Late Night Sax [Rebound] (1995)

About this title: When people hear the term "smooth jazz," they usually think of the music heard on NAC stations. But the idea of jazz functioning as smooth, soft, romantic mood music isn't something new -- back in the swing era, Glenn Miller's "Moonlight Serenade" (1939) and Artie Shaw's 1940 recording of "Stardust" (just to give two examples) showed the world how pretty swing could be. The main focus of this 1996 compilation, which spans 1949-1992, is romantic saxophone playing. To its credit, Rebound spots a variety of saxmen -- everyone from Ben Webster on "My Funny Valentine" to Grover Washington, Jr. on ... read more

Tracks:

1. Midnight Samba [Bergner/Bochmann/Cr]
2. I Want You [Ross/Ware]
3. Just Friends [Lewis/Klenner]
4. Where Is the Love? [MacDonald/Salter]
5. Try a Little Tenderness [Campbell/Connelly]
6. Somewhere [Bernstein/Sondheim]
7. Almost Like Being in Love [Lerner/Loewe]
8. So Near, So Far [Crombie/Green]
9. Here's That Rainy Day [Burke/VanHeusen]
10. My Funny Valentine [Rodgers/Hart]
11. I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good) [Ellington/Webster]
12. Once in a While [Edwards/Green]

Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is further described below.