Jeff Saxon - Happy Traveling (2026)

Based in the Pacific North West, this is Jeff Saxon’s sixth album, continuing the style he calls ‘Blujanova’ and there are certainly elements of both jazz and blues in this all original album. Jeff handles all the vocals and plays acoustic, electric and slide guitar and ukelele (amongst his previous albums is one entitled The Ukelele Project); he also has a side career as a professional whistler and demonstrates that ability on one track too! A few tunes are solo efforts but for the most part, Jeff is backed by a variety of musicians in small combo settings: keyboard player Abramo Riti, drummers Brian Petry, Simon Whiting and Gary Usie, bassists Hugo Olmos Iglesias, Larry McGee and Ethan Sobota, clarinettist Andres Hayes, accordion player Jason Bergeron and resonator guitarist Bart Dietvors. However, there are several instances of uncredited instruments also, so more players may have been involved.

As a singer Jeff has a light, nasal delivery but his songs are often witty and he shows a wry sense of humour on songs like “The Oops I Wrote The Wrong Thing Blues”, the clarinet adding a 30’s jazz feel to the song. Fluid piano work is a strong feature of the opening track and Jeff’s advice that you should “Get It While You Got It on your side”. Piano and organ also feature on “Habit Worth Havin’”, a pleasant and upbeat tune while the title track encourages people to get out of their comfort zone and hit the road. Jeff advises us all to “find a way to command” and “Labour As Little As You Can” and emphasises that he aims to do something with his life in a tune entitled “Nothin’”: “I don’t do too much of nothin’, too much of nothin’ never leads to nothin’ good” is a great example of his wordplay.

“I Don’t Feel Easy” is a gentle solo track with just Jeff’s guitar and voice while “Satisfied” has ukelele and resonator on another laid-back cut which also includes his whistling. Next up are two full band tracks in which Jeff wittily says that “You’re Speakin’ My Language – not everyone does” and sounds more serious as he determines to “Worry No Mo’”. Clearly resentful of empty promises, Jeff warns against someone who is “just a professional faker, Mr Yeah, Yeah, Yeah”, a track that features his ukelele playing, as does the solo track “Someone Or Somethin’”. The album closes with the instrumental “A Little Feel_Good Latin Blues” that shows what a good guitar player Jeff is, everything else played by Gianluca Bonfanti Mele (keys, bass, drums and percussion) who also produced the track which provides a very pleasant conclusion to the album.