smooth jazz
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Review: Chris Standring – Love & Paragraphs
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Acid jazz was the hip new style taking the States by storm in the 90s. While much of it was created by producers and deejays from abroad, two west coast musicians decided to tackle the genre themselves by fusing jazz melodies with hip hop stylings on the release Solar System (1996). The musicians responsible for…
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Review: Tequila Moon from Jessy J
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Wow! What a discovery! I was at the Berks Jazz Festival last week. Unfortunately, I was only able to spend two of the festival’s ten days taking in music. Simultaneously I realized that Peak has released the debut of 26-year-old saxophonist Jessy J, who also was to appear at Berks as part of the Guitars…
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Review: Rhythm and Romance from Kenny G
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It’s hard to believe that Kenny G is 51 years old but, after releasing 26 albums for Arista, he is starting a new relationship with Concord Records. Concord, by the way, is about the only record company supporting jazz in a big way these days (thank God for an independent label!). I haven’t really listened…
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Review: Play from Jeff Kashiwa
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In the liner notes to Play, the latest Jeff Kashiwa release, writer Brian Soergel writes “a new creative direction in contemporary jazz – a shaking free of abundantly creative talent in a genre sagging under the weight of yesterday’s rules – is forcefully redefining a style desperately in need of fine tuning.” With a little…