• Band / Artist : Lance Koonah
• Genre : Jazz
• Sample Track Download : N/A
• Buy CD : CD Baby
• Buy Digital Download : iTunes
• Rating : 7.5 out of 10

Kenny G in one fail swoop, probably turned a multitude of people, including myself off saxophone music of any kind, so it was interesting to get this album in, to sort of reacquaint myself and see if it that was still the case. Fortunately, with all quality music, the music itself prevails and I actually found myself enjoying this album a lot.

The album opens with “Smooth Imitation”, which at once had my back up. Not because of the saxophone, but the awful drum track. It’s just so reminded me of some awful drums laid down in sequencing software. It also brought to mind all the things I hated about Kenny G. The title track has a more more mellow and polished sound. Things get even more mellow with “Days of Inspiration” and again that picture painting in my head starts and I can just picture dancing with my Wife, with the lights down low and candles burning everywhere. “Jivin‘ with JC” has that more authentic jazz feel to it, rather than the more modern interpretation on the rest of this album. “Until the Moment” also has this more traditional feel to it and just reeks of atmosphere. Unfortunately “Smooth Walkin‘” spoils it a bit for me, sorry that picture painting again, paints a scene of an elderly gentleman at the organ bashing out something for the ladies.

“And Goodnight” finishes the album off nicely, without a drum in earshot and it’s only then that I fully appreciated just how good a saxophonist Lance is. I’m certainly not a jazz aficionado by any means, but I do posses a few albums by some of the greats like Theolonius Monk, John Coltrane and Dave Brubeck to name a few, so I know what I like and this is certainly a good addition to my collection.

Conclusion : A relatively short album, but a pleasant change. I’d love to hear Lance do some standard covers, just to showcase his playing in a more familiar arena, but there’s no denying this is one talented jazz musician.