I love the fact that many artists are releasing singles early to promote soon to be released albums. This week we have two really good early releases from smooth jazz superstars to play for you from albums that will be released later in August. The first is from pianist David Benoit. Our closing classic among classics segment last week featured early work from David Benoit on GRP records. While many artists contributed to what was known at the time as contemporary jazz developing into smooth jazz, some feel this work marked the start of this format. Still continuing many years of his remarkable success, David Benoit’s exciting new album is titled David Benoit And Friends and our first listen is titled Dave G. This song is a tribute to his good friend Dave Grusin that signed him to his first contract with GRP Records. Together they helped forge the start of the smooth jazz format.
Our second early release this week is from one of my favorite artists, trumpeter Rick Braun. I use a portion of his terrific song Another Kind Of Blue to open all my shows. His new album is titled Crossroads and I will play the title track.
Other new releases to be played this week are from Althea Rene, Cindy Bradley, Julian Vaughn, Pieces Of A Dream, Paolo Rustichelli, Brendan Rothwell, and Grace Kelly.
In the middle of the first hour, I will play Billboard's top three songs in smooth jazz for this week. There is a new number one this week.
The second hour is devoted to smooth jazz classics. The closing classic among classics segment will be a double listen to a collaboration between pianist David Benoit and guitarist Russ Freeman, founder of The Rippingtons.
Next week will be the two year anniversary of this show. Information that I have learned through research for past shows has become a large stockpile of knowledge on smooth jazz. All shows are still available 24/7 online at KKRN.org. To follow the lead of many artists that are releasing remixes of their past work, I will mark this occasion with special shows the next two weeks, a remix of my favorite highlights over the past two years. During those two weeks, in the later part of the show, I will continue to bring you Billboard’s top three songs in smooth jazz for the week plus a few selected new releases. Be sure to join me for a look at Smooth Side Of Jazz’s best moments.
Thank you for your continuing support of this program and KKRN.
