This CD has been re-released. In the spirit of this being a Retrospectives review and in light of the fact that I have been living with the original verison for quite a while now, this is a review of the original version. To support the artist and the record company that has been willing to bring this CD back to life, I recommend buying the Native Language re-release. There are notes on the differences between the two at the end of this review.

Sometimes the timing just doesn't work in your favor. If this CD had been released in 1994, before the radio format shifted directions, it would have been a chart topping smash. If it came out this year, it just might be championed as a definitive example of what smooth jazz can be when an artist is gutsy enough to play outside the boundaries, but doesn't feel compelled to step into the "more progressive than thou" camp in the process. Expressive, fluid alto and tenor sax work that has not been stripped of dynamics and pop/rock tinged production with just enough edgy, innovative touches to keep it out of the safety zone. But what really sets this collection apart is the songwriting, and the way the structure of the songs is tailored to the way Snitzer plays sax. Snitzer has a knack for composing hooks that stop you cold and melodies that pull you further in. But wait. Rewind. This CD is new again. It has been re-released. Remixed and remastered with an additional track. The stigma attached to re-releases is that their relevance is attached to another point in time. If this was the first time around it would be heralded as a groundbreaking attempt at genre redefinition and a CD you could proudly point toward when yet another person said smooth jazz was nothing but unnoticeable lifestyle embellishment.

So lets play like it's new. After all it never did have its day in the sun. Snitzer's sax work on Bob James' hit "Restless" put him on everyone's radar. Timing was on his side for his first Warner Bros. solo release, Ties That Bind. Contemporary jazz stations were not afraid of attention grabbing music.  Local programmers could create their own playlists and create a grassroots buzz when they heard something stunning. "Promotional considerations" at radio were still almost unheard of and the label had the budget for high profile retail promotion campaigns. It caught on and generated a #1 song, "You've Changed." A lot did change by the time Eye of the Storm was released in 1996, but with a high profile from his work with Bob James and his previous hits, this one did get airplay, especially the Sanborn-ish "A River's Road" and the ballad "My Dream Come True."

By 1999 when this CD was originally released the window of opportunity for exposure in the radio format had turned to a keyhole and the key that opened it was based on lush R&B grooves that set a relaxing, seductive mood. Song didn't matter, songs drew too much attention to themselves. It was all about mood, with sweet soprano sax as the flavor of the day. Into this milieu, Snitzer threw a collection of alto and tenor fronted ear-grabbing goodies that had melody, hook, beat, passion, (gasp) edgy little riffs and (double gasp) electric guitar solos. Needless to say, radio passed in favor of more soundscapes. Released on a label that was on its last leg at the beginning of the smooth jazz sales decline, it had no chance at retail either. I was in radio at the time and had a promotional tie in and display set up with the local branch of a major retailer and neither the station nor the store ever saw or heard this CD. That's why I didn't discover it until last year when I heard one song on a Native Language records sampler and immediately bought the CD.

What a stunning surprise. Bob James' opening piano line and the chunky looped backbeat of "As I Was Before" had me hooked before the sax kicked in.  Then Snitzer comes in with this amazing melody that just cuts loose and soars. It's just one of the standout bright moments on the CD. The horn section that opens and underscores “Only With You,” sounds like Earth, Wind, and Fire updated, as is his exploration of the upper range of the tenor over ambient keyboards in the haunting “Losing Summer.”   "On Extended Wing" sounds like the precursor to the songs on Steve Cole's, "Spin" with its pop/rock production, and one of Chris Botti's brightest sounding solos. Chuck Loeb provided some tasty licks on several songs, but the guitar heroes on this CD are Paul Livant, Mitch Cooley, and Larry Saltzman, who play on most of the tracks but just wail on the rocker, "Against The Crowd."  "Testimony," a lilting ballad that is broken into fragments by a dissonant, distorted guitar/sax tradeoff, sounds like it came from the same intersection of beauty and noise as some of the songs on Cassandra Wilson's Thunderbird. Among all these gems, "Boundless" is my favorite song on the CD. Coming out of the beautiful, pensive "For Joel," it's a burst of body-shakin, toe tapping joy. These songs are so good. The melodies never take the cliched line of least resistance; they sound familiar and original at the same time. The title track is so peaceful it could send a Type A, ADD driven, control freak into a meditative space. (It should be 10 minutes longer! It would do some of us a lot of good)

I wish I had discovered this when it was released. I had a "jazz brunch" show on a rock leaning, Hot A/C station, so I didn't have the boundaries that radio folk with brunch shows on softer stations or jobs at fulltime Smooth Jazz relaxation stations had.  I could play songs that sounded like these. And I would have because this is a rarity; a CD that is 11 songs deep. If you are losing faith in a glut of CDs that sound too similar, too processed, and too safe, pick this one up. If you need a reminder of what smooth jazz sax can sound like in the hands of a master musician with songwriting skills, this is one you have to have.  Even though it was recorded over seven years ago it still sounds ahead of its time.

The 2006 version contains one unreleased song, "Passion Play," a radio friendly Loeb-Snitzer collaboration. Unfortunately to make room for that song "Against The Crowd" has been eliminated. It's one of my favorite songs, one of the rockers. Find it on one of the download sites and buy it. The breathtaking transition from "For Joel" into "Boundless" has been shifted too. "Joel" leads into "Testimony." These are minor issues now though, because if you are listening on an MP3 player or buying downloads and burning your own CD you can tweak with the sequence of the songs to your heart's content.

- Shannon West