Everette Harp - For The Love (2000)

As Everette Harp pondered the right approach to his fifth album for the Blue Note imprint, two competing adages played against each other in his mind: "Less is more" and "Don't mess with success." His previous efforts, from 1992's self-titled debut through 1998's Better Days, featured busy productions and an overload of stylistic diversity that found the saxophonist moving away from his sensual, funk center toward straightahead jazz. Those albums were huge hits and established Harp as a major force in smooth jazz. High ambition has always been Harp's trademark as an artist and performer, but on For the Love, he looked forward to the related challenges of eliminating pretensions and keeping things simple.

"I have to admit, I'm a bell-and-whistle kind of guy," Harp says. "I like to write good songs but also give them huge arrangements, a big and beautiful production. I've always looked upon each album as a learning experience, and for me, that used to mean trying to fill each song with every sonic idea that came to mind, scattering styles on the other songs once the radio tunes were recorded, and playing a lot of notes. But like George Duke has long told me, there is an art form to being simple and communicating honestly. The result, I believe, is my most focused project to date."

To help him find that crucial balance between simplicity and over-indulgence, Harp brought in veteran producer Steve Dubin to co-write - with Harp - and produce six of the album's 10 tracks. "Let's face it," Harp explains, "to succeed in smooth jazz, you need radio play, and Steve knows what makes a hit. He helped me get away from that experimentation, and use my horn to get straight to the point."

The Dubin-produced tracks hit the mark every time. The retro-funk opening track, "So Automatic," begins with Harp's alto cruising along over a basic, chunky hip-hop groove, with minimal synth and wah-wah guitar enhancement. Harp returns quickly to the catchy hook after each verse, enhancing the tune's emotion by doubling his horn, rather than by going crazy with improvisation, as he might have in the past. The only exotic production touch on "I Just Can't Let Go" is a simple, synth-generated vibes harmony that recurs at the beginning of each verse; the rest of the tune finds Harp playing a pretty, low-key melody over a clicking groove. Most of the soulful, Sanborn-like "Right Back Atcha" features Harp's increasingly aggressive sax over the moody, bluesy atmospheres created by keyboardist Ricky Peterson.

Two of the best tracks on For the Love are pretty much sax-and-guitar duets. "Dancin' With You" has a sensuous groove and a slightly bluesy keyboard harmony underneath Harp's snappy note-for-note duet with guitarist Doc Powell. The song points toward Harp's love for the blues, but he saves his best chops for the last track, a rollicking jam with Jeff Golub's crisp, electric guitar on a brassy cover of the Crusaders' classic "Put It Where You Want It." Harp drives away the usual slick polish here, opening the track with loose, call-and-response, guitar-sax pleasantries before allowing Golub to lead the melodic way. Then the saxman joins in and the two ride an explosive wave over a sizzling horn section. Along the way, the two take breaks from the main melody for some raw and fiery solo action.

For the Love represents a more organic approach to making music than Harp has ever taken. "I felt I had an obligation to be true to myself and find the right road," he says. "I had to ask myself, what is my true heart and soul? The answer was easy: strong melodies and keeping the sax front and center, with minimal distractions. So, there's less riffing, less eclecticism, and more real feeling here, for sure. I stepped back a bit and took a more laid back approach. That was a bit of a struggle at first, but I absolutely love the results." ~ Jonathan Widran