Search - Jason Miles :: To Grover, With Love

Excellent perfomances.

gizgoogmai | London, England UK | 10/02/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Jason Miles showed his appreciation for the highly respected saxophonist Grover Washington with an excellent CD titled To Grover, With Love in 2001.

That album is not your ordinary tribute CD filled with mere exercises in nostalgia, but one filled with cutting-edge, contemporary performances by flutist Herbie Mann, vocalist Regina Belle, saxman Steve Cole and guitarist Russ Freeman, among others.

Check the fantastic track "Just The Two of Us", a version that all critics consider superior to the original.

The second volume of Jason's tribute to Grover Washington Jr. focuses on some less familiar Grover tunes.

"Summer Nights" captures the spirit of the man's sax playing perfectly.

"Reed Seed" is a fine slice of laid-back Fusion, whilst Oliver Nelson's "Stolen Moments" is given a smooth yet jazzy working with Jason on Hammond organ.

Maysa adds her distinctive vocals to a beautiful slow rendition of "Mr Magic".

Equally stunning is the cover of "Moonstreams".

Jason Miles' arrangements are tasteful and reverential staying true to the album's concept.

Guest players include Jay Beckenstein, Kim Waters and the excellent Andy Snitzer.

"To Grover, With Love" and "2 Grover, with Love" clearly rank among Miles' best tributes that include his phenomenal hits that showcased the music of Wayne Shorter and Joe Zawinul on "The Music of Weather Report" and Ivan Lins' compositions on "A Love Affair: The Music of Ivan Lins".



Celebrating the Music of Weather Report

A Love Affair: The Music of Ivan Lins

To Grover, With Love"

Perfection with Great Feeling for Grover

Baxter Churchill | Marina Del Rey,Cas | 10/12/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have many CDs by Jason Miles.There is excellent music on everyone. From A Love Affair The Music of Ivan Lins,To Grover With Love, Soul Summit and his excellent collaboration with DJ Logic Global Noize(I just saw them live-amazing!!).His CDs are always fresh and innovative. This is a great follow up to his last tribute to Grover 8 years ago. He took a different direction and recorded most of this live in the studio with great musicians like Chuck Loeb,Gerald Veasley Buddy Williams and Ralph Macdonald (he wrote and produced some of Grovers biggest hits) This music brings you back to the great days of CTI records and true contemporary jazz before it got watered down by SJ radio.

The performances by Najee ,Andy Snitzer,Kim Waters and new comer Dominick Faranacci fit in perfectly with the songs and arrangement.The choice of material is inspired as it gives us less known Grover songs but with great depth in the songs and Miles's arrangements. His keyboard work on this is also inspired and nicely ties all the songs together.Check out Moonstreams,very trippy but very focused.

This is a great CD that deserves to do well and why Jason Miles isn't more well known is a mystery to me.He is a true master.Many artists and musicians know this and have for awhile..It's time for the general public to know this as well."