Kim Waters

Smooth Jazz supergroup, The Sax Pack, has been playing to packed houses from coast to coast. Lead by 3 of the hottest saxophonists on the planet Kim Waters, Jeff Kashiwa and Steve Cole who have individually sold over 1 million CDs and had over 20 Top 10 Smooth Jazz singles!

Chuck Loeb knows the secret to finding enduring success in the genre, even amidst growing competition by more and more up and coming guitarists who approximate his style: keep the listener guessing from tune to tune with unique stylistic and production curveballs. He's so effective at this that it's impossible to resist as he commands in the title of his new Shanachie disc: simply Listen. Keeping his crisp electric lines front and center, he darts and moves from the retro-soul clicking, synth strings and rising horn combination of "Silver Star" to the finger snap percussion, hypnotic cymbal rolls, Gary Keller flute harmony and Jim Beard's shimmering Fender Rhodes foundation on "High Five." It's a kick keeping up with his moodswings; Loeb restrains himself wrapping around Mark Egan's spacey basslines and Kim Waters' soprano on "Love Is All," then stirs up the frenetic fusion activity of "Right Down Broadway" with Mitch Forman's jump or else piano groove and more of those sassy horns. He even keeps a cover of Michael Jackson's "Rock With You" from slipping away into muzakville by shifting from hi to low string tones and trading off melody lines with Walter Beasley's alto.

Considering how much popular smooth jazz artists love to play on each other's projects, and especially for a good cause – in this case, the victims' assistance program Safe Horizon it's surprising that it took its musical community almost a year to emerge with its first tribute to America post 9/11. Bob Baldwin is hardly a household name in the genre, but he's been faithfully cranking out some of its funkiest keyboard projects over the past decade. Even if he's a little too synth-and-drum-machine reliant, this is still a fun project which captures the joyful spirit of America in the wake of a troubled time.

Jacob Webb is an award winning producer, bassist, pianist, and multi-instrumentalist. A native of Newton Kansas, Jacob started playing professionally at the age of 15 under the guidance of the legendary guitarist Jerry Hahn. After high school, he attended the prestigious music program at William Paterson University majoring in Jazz Performance. It was during this time that he co-founded the acclaimed Contemporary Jazz group The JT Project.

Nestor Torres' liner notes describe the opening track, "Musing," as "the best of both worlds" (combining his Latin jazz roots with smooth jazz sensibilities), but that tag could apply almost universally. On that song, Torres' flute dances and skips over an easy hip-hop vibe before Latin-flavored synth horns begin rising.