That signature Jazzmasters cruisin’ groove is back with Jazzmasters VI as the brains and soul behind it all, Paul 
Hardcastle, again works his studio magic to crank out his inimitable style, bringing along Becki Riggins and Maxine Hardcastle on vocals, son Paul Jr., Rock Hendrix, and “Snake” Davis, on saxes (with the latter showing skills on the shakuhatchi and flute, as well). Nope, no signature Helen Rogers vocals this time, and I do miss her, but the show goes on, and it is quite a show.
The sweet sway, the bounce, the swagger, are all present in their appropriate places throughout this production of top-tier Hardcastle tracks. It’s always hard not to enjoy a Hardcastle track, despite how much you may think you have heard a similar track by him before. It’s all so very hypnotic and hard to resist.
You might describe Hardcastle as a very exciting and pleasant anomaly. While his sound or music seldom, if ever, deviates, the attraction to it never wanes. Instead, it only grows. I submit that it’s because of the power of that sound. You simply never want it to end. You’re comfortable with it just flowing on and on infinitely. So, your mind and your soul hear it differently from track to track, from album to album. They enjoy that familiar melodically addictive caress.
Of course, there are always nuances and touches that add a certain newness to everything, but I personally don’t want new to a point where it’s no longer Hardcastle. Let’s just keep going with what works. After all, it is smooth jazz well-defined, thank you very much. Most of us have grown so accustomed to the Hardcastle sound that we wouldn’t know what to do with ourselves if he were to emerge out of character. Extreme experimentation can be a great thing, just not where Hardcastle and the Jazzmasters are concerned, in this writer’s mind. Keep the bloom on the rose. Let tunes like “One Chance” be “One Chance” and “Solar Sky” be “Solar Sky” (found on this new release), just as “Children of the Ghetto” and “How Long,” from previous Jazzmasters releases, were allowed to be their own personalities and thrive as such. The man has an unmistakable aura, an inexplicable mystique about him and his music that we so relish. Jazzmasters VI continues that tradition. – Ronald Jackson
