Paul Brown & Friends: White Sand (2007)

One of the leading Contemporary Jazz guitarists/producers in the world, Paul Brown makes his stunning debut on Peak Records celebrating his intense musical foundation with an elite group of friends. These `friends" include Al Jarreau, Boney James, Bobby Caldwell, Lina, Euge Groove, Rick Braun, Jeff Lorber, Jesse J and David Benoit. Brown has been creating distinctive, "hummable" tracks for years for other artists and has a keen instinct for knowing what his fans want to hear. On "White Sands", his third album as a solo artist, he has created some immediately identifiable tracks which are destined to be come instant crowd pleasers. A two time Grammy award winner, Brown was also named the "most played" artist in the 2006 year end charts for Radio and Records with his #1 track, "Winelight".

Tracklist:

1. White Sand (Jessy J) 4:21

2. The Rhythm Method (Paul Brown) 4:00

3. Makes Me Feel So Good (Paul Brown) 4:06
4. Ol' Skoolin' (Paul Brown) 4:25
5. Mercy, Mercy, Mercy (Paul Brown) 4:18
6. R 'n' B Bump (David Benoit) 4:27
7. I Say A Little Prayer (Paul Brown) 3:37
8. More Or Less Paul (Paul Brown) 4:39
9. For What It's Worth (Paul Brown) 3:36
10. Mr. Cool (Rick Braun) 4:09
White Sand
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Chieli Minucci & Special EFX: Without You (2010) [2 cd]

Guitarist, composer, and arranger Chieli Minucci is the leader of the Grammy-nominated jazz-fusion group Special EFX, which he co-founded with the late George Jinda in 1984. A major force on the jazz and world music scene for 25 years, Special EFX’s newest release, Without You is a diverse collection of jazz-fusion, world rhythms, and the effortlessly flowing guitar artistry that Chieli (key-eh-lee) is known for. A true sound-tapestry, blending layers of sound and harmonic texture, Without You is an instant classic.

This brilliant double CD collection of tracks features the original Special EFX lineup of favorites - drummer Lionel Cordew, bassist Jerry Brooks, keyboardist Jay Rowe, and vocalist/percussionist Philip Hamilton - plus many brilliant guest artists, including keyboardist Jeff Lorber, violinist Karen Briggs, keyboardist Lao Tizer, vocalist Will Brock, bassist Dave Anderson, and violinist Alan Grubner.

Special EFX is one of the most prominent world fusion groups of the era. During the course of the band’s phenomenal rise to the top of the jazz charts, they released 25 CDs, including Chieli’s 8 solo releases and a live concert DVD. Seminal songs like “Daybreak”, “Cruise Control”, “Bella” and “Seduction” were among their chart-topping hits. This extraordinary super group takes their vibrant and exciting sound to the next level on its new Without You release, which encompasses diverse and eclectic sounds ranging from jazz fusion to world beat, pop vocals and rock-tinged arrangements.

Chieli’s latest project, the Special EFX CD Without You highlights an extraordinary career and is essential listening for his legions of fans. Songs like “Love’s Lost in Translation” blends Philip Hamilton’s mellifluous voice with romance and angst in an exotic, world music setting. Long-time fans may recognize parts of “The Night Is Ours”, which is a completely re-written version of Special EFX’s 1982 signature song “Sambuca Nights”. Fans will also be entranced with “Hushabye”, which was originally released as the instrumental “Sweet Surrender” but has been transformed with the addition of the soulful vocals of Will Brock. And for George Jinda fans, the tune “Man with a Drum” captures his original percussion sounds.

Talented virtuosos Jeff Lorber, Karen Briggs and Lao Tizer are featured on tracks that may become the “new” classics for Special EFX. “Legendary keyboardist Jeff Lorber is a brilliant musical collaborator on ‘Mountina Jameroon’. I’m excited to have his high intensity electric jazz flavorings on the new Special EFX CD,” says Chieli.“I brought Karen Briggs into the project after hearing her amazing violin work on Yanni’s Live at the Acropolis,” explains Chieli. “She takes the violin to another dimension on our songs ‘Lakeside’ and ‘Wonderboy.’”

Special guest Lao Tizer brings his powerful piano vibe to the tracks “Bacchanalia” and “Afterglow”. “I discovered Lao when he was 19 years old and we’ve been collaborating ever since. I knew his high-energy, unique piano work would bring another level of emotion to these Special EFX

songs,” says Chieli.

Showcasing truly incredible musicianship, Special EFX’s captivating jazz fusion textures and progressive new age twists take listeners on an uplifting musical ride they’ll never forget. “Without You” showcases the band’s special gift for combining harmony, feeling, and flawless technique with remarkable passion.

