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.
