Jazzin' the Blues

AMG Review of Jazzin' the Blues

Thom Jurek
All Music Guide

This set of Edgar Winter's jazzy remakes of older tunes and some new ones is all over the place. With a cast that includes guitarists Robben Ford and Hiram Bullock, Steve Lukather, and Michael Hakes, and bassists like Will Lee, Mark Meadows, and Tom Lilly, as well as trumpeter Lee Thornburg, one gets exactly what one expects: a slick, groove-infested ride through Winter's past and present. Winter himself plays alto saxophone, keyboard and sings in places. He also acts as the album's producer, which is not a good thing. Other than the Hammond B3, the keyboards sound like bad 1980's sci-fi soundtrack-reject mixes, and the arrangements on some of the tunes border on the laughable -- particularly the remakes of "Free Ride (Smooth") -yes, as in a smooth jazz version, and "Frankenstein (Frankie Swing)" that must have been an afterthought because it feels so forced and false.