Edgar Winter - Jazzin' The Blues (2004)

Tracklist

01. Jazzin' the Blues
02. Free Ride
03. God Did It
04. New Man
05. More Than Enough
06. Brother Luke
07. Hunk O'da Funk
08. Big Bad Bottom
09. Here's Z Guitars
10. Keys to the Kingdom
11. Frankenstein

This set of Edgar Winter's jazzy remakes of older tunes and some new ones is all over the place. With a cast that includes guitarists Robben Ford and Hiram Bullock, Steve Lukather, and Michael Hakes, and bassists like Will Lee, Mark Meadows, and Tom Lilly, as well as trumpeter Lee Thornburg, one gets exactly what one expects: a slick, groove-infested ride through Winter's past and present. Winter himself plays alto saxophone, keyboard and sings in places. He also acts as the album's producer, which is not a good thing. Other than the Hammond B3, the keyboards sound like bad 1980's sci-fi soundtrack-reject mixes, and the arrangements on some of the tunes border on the laughable -- particularly the remakes of "Free Ride (Smooth") -yes, as in a smooth jazz version, and "Frankenstein (Frankie Swing)" that must have been an afterthought because it feels so forced and false.

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