Smooth Grooves: Smooth Jazz, Vol. 3 (2000)

About this title: A nice collection of low-key jazz, with a strong fusion component to the proceedings. Cuts have been drawn from the '70s through the '90s, with a strong leaning toward the 1981-1985 period when this kind of relax-o-fusion was really starting to gain a foothold. The artist selection here includes stalwarts such as Spyro Gyra, Najee, Hiroshima, and David Sanborn, but the producers have been canny enough to include interesting cuts from Roy Haynes, the Jeff Lorber Fusion, Dexter Wansel, and John Klemmer. Some will find the resulting compilation to be a bit too soft, certainly; others will find ... read more

Tracks:

1. Freetime [Schuman/Konikoff]
2. Tokyo Blue [Nicolazzo]
3. Give It All You Got [Mangione]
4. Wizard Island [Lorber]
5. Water Children [Nash]
6. One Wish [Kuramoto]
7. Out of the Blue [Strunz/DelBarrio]
8. Take It to the Sky [White/Glenn/Dunn]
9. Let's Just Say Goodbye [Sanborn]
10. Theme from the Planets [Wansel]
11. Now You Know [Erskine]
12. Rain Dancer [Klemmer]

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