Year: 2005
Record Label: Narada Jazz
Style: Contemporary Jazz
Review: Jeff Golub played with Rod Stewart. He also played with Peter Wolf and was the guitarist in the Billy Squier band from 1980-1985. Jeff has broken out of the pop idiom and released another great smooth jazz record incorporating the blues, R&B and some pop rock as well.
Just like the song title, there has been ‘Evolution’ in Jeff’s playing. This track is a bluesy thing lasting three and a half minutes with most of it being Jeff, long gun slinger, sitting on the front porch, rocking chair, minus the great things in life. Another track ‘Cream and Sugar’ has a catchy chorus, it does sound familiar maybe that’s why it does catch you. There are a lot of funky grooves on this album and a tribute to his main influence, Wes Montgomery in a song called ‘On The Wes Side’ which he pulls off wonderfully almost like Montgomery would.
The album starts off with a thing called ‘Uptown Express’ which you can imagine yourself just boppin’ along, on the metro or sky train on a Thursday afternoon, on your way home from a hard day of work, listening to Jeff and his mates on the Discman.
This is Golub's 10th album that he has been involved outside the pop world. His debut from 1988 up until this one from 2005 bring us along on a journey, Jeff Golub is not a journeyman guitarist, he has received acclaim for all of his work, being in the top 20 on the Contemporary Jazz Album charts with his releases and having a NAC #1 and #2 singles. This album should make the charts; it is jazz, blues, R&B with a major splash of funkiness thrown in as well. For Jeff Golub and for us, these are ‘Simple Pleasures’.
Tracks: Uptown Express, On the Wes Side, Metro Cafe, Cream and Sugar, Silhouette, Take Me Home, Temptation, Evolution, Just for You, Have You Heard?, Simple Pleasures
Record Label Website: http://www.jeffgolub.com
Artist's Website: http://www.jeffgolub.com
Reviewed by:
Brenton Plourde
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