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Highlights!! |
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Showcase CD |
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| Hot on the heals of that experience, Jay has
just issued Long Time Coming, his debut. Now I don't mind mentioning,
this one's a goodie!! Check out any of the tracks and it becomes fairly
obvious, why Soto fared as well as he did in that competition. The selections
are upbeat and melodic, and encompass a variety of styles & moods. And
as for Soto, well this man possesses all the tools. His tone is incredible
and his technique is impeccable as at times, his fingers literally fly
over the strings!! However, being the sentimental sap that I am, I'm also drawn to the pieces that are emotionally evocative. The sort of stuff that tugs at my heart and in that regard we have three super selections slotted for this feature!! |
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First up is an incredible mood inducing piece that's highlighted by
the wonderful trumpet of Jesse McGuire. That's followed by Reflections
at the top of hour two, once again with McGuire. Then finally there's
the compelling Caught In A Moment, one the tracks that being promoted
to smooth jazz radio!! |
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| Back Trax: Part One | |
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Spice
- Fattburger:
Taking their name from a popular highway restaurant in California, this
San Diego based quintet has remained one of the most popular bands in
SJ since their debut in 1986. However, the roots of the group can be
traced as far back as the latter half of the 70s. It was during this
period that saxman Hollis Gentry toured with several R&B groups. When
the last of these broke up, Gentry took the opportunity to hook up with
a few of the other musicians, namely keyboardist Carl Evans, bassist
Mark Hunter, drummer Kevin Koch, and guitarist Steve Laury, and form
his own band. The lineup hasn't really changed that much in the twenty
or so years since. Later on Tommy Aros joined the band as percussionist
and in the early '90s, Evan Marks took over as Fattburger's guitarist
when Steve Laury decided to set out on a solo career. Meanwhile, Gentry
has assumed a role as a more or less permanent guest. In any event,
Fattburger now enjoy a catalogue of 13 releases, and we could have easily
gone to any of these for our feature. Nevertheless, on this occasion
we decided to head back to the late 90s and check out an album called
Sugar. From that effort we've selected Spice, a tune that was written
for the group by label mate Chuck Loeb. That's also Chuck who's the
featured guitarist on the tune. It's smooth, moody, and melodic and
remains one of their finest pieces to date!! |
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Rendezvous
- Eric Marienthal: In
a genre that's heavily laden with sax players, there are only a handful
that might be considered as great musicians. These would be an illustrious
few who continue to grow in their craft and stretch its boundaries.
One such artist, whose talent is unsurpassed and who belongs on any
short list of the best in the business, would be LA native Eric Marienthal.
After attending Berklee in Boston for a couple of years, Eric toured
with Al Hirt for seven months. This was followed by various sessions
including a period working at the Walt Disney studios. In 1986, Marienthal
connected with Chick Corea. He soon became a member of Corea's acclaimed
Elektric Band and took part in a pair of albums. With the release of
his solo debut in 1987, Marienthal launched a prolific career and one
that is no doubt the envy of many a musician. Over the years, Marienthal
has well demonstrated his adeptness at playing virtually any style that
he wishes. On this occasion we're heading back to Turn Up The Heat one
of his more recent releases. From that effort I'll be playing Rendezvous
one of favourite Marienthal smooth tracks right from the moment we first
heard it!! CD: Turn Up The Heat (2001) |
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| Back Trax: Part Two | ||
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Ocean
Way - Torcuato Mariano:
One of South America's most accomplished guitarists, Mariano grew up
listening to the music of his native Argentina. When he was just 14
though, Torcuato moved from Buenos Aires to Rio de Janeiro, where he
became absorbed by that city's vibrant music scene. Initially Mariano
gained recognition as a pop composer but within a couple of years, he
had also developed into a highly regarded jazz musician & session player.
