Aug. 13, 2011

Rick Braun Sings With Strings.  Wow. Talk about new roads. This acoustic, straight-ahead, vocal-focused journey of jazz/pop tunes from the smooth jazz trumpet master, who teamed with producer/arranger/keyboardist Philippe Saisse for this project, will surely catch many of his followers by surprise, but most may find it a pleasant surprise.
 
We often ask for new twists, diversity, that something that makes us take more notice. Well, Braun couldn’t have done a better job of combining the elements of newness in his style to present all of that. This collection of covers of mellow, expressive, and all-around curiously intriguing tunes, both familiar and not-so-familiar–shows Braun in a new light, with strings, soothing, bluesy, traditional jazz trumpet, and with an emphasis on clear jazz vocals reminiscent—at least in terms of style—of Frank Sinatra, Mel Torme, and even Harry Connick, Jr.  Rick Braun?? Yeah, that’s different, and it’s the reason we chose to place this one in our Slight Detour section, though, for Braun, it’s more than a slight detour.

This is truly a new way of looking at and listening to this artist who usually travels the familiar path of smooth jazz as we have come to know it. For some, the project may require some adjustment; for others, it just opens another door, another dimension to the man who has contributed so much for so long to smooth jazz. Time for a change?  If so, it’s here in this interesting production. – Ronald Jackson