Charley Langer

Light a candle, get yourself comfortable, and let your heart and mind be moved by one of the most refreshing smooth jazz artists in recent time. Although he affectionately refers to his Charley Langerdebut full length independent recording, Never The Same, as "an art project," there's no doubt about the Northern California based saxophonist's mainstream potential and ability to connect with contemporary jazz fans around the world. Charley incorporates everything from smooth contemporary jazz to rock/fusion, old school soul/jazz, Latin, and straight ahead/swing. The result is best described as intelligent smooth jazz -- think Phil Woods meets Boney James. The title track everyone is hearing on The Weather Channel and smooth jazz radio is great, but just scratches the surface of Langer's many musical muses. Let's hope he does another "little art project" soon. All contemporary jazz albums should be this exciting.