As one who has been in the music business for longer than I’d like to admit, it’s always with a suspicious eye and ear when I get a new CD, especially, when it contains some of my favorite titles. On Jammin' Outside The Box (Creatchy Records), David Garfield has assembled an all-star cast of musicians. Names, like Kirk Whalum, George Benson, Marcus Miller, David Sanborn, Ray Parker Jr. and others definitely reassured me that the instrumentation would be worth my time. Then to see vocalists like Michael McDonald, Smokey Robinson, Phil Perry and Oleta Adams, I knew I’d be in for some good singing. When I saw titles like “Stay”(Rufus/Chaka Khan), “Loving You” (Minnie Ripperton), “Jammin’” (Bob Marley) and “Rock Steady” (Aretha) I had to zone in on them first. Obviously, voices like Minnie, Aretha & Chaka are hard to reproduce so I would be unfair using them as the measuring stick. So with an open mind I began to listen and I was pleasantly surprised I enjoyed this 14 track disc. He added some Latin flavor to Bobby Caldwell’s classic “What You Won’t Do For Love”, the renditions of the Stevie Wonder’s “Go Home” opens up the set and I began ‘Jammin’ Outside the Box. Keep your ears open because you’ll hear David Garfield on Atlanta’s Jazz Station 91.9 WCLK
David Linton is WCLK Program Director