by Paul Wilson
When I saw this CD, I smiled. Kenny Carr is familiar to me as I have several of his works already. Like many contemporary jazz artists, his music is best not pigeonholed into one genre. While it is technically a work of smooth jazz, he adds doses of blues, funk, fusion and maybe even a small hint of rock throughout. Carr is a classically trained guitarist who has become comfortable in the contemporary jazz genre. A graduate of the Berklee College of Music and a resident of NYC, Carr has worked on both coasts and once traveled with the legendary Ray Charles for ten years. He has released a total of nine albums on his own label. Several of the songs for this release were written over 25 years ago, hence the album name and representative of his youth. Musically, Carr wrote and arranged each of the nine tracks, all done in a jazz, funk, fusion style, and even plays multiple instruments. Put simply – great jazz, great music.