Smooth Grooves: Smooth Jazz 3

If the purpose of the three volumes of Smooth Grooves: Smooth Jazz was to give a wide overview of the music, the good folks at Rhino Records got it partially right. Volume One and Volume Two represent a time when those pioneering radio programmers had to choose from whatever contemporary jazz musicians were putting out on the musicians' own terms. Volume Three touts what smooth jazz has become, a bland, corporate expanse of pop grooves topped by simple lines played without emotion. The main culprits are Spyro Gyra, Hiroshima, and Najee, all three of whom are represented in this collection. Smooth-jazz trivia buffs are more likely to have fun with the list of artists on this set than with the actual music. Included are the Jeff Lorber Fusion, the group that gave the world Kenny G; Caldera, the group that spawned the duo Strunz & Farah; and Roy Haynes's "Water Children," surely the bebop veteran's only tune to be considered smooth jazz. Without the brilliant David Sanborn-Marcus Miller collaboration "Let's Just Say Goodbye" and Billy Cobham's cover of "Take It to the Sky," Volume Three of Smooth Grooves is stale music just hanging there. --Mark Ruffin