The group Down to the Bone has always been in the forefront of breaking the smooth jazz mold. One of the group's signature personnel is saxophonist Paul "Shilts" Weimar, who is the group's longest running member. After working nine years with Down to the Bone, Shilts is breaking out with his own style of music in a solo project called HeadBoppin'. Not only has Shilts been playing sax with Down to the Bone for nine years, he has been playing sax since he was ten years old. He says, W …

The group Down to the Bone has always been in the forefront of breaking the smooth jazz mold. One of the group's signature personnel is saxophonist Paul "Shilts" Weimar, who is the group's longest running member. After working nine years with Down to the Bone, Shilts is breaking out with his own style of music in a solo project called HeadBoppin'. Not only has Shilts been playing sax with Down to the Bone for nine years, he has been playing sax since he was ten years old. He says, …

Nick Colionne has become a guitarist that is setting the pace in smooth jazz diversity. His style is all together different than many other guitarists, even though he respects the abilities of his mentors. He knows that in today's world of music where it's not only how you play, but the way you present yourself to the audience, you must project the best positive attitude you can to show the audience what you're made of. Not only does Colionne perform for audiences around the world, he also he …

Guitarist Grant Geissman, who played a classic solo on Chuck Mangione's Feel So Good, is standing up against smooth jazz radio programmers. He says they are just like people who want to colorize old movies. However, he says, "It's worse than that because it's saying 'we like this part of your movie, but we don't like this part, so we're going to chop that out and then we'll go back to the last half of your movie.' It's kind of like that what they are doing at radio because they're saying …

‘So Strong’ is a combination of things. The whole album is saying where I am and what’s going on in my life. That’s the Message - Jonathan Butler. JazzReview: Your new CD ‘So Strong’ is an amazing compilation of hope, inspiration, joy and romance. Jonathan Butler: Thank you. You said that so well. I love the way it came together. All I wanted to do was to play something that sounded good and which had this flavor be …