Artist: Eric Marienthal
Album: Got You Covered
Release Date: September 20, 2005
Label: Peak Records
Web: www.ericmarienthal.com
Rating: 3.8 out of 5 Stars
Eric Marienthal is a jazz saxophonist who was born in Sacramento, California, but raised in L.A. He started playing at a tender young age while still in grade school. When he was a sophomore in high school he was honored with a membership in the All-Southern California High School Jazz Ensemble. After high school Eric attended the prestigious Berklee School of Music where he majored in performance. He's an in-demand session player who has worked live and/or in the studio with the likes of Lee Ritenour, David Benoit, Gregg Karukas, Dave Grusin, Patti Austin and The Rippingtons, however his best known side gig has to be as a member of Chick Corea's Elektric Band, which he joined circa 1986. Quite an impressive resume indeed and although he's a talented and creative improviser on his saxophone, his solo efforts fall squarely in the "smooth crossover jazz" category. Mr. Marienthal has released a slew of "romantic dinner music" albums and Got You Covered is his latest effort on the Peak Records label.
I could easily use this review to slam the genre of crossover contemporary jazz, but I won't. Everyone knows Mr. Marienthal has the chops to do whatever the hell he wants and his reasons for creating smooth jazz albums are his alone. If you want to hear the technical brilliance of Eric Marienthal, check out Chick Corea's latest To The Stars. If you want to hear something with a bit more melody that's more from the heart than the head, Got You Covered is the Eric Marienthal you want to hear.
The album is a collection of cover tunes and was recorded live in the studio over the course of four days with help from stars like Russell Ferrante, Peter Erskine, Luis Conte, Chick Corea and Russ Freeman all contributing. Eric has wanted to record an album live for a while in order to capture the spontaneity that only a live recording can provide. Honestly, I would have never known this was recorded live if I had not read it. The production is so crisp and clean and the playing is so dead-on perfect that there is no way to tell it was all done live.
The song picks cover the gambit from pop tunes like Billy Joel's "New York State Of Mind", The Bee Gees "Emotion" and Carol King's "You've Got A Friend" to standards like "I've Got The World On A String" and "Moody's Mood For Love" to Latin flavor like the Gipsy Kings' "Love & Liberte" and even a classical retooling as on his rendition of Johann Sebastian Bach's "Two Part Intervention #4 In D Minor". An eclectic selection to be sure, but Marienthal keeps it all smooth and soulful with just enough improvisational excellence to keep even the purists tuned in without making a Kenny G joke.
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