I’m going to say two words that could evoke one of three
\nreactions with you: Smooth jazz.<\/p>\n
Chances are, you fell into one of these groups: those who can’t
\nstand this type of music; those who think it’s okay in small doses,
\nand those who are more or less indifferent to it.<\/p>\n
I consider myself to be in the middle category; there are some
\nartists whose work would fall into this category that I enjoy,
\nwhile there are others whose work I wouldn’t mind avoiding for the
\nrest of my life. But I’ve developed enough of a palate to learn an
\nappreciation for a form of music that has – often unjustly – been
\nvilified.<\/p>\n
Jeff Lorber is a musician who has only cracked the top 40 once
\nin his long career, yet he has a name that always seems to ring a
\nbell with music lovers. His keyboard work is strong yet peaceful,
\nas his latest release
\nMidnight<\/i> shows – but this is an album that is best listened
\nto when broken up over several sessions. (In a way, that’s not a
\nrecommendation you want to make for an album that clocks in at just
\nunder 45 minutes.)<\/p>\n
There is no doubt that Lorber is excellent behind the keys,
\nallowing his flowing lines to often blend in with what the rest of
\nthe band (made up of a sizeable group of excellent musicians, whose
\nwork I know best as session players). Instead of turning the
\nkeyboards into the lead instrument, more often than not, Lorber
\nmakes the whole band the focal point, as on “Watching The Sun
\nSet”.<\/p>\n
And there are times that Lorber takes chances, such as his take
\non The Beatles’s classic “Dear Prudence”. It’s interesting to hear
\na jazz-rock version of this song, especially with fragmented lyrics
\n(vocals provided by Robin Dixon), and though it may be sacrilege to
\nthe diehard fans of the Fab Four, it is a refreshing spin on a
\ntrack from a rather dark album.<\/p>\n
If only the experiments with vocals were all like this. The
\nother two vocal tracks (provided by Chelsea) don’t always have the
\nsame kind of staying power, and end up seeming like breaks between
\nthe instrumentation of
\nMidnight<\/i>. “Never” is the best track out of the vocalized
\nbunch, but “I Ain’t Thinkin’ About You” is not up to the level one
\nwould expect after Lorber started the album off strongly with three
\npowerful instrumentals. (By the way, I’m not putting full blame on
\nChelsea’s vocals; the songs themselves aren’t structured as well as
\ntheir comrades, so it’s a disappointing effort all around on
\nthese.)<\/p>\n
Ironically, there are times where vocalization might have been
\nwelcomed; as good as Lorber and the other musicians are, by the
\ntime that “Perugia” and “Feelin’ It” kick in, the listener is ready
\nfor a break. (Yes, I know these songs are preceded by “Never” – a
\nvocal track.) While Lorber and crew do a decent job, at times it
\nfeels like
\nMidnight<\/i> is an album that is mentally taxing, especially for
\na listener who might not be familiar with this style of music. It’s
\none thing to challenge the listener; it’s another thing altogether
\nto tire them out before the last note can be played.<\/p>\n
\nMidnight<\/i> is still a good album with plenty of material to
\nrecommend it to anyone who enjoys this style of music. If you’re
\njust getting your feet wet regarding smooth jazz, this one isn’t
\nthe worst place you could start, but it might not be enough to make
\nyou want to discover more music in this vein.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[7350],"rating":[5612],"class_list":["post-38872","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-jeff-lorber","rating-rating-b-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38872\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38872"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38872"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}