His most radio friendly release ever!
Canadian hornmeister Gabriel Mark Hasselbach has outdone himself.
He chose 19 tracks from his repertoire, including 9 Billboard hits, plus other new and overlooked funky-smooth tunes. But there’s more, because most of these tracks are collaborations with other artists. Gabriel opens with ‘King James’, which features saxophonist Rock Hendricks, a real funky duet. After that, you can enjoy his new single ‘Way After 8’, a tune written with George Benson, and performed here with the late guitarist Ronny Jordan. I really dig it! Another guitarist joins the cast on ‘It’s Real’, and that’s Rob Tardik. This sounds so smooth.
‘Kissed By the Sun’ is a older track, but stays beautiful, while veteran Jeff Lorber can be heard on ‘Kindness’. Rock Hendricks comes back for the up-tempo ‘Shake it Down’, while ‘Lovelight’ is destined for romantic moments. Cool fusion reigns on ‘Mulberry Street’, again with Jeff Lorber, followed by ‘Cool Down’, again with Rock Hendricks. Veteran guitarist & producer Paul Brown joins Gabriel on the slightly funky ‘Equate Her’, while sax man Warren Hill is present on the slightly hip hop sounds of ‘East Coast’. Paul Brown comes back for the island sounds of ‘Peace Song’, and multi-instrumentalist Adam Rohrlick can be heard on the very relaxed ‘Count Me In’.
After that, Gabriel choses to go ‘Rockin’ the Ribjoint’ in a funky way, while keyboardist Greg Manning adds his flavor to the driving ‘Propulsion’. Another keyboardist, Bob Baldwin, teams up with Gabriel for ‘Charmed Life’, followed by saxophonist Walle Larsson, who was invited for the funky ‘Lock It Up’. Things calm down for the lovely, smooth ‘Ready When You Are’, and the album closes with the fusion infused ‘Starpixie’, for which Jeff Lorber is well known. If this album doesn’t makes it into the radio charts, then I don’t know it anymore. Gabriel proves here that he can handle everything, and it’s easy to see why he can stand next to Rick Braun, Chris Botti, Cindy Bradley. I’m very pleased to be a part of his musical friends. This album is not only gold for the radio but also for your personal collection!
Patrick Van de Wiele
Smoothjazz.eu
http://www.smoothjazz.eu/index4.php
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More:
"Gabriel Mark Hasselbach's "RADIO GOLD" is My NEW Favorite Album ..... Words I use to describe: Tasty, Groovin', Head bobbin',
Sweet, In the Pocket, Smoooooooth, and of course excellent horn tones. Need I say more? Enjoy".......
Rick Forte - Music Correspondent for WLOQ, IHeart, etc / Musician / Fan
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“Brilliant! Very well done my dear friend! You’re playing great and the production is
top notch! We’ve both come a long way from [our days in] Nitro!”
Steve Sykes, Rupert House Studios engineer/producer
~clients include Dave Koz, Al Jarreau, Rippingtons, Diane Schuur, Mindi Abair, Paul Taylor, Lalah Hathaway, etc
