Chuck Loeb - When I'm With You (2005)

Loeb’s CD, When I’m with You, is his seventh recording as a leader on Shanachie Entertainment, and it confirms what his fans intuitively understand about the New York-based guitarist: that stellar musicianship, engaging tunes and a variety of imaginative arrangements still trump flash and hype. Arriving on the heels of his bold genre-bending collection eBop, released in 2002, and last year’s all-star take on popular TV show themes which he masterminded, Jazz for Couch Potatoes, the new disc is a triumphant return for Loeb, who continues to prove why he is among the best in jazz.

For When I’m with You Loeb decided to slow down his creative process some and let his ideas for the project fully germinate. "I went for a spell without writing any new songs after eBop, and then I was out on tour playing for several months," recalls Loeb. "In the hotel rooms, when I was practicing, a lot of new riffs and melodies started bubbling to the surface, though, and with all these new musical ideas came a desire to give recognition to some of the individuals who’d been big factors in my life and career. As a result, there are a lot of song dedications on When I’m with You, to people like Jim Hall, Stan Getz and Ray Charles, plus my wife and two daughters, of course." The title-track is a song that Loeb says "is a message to the people who listen to my music that’s indicative of how I feel to be a musician visiting and playing in someone else’s world."