He toured and played with some of Brazil's finest performers, among
them saxman Leo Gandelman, Ivan Lins, and Sergio Mendes. It wasn't until
the mid 90's though, that Mariano finally moved to establishing a solo
career. In 1994, his debut made history as it was the first album to
be released simultaneously in both Brazil and the US. It was well received
and subsequently its success led to a tour of the States and to the
release of Last Look, his sophomore project, the following year. Building
on the momentum of the his debut, Torcuato took his music to a new level.
Last Look outdid the success of its predecessor and yielded the smash
single Ocean Way, which ranked among the top 20 songs for 1995 !! Now
ten years after its release, Ocean Way sounds as vital and fresh as
ever !! |
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Every
Time She Whispers - Michael Franks:
Michael Franks is readily acknowledged as one of the strongest and most
imaginative lyricists in contemporary music. The former literature student,
turned to performing on a part time basis while attending UCLA. In the
early 70s he turned this around by teaching an undergraduate course
in music first at UCLA and then at Berkeley, before releasing his debut
in 1973. Franks enjoyed enormous popularity throughout the 70s and 80s
and for a good portion of that time he was considered a staple artist
in the format, before his music for some reason fell out of favour.
Nevertheless, Michael has always stayed true to his unique and somewhat
quirky style. A case in point is Barefoot on the Beach and from it Every
Time She Whispers. A master of the double entendre, Franks' lyrics fall
nowhere short of brilliant!! The track was produced by Chuck Loeb who
also lent some of his tasty playing to the selection. And that's Carmen
Cuesta, aka Mrs. Chuck Loeb, with the wonderfully seductive vocals towards
the end of the tune !! Creative and inspired music & lyrics, this
one has it all !! Every Time She Whispers is a masterfully structured
piece from beginning to end and in our humble opinion, rates as one
of the finest tracks to come out of the 90s!! |
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Ain't
Nobody - Tom Grant:
Operating out of Portland, Oregon, Tom Grant is undoubtedly one of the
finest musicians in the Pacific North West. After earning a master degree
in education, Grant was teaching high school social studies, when Woody
Shaw caught him at an after-hours gig. Shaw offered Grant a job on the
spot. This soon led to extensive playing with many notables including
Joe Henderson and Dexter Gordon. With a background in straight ahead
jazz, Grant was nevertheless able to safely navigate the waters of contemporary
music as he became one of the pioneers in SJ. In 1976, he released his
solo debut and over the course of his career he's recorded a series
of best selling albums among them Lip Service from 1997. From effort
and what was his 15th release overall, we chose Ain't Nobody. Now after
rehearing Tom's exceptional cover of the track, I was moved to quip,
"They sure don't make them like that anymore !!" |
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After Hours ~ Exclusive
to our Web Site: Not Ready For Radio Special Edition! |
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On this edition we're intent on outdoing everybody, even ourselves, as
we present music that's Not Ready For Radio. The premise behind the feature...
to select great tracks that we felt were highly unlikely to played on
commercial radio given today's "climate." Perhaps the title
should have been Music that Radio is not Ready For but I decided to stick
with Not Ready For Radio. We scoured the planet and apart from the good old USA which supplies a whoppingly huge percentage of the Smooth Jazz that we play, we also came up with great selections from such far away places as South Africa, Germany, Canada (of course), Britain, South America, Australia and perhaps even a few points in between!! In one way or another we've played these selections on our show in the past, but now you can hear them all at one time in one place. Two hours with 17 tracks in all, averaging around seven minutes each, and as such we needed to create a special two part installment. In hour one, we squeezed in selections from Ray Obiedo, DTTB, and Chieli Minucci. Then by simply "clicking on the second paw" you'll hear outstanding tracks from David Garfield, Brian Hughes, & Fourplay. Quite sincerely, I don't think there's anything out there that's going to come even close to what you're about to hear !! Playlist: Since the majority of these artists and tracks aren't that well known, I've included a complete play list which you can readily access by just clicking on the paw ... 
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