Tracklist:
01. Quivering
02. Healing Waters
03. Lakeside
04. You Make Me Blue
05. Prelude
06. Love's Lost in Translation
07. Hushabye
08. The Night is Ours
09. Indelible
10. Wonderboy
11. Ballerina Rocks
12. Mountina Jameroon
13. Man With A Drum
14. Afterglow
15. Bacchanalia
16. Gathering Wind
17. You Make Me
18. Electraglide
19. July
20. Twilight
21. Love's Lost in Translation (full)
22. Undeniable
Without You
Depositfiles / Hotfile @ 320K

Paul Brown: Up Front (2004)

Known in the music industry as the "Babyface of Smooth Jazz" due to his enormous success as a top-ranked producer/composer/arranger/engineer for some of contemporary jazz's most recognized talent, Paul Brown steps "Up Front" with his debut for GRP Records. The Grammy award-winning producer, who has had over 38 Number One hits on the smooth jazz charts offers his solo perspective with special guests Rick Braun, Boney James, Chuck Loeb, Jeff Lorber, and Peter White. Additional production from Jeff Carruthers, Jerry Hey, and many others support the style-guru's interpretations that listeners have come to appreciate.

Brown's vocals and smooth jazz guitar offer listeners a winning combination of original songs and great covers that have style, control, that excellent smooth jazz pitch, and a wonderful sense of rhythm. With "Wes Coast Swing," you'll hear Brown with Jeff Lorber on vibraphone playing a breezy blend of shimmery vibes/keyboards and swinging guitar. Brown changes the mood with "My Funny Valentine," and offers a beautiful duet with Peter White, who's playing nylon-string guitar over a percolating Latinesque backbeat.

"Phat City," one of two songs co-written with Jeff Carruthers, gives you a soulful, head bobbing, multi-hued feeling. This song features the dynamic Boney James on saxophone doing what he does best. But the writers do a 360 degree turn with their radio hit "24/7," that features the cool muted trumpet of Rick Braun, and more than one reason to head to the dancefloor. "Dear Ndugu," is a quiet ballad and obvious tribute to the great drummer and educator Ndugu Chancler.

The set closes with the Van Morrison hit "Moondance," and Paul Brown gives it that same enduring smooth jazz essence, with right-on vocals and superb guitar magic. With Up Front, Paul Brown gives listeners 12 excellent reasons to add this to their contemporary jazz collection. — Paula Edelstein, All Music Guide

Tracklist:

01. Wes' Coast Swing (4:30)

02. Angel (3:51)

03. Moment by Moment (4:32)
04. Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight (2:55)
05. My Funny Valentine (4:12)
06. Phat City (4:47)
07. Sweet Sweet Love (4:34)
08. Ain't No Sunshine (3:06)
09. Chill Out (3:53)
10. 24/7 (4:28)
11. Dear Ndugu (3:39)
12. Moondance (3:22)
Up Front
Rapidshare / Hotfile @ 320K

Jeff Lorber and others: Shades of Soul (2004)

In the '70s, the Portland, Oregon, group Pleasure may have been ahead of its time with its jazzy funk. During the same time, in the same town, the Jeff Lorber Fusion was breaking ground with its own funky brand of jazz. In the '90s, the old friends hooked up for this recording, which sounds as fresh as if they'd recorded it yesterday. Lorber fans will love tracks featuring then-rising stars like trumpeter Chris Botti and the late saxophonist Art Porter, but it's the timeless funk of the boys from Pleasure that dominate here with red-hot grooves on "Enjoy Yourself," "We Got To Live Together," the title track, and Roy Ayers's "Hey Uh." Lorber contributes mightily with "Get Wid It," a dynamic example of his early keyboard style, but guitarist Marlon McLain and bassist Nathaniel Phillips, with the help of vocalist Terry Stanton of Hidden Beach Unwrapped, truly funk things up. --Mark Ruffin

Shades of Soul
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Jeff Lorber Fusion: Now Is The Time (2010)

Keyboardist and producer Jeff Lorber has wrapped up production of a new CD that delves back into his early catalog and reinvents some of his compositions from the Jeff Lorber Fusion heyday. The CD, Now Is the Time, is Lorber’s follow-up to 2008’s Heard That. The new CD will be released June 1.

By the late 1970s, Lorber had become a prominent figure in the new movement known as jazz fusion – a marriage of traditional jazz with elements of rock, R&B, funk and other electrified sounds. Lorber and his band, Jeff Lorber Fusion, first honed their craft in the Portland, Ore., club scene and rapidly expanded their reach to a national and international audience.

This new incarnation of the Jeff Lorber Fusion includes bassist Jimmy Haslip (who co-produced with Lorber and Bobby Colomby), saxophonist Eric Marienthal, trumpeter Randy Brecker, guitarist Paul Jackson Jr., and drummers Vinnie Colaiuta and Dave Weckl.

