Grover Washington, Jr. The Best Of Grover Washington, Jr. (1996)

While there can be no doubt that the late great Grover Washington, Jr. released his most commercially successful recordings for Columbia and Elektra, there is also no doubt that, critically and creatively, Washington's most visionary material, the stuff that virtually created the template for the smooth jazz generations that came after, were on the Kudu imprint and produced by Creed Taylor. Washington was a monster saxophonist on tenor as well as soprano, and a true stylist. Before coming to Motown and Kudu he had apprenticed with a number of soul-jazz masters, including Charles Earland and Johnny "Hammond" Smith. The material here focuses on the seminal eight years Washington recorded for Motown and Kudu, beginning with his early renditions of standards like "I Loves You, Porgy," from George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess…

Bob James is a prolific, best-selling, Grammy-winning composer, arranger, producer, and pianist. Along with Grover Washington, Jr., he is known as one of the fathers of smooth and contemporary jazz. His music seamlessly melds genres from bop to pop, from classical to R&B via relatively simple, accessible, and elegant melodies with rich harmonies and multiple sonic textures, often anchored by lithe, funky grooves. In addition to gold- and platinum-selling albums on his own and in various collaborations.

Generally acclaimed as fusion's greatest drummer, Billy Cobham's explosive technique powered some of the genre's most important early recordings including groundbreaking efforts by Miles Davis and the Mahavishnu Orchestra before he became an accomplished bandleader in his own right.

Just about any genre or style of music has had skillful crossover artists who managed to win won over some nonbelievers. Grover Washington, Jr.'s tasteful jazz-funk reached a lot of people who hadn't necessarily developed a taste for the straight-ahead bop of Clifford Brown and Sonny Stitt; Willie Nelson's country-pop reached a lot of listeners who weren't necessarily into the hardcore honky tonk of Buck Owens and Lefty Frizzell. And in the metal world, In Flames has served as a bridge between the death metal/black metal underground and the more melodic power metal of Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and Queensrÿche. Originally released in Europe in 1994, In Flames' debut album, Lunar Strain, attracted an interesting mixture of death metal/black metal, power metal, and thrash metal enthusiasts. Like the early releases of At the Gates, Lunar Strain helped write the book on what came to be known as "melodic death metal"…