City Sketches 1: Welcome to Games

AMG Review of City Sketches 1: Welcome to Games

Jonathan Widran
All Music Guide

In the early '90s, Bob Baldwin made an intense splash -- artistically if not commercially -- with two funk crazed party discs on Atlantic which were probably a bit too bass heavy and raucous for wherever radio's mind was in those days. Soon afterwards, the keyboardist fell off the major-label radar, leaving behind loads of unrealized potential. City Sketches 1: Welcome to the Games, his long awaited comeback on his own Are-Gee-Bee Music recorded as a tribute to 1996's Atlanta Olympics, is a bit toned down rhythmically from the old days (leaving the field wide open for an airplay track here or there), but bounces as happily along as its predecessors in most spots. Strip away the synthesized horns and electronic beats, and you'll find a solid jazz-based piano delivery. He also keeps the production more acoustic than in the past so as to focus on a simpler, more organic style.