Dig deeper into Grover Washington Jr. – who died 20 years ago today – and you’ll see why he retains the title of Mister Magic for us.

There’s no better way to demonstrate that Grover Washington, Jr. truly lives on than with some spirited, well-executed and earnest live performances heard on Jason Miles’ ‘To Grover With Love, Live In Japan’.

If the idea of smooth jazz makes you cringe, we’ve got some great news for you: It ain’t all bad.

The name “Grant Geissman” comes up and my mind’s radio instantly tunes to Chuck Mangione’s 1978 hit “Feels So Good,” the highlight of which is Geissman’s flashy guitar solo You May Also Like: Jason Miles – To Grover With Love, Live In Japan (2016) David Garfield, “Sir Charles” from ‘Stretchin’Read More

A look at five jazz albums with grooves in the pocket – even if they weren’t much in the press.

by Mark Saleski I’m not one to quote Wikipedia, but this time around it makes perfect sense: “Smooth jazz is a sub-genre of jazz which is heavily influenced by R&B, funk, rock, and pop music styles (separately, or, in any combination).” This is an interesting definition because it highlights theRead More

by Nick DeRiso Was grooving to a 2002 reissue of the titanic groovefest ‘Power of Soul’ tonight, and got to thinking about Idris Muhammad – a funk and jazz drummer of the first order, born in New Orleans as Leo Morris. He started out, of course, playing in soul bands,Read More

This time we look at albums with grooves in the pocket even if they weren’t much in the press: 1) Herbie Hancock, Mr. Hands (1980)The seventies began very creatively for HH, first with the space funk Mwandishi albums followed by the better-known Head Hunters period that firmly eastablished Herbie’s pre-eminanceRead More