- Brazilian Groove
- Poignant Song
- Time for a Smoothie
- Good as it Gets
- I Thought it was You
- Paradiso
- Moroccan Moon
- Rich Boy
- Igetso
- Blue Coral
- Big Night
Graham Harvey – Keyboards, Guitar
Steve Pert – Vocals, Programming, Percussion
Ed Jones – Saxophones, Flute (1-7, 9-11)
Andy Holdsworth – Guitar (1,2,4,7,10,11)
Jim Mullen – Guitar (1,3,6)
Jojo Pert – Vocal (4)
Joy Rose Vocal (5)
Jean Paul ‘Bluey’ Maunick – Guitar (5)
Fayyaz Virji – Trombone (5)
Andy Gangadeen – Groove Consultant (5)
Sarah Brown – Backing Vocals –(8)
Dave O’Higgins – Tenor Sax (8)
This is a creation where the end has justified the
means. With all the smooth jazz albums there are around, mostly emanating
from the West Coast of the USA, why do we need another?
Graham Harvey and Steve Pert have however created
a smooth jazz album of exceptional quality, a product that in a number
of ways is superior to the US albums. Not only are all the arrangements
good, they are well played by a superb line up of musicians and singers.
All the tracks are very tuneful and only track 5 was written by other
than the collaborators. Graham Harvey is notable on both guitar and
keyboards and Ed Jones is a considerable contributor on both Tenor
and Flute. The redoubtable Dave O’ Higgins even appears on track 8
and as usual makes an impact.
Whilst capturing the ‘West Coast’ smooth jazz feel,
the group have managed to avoid the pitfall of every track sounding
the same, which is common in this genre. Varying the musical line
up, the tempo and the rhythm have achieved this. Most of all, the
most powerful ingredient is the composition of good, new and interesting
melodies.
I’m not sure what a ‘groove consultant’ does, but
perhaps my age is showing!
This is an excellent album which deserves to be successful,
here’s to the next one.
Don Mather
CD Reviews
black box BBJ2021
