Contemporary jazz guitar collaborations between label mates have resulted in some memorable recordings over the history of the genre. The first ones that pop in my head are George Benson and Earl Klugh (Collaboration on Warner Bros.) and Lee Ritenour and Larry Carlton (Larry & Lee on GRP). Peak Records joins in on the tradition with Paul Brown and Marc Antoine. Their new release is ForeignXchange. Brown was the go-to producer for smooth jazz for a long time before starting a solo career. Antoine has had a notable smooth jazz career for over 15 years. I’ve heard his beautiful “Storytime” (from Urban Gypsy, one of his first releases) on a PBS Kids sponsor message a number of times.
The recording has guest performances from Philippe Saisse, Gregg Karukas, and Jessy J. The more noteworthy tracks I heard had the horn section of Jerry Hey, “Bill Richenback” (though I think the liner notes mean Bill Reichenbach), and Dan Higgins. If I programmed a Sunday Brunch show, I’d be playing “Foreign Exchange.” Worth mentioning is that Brown and Antoine are both listed as writers of each of the ten songs on ForeignXchange.
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