The Best Smooth Jazz ...ever

South African expatriate Jonathan Butler isn't really a jazz artist, but his laid-back, slightly jazz-tinged approach to R&B/pop has earned the singer/guitarist/songwriter/producer a lot of supporters in the urban contemporary, adult contemporary, quiet storm, and smooth jazz/NAC markets. Butler has enjoyed a following since the late '70s, although he reached his commercial peak in the late '80s, and he continues to tour and record in the 21st century. Born in Cape Town, South Africa in October 1961, Butler was only a child when he started singing and playing acoustic guitar.

Cynics might roll their eyes at the album's title – there is nothing at all edgy about this duo's buffed-to-a-high-gloss music – but The New Edge is actually one of Acoustic Alchemy's most entertaining releases. There's a playfulness to these tunes, like the puckish electronic drums on the flamenco-tinged and downright catchy "Notting Hill Two-Step" and the tongue-in-cheek boulevardier pretensions of the closing "Rive Gauche," that suggests a pair of sharp wits behind the well-packaged sheen of this music. The songs are a consistently memorable lot this time out, with a much higher than usual ratio of interesting melodies to snoozy new age mush, and the production, for once, is not so Velveeta-smooth that the record actually becomes hard to listen to.

A virtuoso on the alto, soprano, and tenor saxophones, as well as the unique EWI breath controller, Jaared is an internationally acclaimed recording artist. He is also an accomplished singer, who often brings the house down with his vocals.

Artie Shaw - The Last Recordings, Volume 3 (1945-1949) {2CD Wyastone-Nimbus NI 2729~30 rel 2009}
XLD rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 466 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 276 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 48 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1945-49, 2009 MusicMasters / Wyastone / Nimbus | NI 2729~30
Jazz / Bop / Swing / Big Band / Clarinet

The material on CD 1 dates from the latter half of Artie Shaw’s career as a bandleader, which ended with his retirement in 1954. Always presenting tasteful and often unusually deep interpretations of big-band jazz and dance music, and featuring his exquisite and frequently profound clarinet improvisations, Shaw’s career climaxed in his rise to superstar status as the most popular musician in North America at the height of the Swing Era in 1939.