Morning Tenderness by Najee (1998) - 8671

Amazon.com Jerome Najee Rasheed has used a combination of soprano and tenor saxophones, flute, keyboards, and more to become one of the success stories of smooth-jazz radio. Fittingly, his fifth major recording, Morning Tenderness, is a buttery-soft assortment of R&B-flavored lite jazz intended to meld quickly and easily into the ears. For fans of smooth jazz and its more urban-influenced predecessor, the Quiet Storm, you may be hard-pressed to find a more agreeable, easy-on-the-ears collection of soft soul and gentle saxophone than on this carefully crafted recording. Smooth-jazz artists typically focus on one of two themes, seduction or relaxation, and, as the title suggests, this 10-track collection serves as a soundtrack for slow Sunday mornings and breakfast-in-bed contentment--music for days when you're riding down Easy Street on cruise control. Najee's admiration for Stevie Wonder is evident in several tracks, particularly "Indian Summer" and the flute-based "Just for You." Seven of the album's tracks feature breathy background vocals as Najee strategically shuffles moods, instruments, and textures. "Room to Breathe," where Najee delivers huskier tones and more soulful playing, is the album's most attractive cut. --Terry Wood Product description Najee, Morning Tenderness, Contemporary Jazz, Contemporary Jazz with Vocals Review Beginning with his 1987 debut album and continuing through 1995's well-received tribute to Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life, Najee's R&B-flavored brand of smooth jazz has been a staple of the genre. It's captured the ears of an audience he fondly (and slyly) calls "the maturing hip-hop culture getting their first American Express Card." The soprano sax has become Najee's trademark, and his facility with its range and timbre in the service of smooth grooves and pop melodies has earned him a handful of gold albums and widespread status as the funkier brother of soprano-sax icon Kenny G. So it's no surprise that seven tunes on Najee's Verve Forecast debut, Morning Tenderness, feature him on soprano or that the album's cover shows him smiling and embracing that particular horn. But Najee's soprano work and his smooth-jazz status are just part of his artistic story. In fact, he found his first voice on tenor sax and flute. And for those who've cared to take notice, he's shown his bebop roots in various ways - a tour with Stanley Clarke, Larry Carlton, and Billy Cobham (which led to the recording Live at the Greek Theater); a recent traditional-jazz date with Quincy Jones; even the fact that he opens many a concert with John Coltrane's "Giant Steps." "I have always had an equal affinity for both bebop and contemporary jazz," Najee says, "and I have been very inspired by musician friends who also straddle both styles, like Stanley and Billy. I see no problem with finding avenues to express both sides and take fans of one style along for the duration." When Najee and his brother (and career-long co-producer) Fareed were at the New England Conservatory of Music in the late 1970s, Fareed urged him to try a duet with Najee on soprano and Fareed on guitar. "I picked it up and did the duet, and, slowly but surely, I realized the soprano was an effective way to communicate certain emotions I wasn't getting on the other instruments," he recalls. "In 1986, when it came time to do a demo for a solo project, it occurred to me that soprano was the voice of the day, the most popular choice to use with the kind of R&B-flavored songs I was working on. My earliest professional gigs ranged from big-band music to soul ensembles, and I thought blending soul music and jazz would be the best option." Taking into account the Wonder tribute and a several-year delay involving a label shift from EMI to Verve, Morning Tenderness is Najee's first project of original tunes in nearly five years. Despite a few tunes on which he plays tenor and flute, his focus is on the appealing attributes that launched and then sustain
ASIN: B00000DLUI
VSKU: GGV.B00000DLUI.LN
Condition: Like New
Author/Artist:Najee
Binding: Audio CD