Noche de Pasion

Smooth jazz has often been the whipping boy of the jazz press, and in many cases — not all, but many — the whippings are completely justified. It's true that some of the critics who cover jazz are rigid, dogmatic, bop snobs who are stuck in the ‘50s and wouldn't know Eddie Harris from Eddie Vedder or Pat Metheny from Pat Travers; that said, one needn't be a jazz purist or a bop snob to realize that today's smooth jazz/NAC stations have incredibly low standards—and that a lot of 21st century smooth jazz doesn't hold a candle to the meatier, more substantial grooves that Grover Washington, Jr., David Sanborn, Lonnie Liston Smith, the Crusaders, Gato Barbieri, and Ronnie Laws provided in the ‘70s. A lot of today's smooth jazz is simply terrible, but this smooth jazz CD isn't terrible — only inconsequential and erratic. Actually, some of the tracks that producer/composer Alan Hewitt wrote for Noche de Pasion are fairly likable. The mildly funky "Viva la Noche" has a bit of a nuevo flamenco flavor, while the title track offers a sexy, alluring melody that is somewhere between Wham!'s "Careless Whisper" and Barbieri's more commercial offerings. And guest Jonathan Butler's George Benson-ish contributions to "Sweet Thing" are also noteworthy. Unfortunately, this 2004 release also has its share of weak, forgettable tracks; quite often, Hewitt is more than happy to emulate the Kenny G/Dave Koz/Najee crowd and give us saccharine, faceless elevator music. Again, Noche de Pasion isn't a total meltdown — there are some decent tracks here and there — but Hewitt, like so many of the folks playing smooth jazz, is capable of much more.