Jazz Guitar School

Collection includes 3 solo albums by Munich-born and Los Angeles-based jazz composer/guitarist Nils and also includes collaboration album with Gravity 180.

The legendary keyboardist started making his unique brand of old-school soul meets modern funk back when old-school was still in session, and the title of his third Narada Jazz disc is a throwback to that era, when the 45 RPM was king. Rather than overwhelm this time with hardcore commercial funk grooves and calculated radio hooks, Jeff Lorber is more into cool vibes and soulful atmospheres. Melodies have always been his gift, so those just come naturally, as on the laid-back, chillout opening track, which features a lush, loose acoustic piano lead. There are less horns than usual, but Ron King (trumpet) and Gary Meek (sax) are given free reign to create snazzy textures on "Everybody Knows That" and the nifty, acoustic soul-jazz flavored title track.

Beverly "Guitar" Watkins, best known for performing with Piano Red in his outfit Doctor Feelgood and the Interns during the early '60s, returns to active recording with Back in Business, a collection of tracks that finds her comfortably covering electric blues, R&B, and old-fashioned rock & roll. Subtle gospel and jazz shadings appear from time to time, but Watkins generally concentrates on rocking the house, revisiting Piano Red-era classics (including "Right String but the Wrong Yo-Yo"), and introducing some eminently likable new compositions. All in all, a successful return.

Two CD set containing recordings from two of Sweden's most respected musicians. More than four decades since his passing, composer, arranger and musician Jan Johansson remains a monumental figure on the Swedish music and cultural scene. a gifted pianist, his detailed, crystal clear style is instantly recognizable. There is melancholic quality in Johansson's best work that is at once profoundly joyful. It's a marvelous sound. a truly singular musical voice that is still being celebrated. His masterpiece, JAZZ PA SVENSKA (Jazz in Swedish), features the most exquisite jazz arrangements of traditional folk tunes and is by some distance the best-selling Swedish jazz record of all time…

French guitarist/producer U-Nam is again standing tall and looming large on the smooth jazz scene with another creative gem called C’est Le Funk. In addition to dazzling us with his graceful and funky instrumental work (and one funky delivery with vocals from Tim “TiO” Owens), the album is loaded with strong production and presence. Wasting no time putting the groove into high gear from the start, the guitarist leads off with a driving track called “Smoovin’,” continues plowing ahead with the party groover “Something’s Up” and strutting right through the super-funky, hook-rich title track which features Nivo Deux (Nivo Deux is actually a project organized by U-Nam and wife Shannon Kennedy focusing on the incorporation of 80’s Pop, Smooth Jazz, and Electro-Funk).

Bossa Nova translated as the "new beat" or "the new style", grew out of Rio De Janeiro in 1958. The instigators were a handful of artists with a desire to break from tradition, developing the samba rhythms with the influence of cool American jazz to find a music with such a warm soul and natural rhythm that no-one can help but tap and sway to its beat. Bossa Nova is palm trees swaying, it is like melting sugar in hot coffee, it is the setting sun and warm sand underfoot. It is the sound and beat of Brazil, it is one of the world's coolest musical styles and it remains to this day one of the world's great musical treasures.