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Three
Brian Hughes products reviewed
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"Along
the Way"
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"Shakin'
Not Stirred"
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"Live"
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Brian
Hughes - Along The Way
A440
Music
The
Smooth Jazz genre in Canada has been a work in
progress for as long as I can remember. Back in
1986 coming up with enough Canadian content for
the radio format was as hard as digging a ditch
with a toothpick! Luckily, things have changed
thanks to world class musicians like Warren
Hill, Les
Sabler, Rik
Emmett and a guitarist who's been there since
the very beginning - Brian Hughes. In the nineties
Hughes' Pat Metheny/Wes
Montgomery inspired albums like "Between
Dusk and Dreaming" and "Under One Sky"
showed an artist still trying to find his own
identity. That early stuff, as catchy as it was
didn't quite have that "it" factor that
made his last few CD's easily grab the attention
they deserved. Fortunately, "Along the Way"
takes his musical ride a lot further with an appropriate
travel theme. After growing up in Edmonton the
guitarist moved to Toronto in the nineties and
finally settled in southern California last year.
So, this album is literally into a bigger city
feel. Hughes says, "In a way the new CD is
a kind of loosely knit collection of musical postcards
from my travels and the title serves as a metaphor
for my musical journey." The aural landscape
of "Endless Road" is moody in that thought
provoking, dreamy kind of way. It's a great example
of the continuously evolving musical terrain Hughes
seems to have grappled with, simply put; he can
grab your attention in half the time of most other
guitarists. "Omaha Unbound" is a stand
out for many reasons. Hughes says, "I really
wouldn't call it a ballad but it's almost country-esque,
it's very Americana and it's pretty much unlike
anything I've ever done before." It reminds
me of the intimacy that pianist Philip
Aaberg manages to pull out of a hat on every
recording. It also builds gradually, a good song
that climbs without a crazy crescendo, now that
I like! The title cut, the first single off the
album was the second most played Canadian Smooth
Jazz hit last year which satisfies Hughes though
he'd rather do without the genre tag. "I
wouldn't consider myself a Smooth Jazz artist
and I've been around doing what I'm doing before
that label was even thought up," says Hughes,
"Of course some of my music fits in that
category. I think what I do is kind of like Jazz
with a kind of pop world beat leaning to it or
melodic Jazz or whatever you want to call it."
Chris Botti
who we know as the former Music Director of the
TV's Caroline Rhea show and Stings trumpet player
adds a little color to the groovin' "Route
66." The new single "Wherever You Are"
features one of the most underrated sax players
in the genre, Eric
Marienthal. Hughes says it sticks to the albums
travel formula, "It's about being on the
road and missing the one you love... a love song
of sorts, as always for my wife Pamela."
It's in the category of heartening, memorable
driving songs and trust me you won't snooze to
this one. As with previous CD's Hughes has incorporated
a few toe tapping cheery Latin tunes that give
the album even more bite. Hughes thesis for music
could make you shiver with satisfaction and that's
what it did for me. - by John
Beaudin
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September
10, 2007 - When I first heard the amazing
fretwork from 
