kev rowland Guitarist Albare and keyboard player/programmer Phil Turcio are back with another album of smooth, melodic, laid-back jazz. It is perfect background music, something which allows the listener to drift away on gentle sounds knowing there is nothing here which is going to cause alarm. They have been writing and recording together for more than twenty years, when Phil first became a member of Albare’s band at the tender age of 18. They have an easy relaxed knowledge of each other, so either of them can happily take the lead and the other knows exactly how to follow. There is a cover on the album, a slowed down very smooth and R ‘n’ B take on “Desperado” which is interesting yet has removed much of the emotion which was there on the original.

I think for me that is possibly the issue with the album, it is very smooth, and it is as if the heart and soul of music has gone for a walk and forgotten to return. That it is very clever and that they are masters of their craft is never in doubt, but while I enjoyed the debut this one is just too relaxed and quiet for me.

kev rowland The collaboration between Albare and Phil Turcio started 27 years ago when Albert Dadon – aka Albare – was looking for a new pianist for his band. At the time, Phil had just turned 18. Albare recalls, “He was not even the youngest member of the band then; our drummer just turned 17.” “These guys sounded so good, it was a pleasure already to play with them.” Phil explains that he and Albare hear music in the same way, “Everything I throw at Albare comes back as if I would have played it myself.” Albare and Phil Turcio have now formed a new band with just the two of them, with Albare providing guitars and sitar, and Phil providing keyboards, piano and programming.

Each time I play this I think of George Benson, and the smooth jazz scene from the late Seventies. There is a strong relationship between the two musicians, with fluid soloing and harmonisation between the lead instruments, and the feeling is of two guys just relaxing and having fun with what they are doing. The stand out song is a cover, namely an emotional and delicate take on “Angie”, which almost deconstructs the original as it turns it into something very special indeed. It is a song I have always enjoyed, and I prefer this to the original, such is its power. Overall, this is a good album to wind down to at the end of the day, and although this isn’t my favourite form of jazz, they certainly do it well.