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The very best jazz guitarist in history changed up his music late in life and is credited by many with the development of smooth jazz. Check it out in our classic among classics segment

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My most rewarding moment doing this show has to be the stupendous Sarah McKenzie interview. Her answers to my questions and information provided were unparalleled. If you missed it, I urge you to check it out in our archives. That was Program 87 broadcast April 20th. I have now in past programs played all the songs from this very talented artist’s brand new album Secrets Of My Heart. Yet I am not ready quite yet to move on for one more week.  I will open the music for this show with two of my favorite songs from this new album. In future weeks I will continue to open the second hour of this show with songs not yet played from her previous four albums.

We have a brand new release to play for you this week. Composer and guitarist Craig Sharmat released Noveau  on May 16th. He composes music for television and film and he is an accomplished guitarist whose work has been a part of the smooth jazz charts since 2009. He has scored a wide variety of reality shows, animation, television commercials, and documentary movies. He has also played guitar on thousands of  recordings of others. Our first listen from Noveau has an interesting title. Are you ready to do what this title suggests? Get Your Dijango On.

Another recent new release on April 19th is from saxophonist and composer Walter Beasley. He is a graduate and professor of music at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston and has been releasing great music since 1987. His new album is Going Home.

I have more new releases from Elan Trotman, The Rippingtons, Lebron, and Seth MacFarlane.


In the middle of the first hour I will play Billboard's top three songs in smooth jazz.


The second hour is devoted to the classics from this format.


Our closing classic among classics segment is very special. It will not get any more classic than the double listen I have for you for this show. While there was no smooth jazz back in the period from 1964 to 1968, Wes Montgomery was crucially important to smooth jazz development. Montgomery played pure jazz guitar in the 50’s and early 60’s and is regarded as the best jazz guitarist ever. He had a special technique that resulted in a distinctive sound many have tried to copy but none have duplicated. In the period from 1964 to 1968 much to everyone’s surprise, he abandoned pure jazz for pop jazz. He recorded popular songs of the period with his own orchestral arrangements such as the Beatles songs Yesterday and Eleanor Rigby both written by John Lennon. Pure jazz enthusiasts hated this transformation since they were no longer seeing new work from one of the very best jazz musicians. Yet his new music was for most much easier listening.It brought to him great commercial success and a much wider audience. Sadly Wes Montgomery passed away in 1968 at the young age of 45 of a heart attack. Yet the table was set. His influence on later jazz and smooth jazz artists continues to this day. I will play the Wes Montgomery version of a Johnny Mandel song written for the 1965 Movie The Sandpiper. It is from Montgomery’s album Bumpin’ and is The Shadow Of Your Smile. Second up will be a song written by Bart Howard and performed by every major music artist of the day. This will be the Wes Montgomery version from his classic album Road Song of Fly Me To The Moon. Enjoy these classics among classics and join us again next week for the very latest and classic old in smooth jazz.


Thank you for your continuing support of KKRN.

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