Watson's Riddle Featuring Chuck Leavell

Guitarist Chuck Loeb ends up with an enjoyable yet very typical collection on this outing. Typical, meaning easy to swallow and occasionally remarkable but for the most part the kind of music radio eats up and listeners have been saturated with. We've heard this kind of thing before. Loeb's tender and breezy acoustic work dominates, but the electric fire he sets on go for broke zoomers like "Mr. Z" and "Carbo Fuel" are far more distinctive and better worth the price of admission. As a composer, Loeb is more than able, but his blistering contributions to Nelson Rangell's projects far surpass the mellow fare he presents here. Rangell, fellow saxman Bill Evans and keyboardist Mitch Forman add lots of spark and improvisational energy to a disc that simply needs a little less cool breeze and more electric gale.

The Best of Chuck Mangione collects various tracks from the smooth jazz pioneer's '80s Columbia recordings. While not as influential as Mangione's '70s output, his '80s albums retain much of what made him so popular an artist – catchy hooks, lush production and his clear, crisp trumpet sound. Included are such standout tracks as "Journey to a Rainbow," "Love Bug Boogie" and "Memories of Scirocco." Oddly, a live version of "Land of Make Believe" and the single version of "Feels So Good" make it on to this collection. These '70s hits don't really belong here, but should satisfy casual fans looking for his most popular recordings alongside his mid-career stuff.