or, more recently, his ‘What’s Going On? - Songs Of Marvin Gaye’ will wholeheartedly agree with his sentiments. “It’s all about taking the music to another place” he explains. “What I do, one of the gifts I have, is to gather together just the right group of musicians to create the collaborations that re-imagine familiar songs into something new and fresh but with the feeling and passion of the original artist.” This approach is well demonstrated with his 2005 project ‘Miles To Miles – In The Spirit Of Miles Davis’ where, with original compositions, he brings to life the spirit and creative vibe of the legendary trumpeter, expanding musical ideas into a realm that was unheard of during the halcyon days of Davis.

Nick Colionne - In Conversation

For Nick Colionne, pictured here with Peter White, 2006 could hardly have started better. His new CD ‘Keepin It Cool’ is picking up rave reviews and the first single from it, ‘Always Thinking Of You’, is racing up the chart of most played on smooth jazz radio. Since the 1994 release of his debut CD, ‘Its My Turn’, Nicks career has seen its fair share of twists and turns so when I recently got the chance to talk to him about all that and more I first asked him how the genre has changed over those intervening twelve years.

“Although smooth jazz was around in 1994 it contained more pure jazz elements,” he told me. “Today it’s predominately pop based and often shows little resemblance to what some would regard as jazz. However,” he added, “everything changes. Jazz has changed through the years either following or dictating musical taste. My music has done the same. Back in the day I was playing jazz guitar that had straight ahead elements to it. I have played R & B too. To change is not selling out, its moving with the times and keeping it fresh.”

Denise Jordan Walker - Candid Jazz And Conversations

Many regard former WNUA DJ Denise Jordan Walker as the ‘Oprah Of Jazz’. That may sound like quite a label to live up to but she is currently combining her exceptional people skills with an in depth knowledge and love for smooth jazz to realize what, for her, started out as a dream. That dream is to help the real fans of the genre get close up and personal with some of today’s greatest smooth jazz artists, not just in terms of the music that they play but also by scratching away at the celebrity to find the person that lays within. The vehicle by which she is making that happen is her Candid Jazz and Conversations (CJ & C) series that, in part, was born out of the frustrations she felt by the increasing difficulty smooth jazz artists have in gaining exposure in the Chicago-land area.

Larry White - Newport Pacific Records

How does an up and coming independent record company take on the major labels in the all important battle for radio airplay while still finding its own niche in the ever more competitive markets of contemporary and mainstream jazz? This was one of the burning questions that I put to recording artist and President and CEO of Newport Pacific Records Larry White when I talked to him recently.