Crotchet midprice
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MORE SMOOTH JAZZ ON A SUMMER'S DAY
Various Artists
 Columbia Double
CD 508220 2 |
CD 1
1. Turn It Out - Peter White
2. Streets Ahead - Chris Botti
3. Shadow - Billy Cobham
4. That's The Way Of The World - Martin Taylor
5. Another Day ( Remix ) - Buckshot LeFonque
6. Never Too Much - Luther Vandross
7. Can You Stop The Rain? - Grover Washington Jr.
8. Maria - Yoshiro Nakamura
9. Wade In The Water - Ramsey Lewis
10. It Had To Be You - Steve Tyrell
11. Summer Breeze - The Isley Brothers
12. Glow - Kirk Whalum
13. East River Drive - Stanley Clarke
14. Spindrift - Tom Scott
15. Mystica - Gato Barbieri
CD 2
1. Strawberry Moon - Grover Washington Jr.
2. Fantasy - Peter White
3. What Gives - Dan Siegel
4. Everyday People - Sly And The Family Stone
5. Les Voyages - Clementine
6. You Bet Your Love - Herbie Hancock
7. Sara Smile - Eric Gale
8. Diggin' On James Brown - Tower Of Power
9. Mystical Dreamer - Lonnie Liston Smith
10. Parle Moi De Toi - Richard Bona
11. My Latin Brother - George Benson
12.Do It Again - Marta Mus
13. Nitelife - Martin Taylor
14. Green Flower Street - M. Sasaji & L.A. Allstars
15. Union - Chris Botti
Forget about the title of this release, it is an excellent compilation
of music from the early seventies right up to the present day. Unfortunately
record companies ( and critics ! ) seem to have the need to put music
into categories, possibly to attract the purchaser, but, as in the case
of this disc, it could quite conceivably have the opposite outcome.
I do not feel that this selection has any more connection with Summer
than with any other time of the year. I also feel that the term "
smooth " is derogatory in its concept to most of the tracks here.
Perhaps the greatest oversight on this double CD is the lack of information
contained in the liner notes. Apart from the year of each track there
are no further details either about personnel or album title. This is
a great disappointment as there are artists whose work is not particularly
familiar, but it would be beneficial to me and to many other listeners
to be able to discover more about these releases, and , possibly purchase
the original recording ( surely this is one of the primary ideas behind
the concept of the compilation).
There are many highlights on this set - some old friends , some new
experiences. Grover Washington Jr. has been a personal favourite for
many years. He was an artist who, probably through categorisation, failed
to receive the recognition he deserved from the hard core Jazz fans.
He was certainly one of the most accomplished multi - instrumentalists
in music, sharing with the likes of James Moody and Roland Kirk the
ability to be totally convincing on whatever instrument he happened
to be playing. His soprano excursion on "Can You Stop The Rain
?" ( from the album "Soulful Strut ") is particularly
effective. He was one of the few players who had such a high degree
of control of this maverick of an instrument - having played it myself
for some 25 years I can really admire his musicianship !
Other notable selections on Disc 1 include Martin Taylor's "That's
The Way Of The World",The Isley Brother's "Summer Breeze"(
where does this fit into "Smooth Jazz"? ) and the superb offering
from Gato Barbieri ( from the album " Que Pasa"). On Disc
2 I particularly enjoyed Sly And The Family Stone, Grover, Lonnie Liston
Smith and the absolutely wonderful " Diggin' On James Brown"
by Tower Of Power. For all my reservations as to the production of this
compilation I must recommend it most strongly both as a way to discover
new music and as a pure delight in its own right.
Dick Stafford
CD Reviews
