Yes, my son, it is true.
Once upon a time, a jazz artist could make popular albums without sacrificing sound and style. Tenor saxist John Klemmer, rumored to be sick, dead, or WORSE..turned into Kenny G…had a slew of albums like Touch, Barefoot Ballet and Arabesque that got respect from both fans and jazz critics. His soloing mixed dashes of Coltrane with a patented e cho, essentially defining the sound of what eventually devolved into the label of “smooth” jazz, but there was nothing slick about it.
Here, playing both tenor and soprano sax, he returns after a too-long absence, backed by an all star team of Harvey Mason/dr, Lennie Castro/perc, John Tropea/g, Abe Laborial/b and Ronnie Foster/key-p, all vets of the “real” jazz years of the 70s and 80s.
Klemmer creates an album like a suite, bookending with a tropical “Chateau Love” to open things and closing out with an impressionistic version .In between, Klemmer blows smoke rings on the synthy soul of “Love Divine” and teams with Tropea on the sensuous “Beautiful Words Part One” while his soprano uses space as a sound on “Something More Than You and I”. Darlene Koldenhoven brings dreamy voicals to “Islands In The Sun” and Foster floats with Klemmer on “Bliss Kiss” with some fine folk fingering from Tropea. All through, Mason and Castro create a percolating foundation, simmering like rice with butter in a pan. When’s he going to hit the road with these cats?I’m first in line!