“We all had a vision of what we wanted this record to be,” says Lorber, who points to a recent European tour with many of these same musicians – and the positive response that resulted from it – as the primary catalyst for the album. “We wanted a return to the sound of the Jeff Lorber Fusion, but informed by everything I’ve learned since then. All of a sudden, people seem to be interested in hearing that again. They’re ready to hear musicians who can really play, really stretch the envelope with their technique, with their songwriting, and with harmonic structure.”

Tracklist:

01. Pixel (Jeff Lorber-Jimmy Haslip-Bobby Colomby) – 5:23

02. Black Ice (Jeff Lorber) 4:22

03. Rain Dance/Wanna Fly (Jeff Lorber-Irene Bauza-Frankie Biggs) – 4:13

04. Las Rosas (Jeff Lorber) – 4:00

05. Water Sign(Jeff Lorber-Irene Bauza-Frankie Biggs) – 3:56

06. Mysterious Traveller (Wayne Shorter) – 4:55

07. Curtains/Before We Go (Jeff Lorber-Irene Bauza-Frankie Biggs) – 4:17

08. Dr. Moy (Jeff Lorber-Steve Dubin) – 3:07

09. Sugar Free (Jeff Lorber-Irene Bauza-Frankie Biggs) – 4:49

10. Chinese Medicinal Herbs (Jeff Lorber) – 4:24

11. Sumatra (Jeff Lorber) – 4:11

Now Is the Time
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Jeff Lorber: Kickin' It (2001)

Jeff Lorber's label debut on Samson Records is a typical jazz fusion effort that will sound familiar to fans of his band of the 1970s and '80s, the Jeff Lorber Fusion. Teaming with co-writer/producer/arranger Steve Dubin, Lorber constructs a series of upbeat rhythm tracks over which he plays melodically on either acoustic piano or Fender Rhodes electric. He is joined on nearly every track by a guest saxophonist and/or guitarist. Tenor saxophonist Gerald Albright sits in on "Snakebite," "Keep That Same Ol' Feelin'," and "Kickin' It" (with guitarist Stuart Wylen); soprano saxophonist Dave Koz on "Happy Endings" (with guitarist Michael Landau) and "The Bijou"; tenor saxophonist Steve Cole on "Chopsticks"; soprano saxophonist Gary Meek on "Reflections" (with Wylen) and "What It Is"; and tenor saxophonist Richard Elliot on "The 'In' Crowd." Lorber cedes considerable space to his guests, but he still finds room for his own improvisations. He also brings in a horn section on several cuts, notably "Keep That Same Ol' Feelin'," which sounds enough like a lost Steely Dan track that you keep expecting Donald Fagen to start singing on instead of Siedah Garrett, who intones the repeated lines "Keep on/Keep that same ol' feelin'." "Ain't Nobody" is the 1983 Rufus and Chaka Khan hit, here rendered with an appropriately funky feel, and "The 'In' Crowd" is, of course, the 1965 Ramsey Lewis Trio hit, a nod to an obvious predecessor of Lorber's. The keyboardist slows the pace for "Reflections," but most of these tracks are lively pieces with lots of interplay that is only ended when they fade out.-- All Music Guide

Jeff Lorber at Wikipedia

Kickin' It (HF) / Kickin' It (DF) lossless

Jeff Lorber: It's a Fact (1982)

With a smooth sound bringing together elements of funk, R&B, rock, and electric jazz, keyboardist Jeff Lorber helped pioneer a genre of fusion later formatted under such names as NAC and contemporary jazz. Born in Philadelphia on November 4, 1952, he began playing the piano at the age of four, and as a teen performed with a variety of local R&B bands. Lorber's infatuation with jazz began during his stay at the Berklee College of Music, and after forming the Jeff Lorber Fusion he issued the group's self-titled debut in 1977. During the first half of the following decade, the band became one of the most popular jazz acts of the period, touring nonstop and even scoring a Best R&B Instrumental Grammy nomination for the radio hit "Pacific Coast Highway." Released in 1986, Private Passion was Lorber's most successful outing yet, but at this commercial peak he stopped recording, instead turning to production and session work. He did not issue his first proper solo LP until 1991's Worth Waiting For, remaining both a prolific performer and producer for the rest of the decade. He recorded for Verve and Zebra in the '90s before moving over to Narada in the 2000s and releasing successful smooth jazz albums like 2003's Philly Style and 2005's Flipside. He released He Had a Hat on Blue Note in 2007.

