27 Jan
It's Not Whether You Win or Lose by Various Artists
- Written by Norm Breest
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Warner Brothers wanted to spotlight its ten Grammy Award nominees in the contemporary jazz and pop instrumental categories. So, it released a compilation CD called (It's Not Whether You Win or Lose,) It's How Cool You Sound Doing It. Too bad that usually only one nominee gets to be the winner in each category. It does feature Grammy winners guitarist Norman Brown and Pat Metheny Group, but it also features some other nominees that should have been winners as well. Saxophonist Boney James is featured in two tracks from his Grammy nominated CD Ride. Guitarist Larry Carlton has the title track from his nominated CD Deep Into It Saxophonist Kirk Whalum has two tracks, one from his Grammy nominated Pop Instrumental Album The Christmas Message and the other for his nominated Best Pop Instrumental Performance Playing with Fire from his release Unconditional. One other performance of note is Dave and Jeff Koz' version of the classic Blackbird, which many of you have heard on smooth jazz radio in an edit form. The song is from their release of lullabys for babies called Golden Slumbers: A Father's Lullaby. On this CD, they feature the original version that touches me more than the radio version. It touches me because of its simplistic approach to the song and the way the arrangement brings back memories of childhood that we somehow never lose. You will notice the difference. (It's Not Whether You Win or Lose,) It's How Cool You Sound Doing It is a great release where you get the best of the best. A must for any collection.
Additional Info
- Artist / Group Name: Various Artists
- CD Title: It's Not Whether You Win or Lose
- Genre: Contemporary Jazz / Modern
- Year Released: 2003
- Record Label: Warner Brothers
- Label Website: http://www.wbjazz.com
- Rating: Five Stars
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Contemporary Jazz - CD Reviews
