Reflections

Peter White's warm and sunny acoustic string breezes have become a joyous constant in the smooth jazz genre over the years, with each release catching automatic melodic fire and heading up the popularity charts. This collection offers thoughtfully inventive Reflections on mostly soul-oriented standards, finding the guitarist paying homage to the pop angels of his formative years, and attractively so. While not really prompting us to forget the originals, White adds his distinctive rhythm and silk flair, along with a few stirring arrangements to give these songs new urgency. Paul Brown's production rings in vintage White elements, pushing complementary sax (by Boney James and Sam Riney) where needed, but also giving the guitarist some sweet intimate space ("How Deep Is Your Love"). All of this is very agreeable, but after a while you will start hungering for the magnificent and soulful drive time originals White gave us on his previous albums. Thankfully, the collection proved to be just a one-time creative pit stop. ~ Jonathan Widran|