The Best Smooth Jazz...Ever! [2 CD Blue Note]

This incredibly light, fun, and surprisingly hip two-CD collection from uses the term " " in an unexpected way. Rather than referring to the genre, "smooth" refers to the temperament and feel of these sometimes funky/sometimes poppy tracks that are selected from six decades of . , , and a couple other names could be filed in the section, but , and are too classic for that, and it's easy to imagine the legions of funky fans recoiling in horror over the title's insinuation. In actuality the disc is a whole lot of fun. Most of it is very hip fun and very little of it is wallpaper. The cuts are obvious choices, but the inclusion of 's smoky version of 's is a very pleasant surprise and having such divergent sounds as and ' in the same collection is crafty cool. Perhaps Sauve Jazz would be a better title for this pleasing collection of refined and relaxing tunes. ~ David Jeffries