Music Banter - View Single Post - Anteater's Muzak 101: Legitimizing Smooth Jazz For The Unwashed Masses

Anteater · 02-24-2013, 04:09 PM

Special EFX - Party (2003)

ARTIST BACKGROUND
Special EFX is the brainchild of one Italian-American guitarist Chieli Minucci, who is also known for his various musical contributions to film and TV. The band has been releasing material since the early 80's, with nearly two dozen studio records under their belt as of 2013. They were nominated for Grammys quite often back in the day, but as contemporary jazz's popularity began to decline in the late 90's, those...stopped happening I suppose. Fun Fact: Minucci is the guy behind ALL of the music in Dora The Explorer!

THE ALBUM
Released two years after the death of Special EFX co-founder and percussionist George Jinda in 2001, Party also serves as the first album from the band in the wake of that loss. Minucci serves as the main songwriter and producer this time around, and he brought in some considerable sidemen to perfect the lineup (including David Mann on flute and sax!)

WHY YOU WANT THIS
One of the few smooth jazz records I've heard over the last ten years where clubby electronic elements are actually effectively used in conjunction with the typical guitar lite-fusion approach, Party is the group's top record of the 2000's, as well as being one of the best albums in their twenty-some year discography. Like most smooth jazz records, this is fairly straight ahead, groove oriented material -- its uniqueness comes from its sonic makeup. The keyboard programming on cuts like 'Dream Come True', 'Dusk Til' Dawn' and the swirling, beautiful 'No Money, No Honey' is a major cut above the norm for this genre, and everything sounds really clear and punchy in the mix department as well. The flute and electric guitar give the album a wider palette to work from than usual also, which would make it interesting even to those who don't normally dig this sort of background wizardry.

CLOSING REMARKS
Although nothing mindblowing in the composition or technicality department like some of the output of Pat Metheny or Ken Navarro is, Chieli Minucci is a talented guitarist and producer in his own right: the fact he could make a smooth jazz album as catchy and listenable as Party in the first place is quite an achievement in this musical subset, and it remains a nice slice of contemporary jazztronica even a decade later!

FINAL GRADE