Rick Braun - All It Takes (2009)

Rick Braun has built his career as a contemporary trumpeter based on the basic concepts of predecessors like Herb Alpert, Chuck Mangione, and Tom Browne. Dependent on urban R&B beats, Braun can only marginally be called jazz, but does own an appeal to the smooth music crowd that this produced recording will only reinforce. Teamed with keyboardist and producer Philippe Saisse, Braun follows a path of least resistance in terms of the calculated nature of his music and the simplicity of his melodies. Saisse adds synthesized sounds for the most part alongside Braun's overdubbed flügelhorn and muted trumpet to create soundscapes made of clear plastic and reflecting some prismatic colors. There's not much to distinguish one track from another except slight midtempo changes and some Latin rhythms. "Christiane" uses the two-horn approach effectively in a fairly lyrical setting, "She's the One" is easy-beat funk with plain synths and percussion, "Sleeveless in Seattle" sports a retro sound with handclaps, and "I Got Your Back" offers assimilated horn backing in more substantive ways. On the salsa side, "Tijuana Dance?" is a romp-and-stomp funk with some elegant acoustic and electric guitar, while "Puerto Allegre Jam" is a Latin disco number. "Freddie Was Here" might be appropriate for a film score in a slowed late-night dramatic or perhaps romantic theme. Perhaps the most interesting music crops up during the heavier "Ever Changing World," with Braun's two horns stretching ever so slightly from his lyrically urbane sound. Fond of fluttery notes in introductions, Braun's self-absorbed, passive playing speaks to an urban crowd seeking predictable music, and in this regard he succeeds, remaining in the so-called pocket, not as syrupy as most, but sugary sweet like cotton candy. -- Michael G. Nastos