Jazz For Those Peaceful Moments CD

Jazz for Those Peaceful Moments, as released by Savoy Jazz in 2003, is basically an expanded version of the Peaceful Moments disc released by 32 Jazz in 1999. Instead of one disc, there are now two, which increases the total number of tracks from 11 to 17. The new tracks are drawn from the same source as those on the original release, the catalog of the Muse label from the '70s, '80s, and '90s. Jazz giants like James Moody, Sonny Stitt, Kenny Burrell, and Red Garland all contribute tracks and brush shoulders with jazz middleweights like Ricky Ford, Russell Gunn, and Cecil Brooks III. As the title suggests, the songs are relaxed and the mood is mellow. Although the songs date from well beyond jazz's peak years, the performances are uniformly solid and the disc is a nice low-priced collection of mood music. ~ Tim Sendra

Jazz for Those Peaceful Moments is a collection of relaxed standards and ballads performed mostly by musicians with hard bop and post-bop backgrounds, including Sonny Stitt, Red Garland, Ricky Ford, Woody Shaw, Michael Carvin, Russell Gunn, Donald Brown, Cecil Brooks III, and Darrell Grant. The songs don't necessarily hang together in a musically coherent way, but the performances are generally very good, and the collection does do a good job of setting the mood it aims to create. ~ Steve Huey

Live Recording