Musicians don’t really become members of . It’s more like they serve time there. The institution is still run by its founder and principal architect, Russ Freeman, who recruited the likes of Kenny G, David Benoit and many other jazz namesakes for his genre-defining 1986 debut, “Moonlighting.” Love it or hate it, that album opened the halls of Smooth Jazz for business. And it was good business.
Fans of light, sax-soaked melodies embraced a steady stream of releases with an evolutionary players’ roster and a sedentary sound. As evidenced by the band’s second of two shows Friday night at the , not much has changed in about 25 years. And that’s not all bad. Russ Freeman and the most recent inmates delivered a safe but satisfying set of happy tracks that felt like evening walks on the beaches of Southern California, the Carribean and Mexico.
The band debuted some new tracks from an album still four months from being released and each was ultra-polished, extremely melodic, instantly accessible and delivered with very competent musicianship. It’s the Rippingtons way (still). Aside from a strong, slap-happy bass solo and flashes of Hendrix’s “Purple Haze” and “Fire” at the end of the show, the set had very little edge to it. And judging from the appreciative applause of the middle aged crowd in attendance, it was just what they came to hear.
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Alan Cox is the president/creative director of Cox Creative, a Highlands Ranch-based creative shop. He works too much, sleeps too little and spends every free moment coaching baseball, shooting images and hanging out with his rowdy sons and rowdier wife. Check out his photos .
