Featured Artist: Gail Jhonson

CD Title: Pearls

Year: 2008

Record Label: Nu Groove Records

Style: Smooth Jazz

Musicians:

Gail Jhonson (keyboards and piano), Nelson Braxton (bass, guitar), James Lloyd, Travil Milner (drums), E. Clark-Kent, Norman Brown (guitar)

Review:

Gail Jhonson creates a sweet moonlight path with sandbars of traipsing keyboards, dunes of rhythmic grooves and silky effects that light up the skylines of her latest release Pearls with radiating shimmers in a spectrum of delightful hues.  Jhonson makes her keyboards glitter like a mosaic of pixilated notes and slides with the ease of melted caramel as the melodies take flight to the heights of a condor enjoying the widespread freedom of the sky.

 From Jhonson’s advantage point, the horizon goes on forever.  Her melodies jiggle to the tempo of leaves being tickled by the wind, cascade across notes with the rush of water going down a falls, and shift chord dynamics to the changes in the foliage moving from one scenery to the next.  Her sonic landscapes are picturesque and bring the beauty of natural progressions to the foreground of her songs on Pearls.

There are so many perfect-as-they-are tracks on Pearls that it would not be a mistake to start off with any one of them.  The flashing pyramidal designs of “Sisters” have upbeat grooves seaming the harmonies as the sinuous lines of the title track are nu-smooth jazz worthy.  The romantic vapors of “Soleh” and “Moments of Love” bask in moonlight while the slow dance grooves of “Pacific Breeze” and “Silky Slide” are embedded with the dreaminess that epitomize an island setting.

“My Soldier” and “Feel Good Groove” have lustrous tones vibrating amicably and then pour into the soothing melting pot of “Miles Away” written by Travis Milner.  It is a lovely smooth jazz melody with breath-taking melodic hues and gorgeous harmonies.  Songs like “Feel Good Groove” and “Whisper Yours” are visions of beauty with pools of placid keyboards and luxurious caresses that produce an extremely tranquil mood.

Gail Jhonson’s latest effort Pearls is a stunner like a dress worn by a model on the red carpet that makes every woman wish she was wearing something so refined and makes every man imagine standing next to such lady who is a vision of splendor.  The harmonies are amicable resulting in gorgeous vibrating waves and the detailing is majestic making the songs beyond-belief-soothing.  You know it when music touches your sweet spot and Jhonson is so there with Pearls.

Tracks:

Pacific Breeze, My Soldier, Silky Slide, Moments of Love, Runnin’ Around, Feel Good Groove, Miles Away, Whisper Yours, Let’s Do This, Sisters, Pearls, Soleh

Record Label Website: http://www.thenugroove.com

Artist's Website: http://www.gailjhonson.com

Listen or Buy: www.amazon.com/Pearls-Gail-Jhonson/dp/B0016AK3DM/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&

Reviewed by: Susan Frances

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