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It's a Fact - Part 1 - Part 2 (RS) / Part 1 - Part 2 (HF) lossless

Jeff Kashiwa: Another Door Open (2000)

Whenever Jeff Kashiwa gets fed up with the day-to-day grind of being one of smooth jazz's most popular saxmen, all he has to do is recall the late '80s. He was working an unspectacular day job and playing too many weekend weddings when his friend, bassist Steve Bailey, helped get him an audition to replace saxophonist Brandon Fields in the Rippingtons. Kashiwa landed the gig. During the next ten years Kashiwa became one of the focal points of the Ripps' classic sound. In the mid '90s he took some rare downtime to produce two well-received solo efforts, Remember Catalina and Walkamile. Kashiwa quit the Ripps in early 1999 to focus fully on his own career. Consequently, his Native Language debut Another Door Opens is a true sink-or-swim proposition.

Kashiwa brings two crucial legacies from his tenure with the Ripps - the tutelage of Russ Freeman and the forging of an amazing creative partnership with Ripps' keyboardist Dave Kochanski, who co-produced Another Door Opens and wrote four of its songs, including the first single, a brassy, swaying, retro-funk-flavored number called "Hyde Park (The 'Ah, Oooh' Song)."

While he's becoming a better all-around sax player, the real litmus test of Kashiwa's solo future lies in his ability to compose strong melodies over today's popular urban-shuffle grooves. On "Power of Midnight," he floats a wistful soprano melody over the thick, throbbing bass of Melvin Davis and the clicking drums of Ricky Lawson. While most of his and Kochanski's writing here is pop-oriented and in-the-pocket, the simmering, ominous blues vamp of Kashiwa's "Dream Within a Dream" makes a perfect launch pad for his soaring tenor. More impressively, the gently percussive soprano melody of the title track - while nothing groundbreaking - rings with the kind of beauty Freeman brought to the Ripps' best ballads.

--- Jonathan Widran, JAZZIZ Magazine Copyright © 2000, Milor Entertainment, Inc.

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Another Door Open

Richard Elliot: Rock Steady (2009)

Richard Elliot has a history of picking the right tune and wrapping his signature sax sound around it -- witness People Make The World Go Round from Metro Blue, which topped the radio charts for 11 weeks. Now it's time to Rock Steady ¬ featuring the famed Aretha anthem, as well as first radio single Curtis Mayfield's Move On Up. Rock Steady also boasts appearances by: Gerald Albright, Rick Braun and Jeff Lorber among others. "I think calling this new album Rock Steady was an obvious and inspired choice for many reasons," Elliot says. "The music that inspired the CD has an enduring quality and is part of our American musical heritage. Beyond that, it's the perfect metaphor for the good fortune I have had to be doing what I love to do for so many years. I took a risk leaving TOP for a solo career and never dreamed at the time that I would still have these wonderful opportunities to record and tour over 20 years later. I don't gauge my career based on sales, popularity and money. However, what matters most is my personal and artistic growth and the opportunities that reveal themselves as I evolve."

Rock Steady

Gumbi Ortiz: Miami (2006)

The hot chick on the album cover with the blond hair holding a cigar really has nothing to do with the feisty, multifaceted jazz whirlwind created by veteran percussionist Gumbi Ortiz, but along with the neon flamingo, it beautifully represents the ultra-hipness of this shimmering, joyfully eclectic collection. Have congas, will travel — that pretty much defines funky and frenetic world of Ortiz, who brings his rich Puerto Rican/Cuban heritage and a lifetime of eclectic musical influences and experiences — from jazz fusion, pop and funk to retro-soul, samba and even a hint of Irish jig — to Miami. Renowned throughout the world for his nonstop tours over the past 19 years with fusion guitar legend Al DiMeola, the charismatic conguero gathered a powerful ensemble of jazz greats in fashioning a multicultural tribute to the New York native's adopted home state of Florida, where he has lived since 1980. The first two tracks perfectly capture Ortiz's multiple music sensibilities. The sizzling "South Beach" begins with a lighthearted Brandon Fields flute solo and a laid-back Latin groove before evolving into a wacky, way out jazz free for all (highlighted by Walt Fowler's brash flugelhorn solo). The Jeff Lorber-produced, smooth jazz friendly "T-Back" captures Ortiz's spirited pop side. That smooth side comes out again on "In the Groove" (featuring Jay Beckenstein) but in the middle are some serious fusion excursions that will please everyone who loves "real jazz" and can't stand the pop stuff. There are also a few irresistibly seductive nods to what Ortiz calls "the Herbie Hancock funk thing," some tasty samba excursions, a touch of retro-soul and even a taste of gospel. Whether he's going wild and banging his congas on free-form jazz jams, showing his mastery of more subtle rhythmic nuances, or simply supporting the rhythm section behind more straightforward melodies, Ortiz proves to be an incredible lead performer in his own right. Highly recommended!