Late Into the Night

The multi-keyboardist makes no bones about the intention of this gently rhythmic new age project; its subtitle is "Music for Evening Relaxation." As such, its true value is not so much musical, though there are some pretty, gently jazzy, high-tone piano passages and airy synth-flute lines on tunes like the title track. It's more about ambience, atmosphere and, as redundancy sets in (four of the tunes are over nine minutes, the title track over 13), the effect is a bit numbing. It's hard to criticize, however, since Jones' sole ambition was to help take the tension out of life. It would be easy to say that the tunes grow boring after a few minutes, but if they get you to sleep, that may be a good thing. One can tell that his primary influence is the blues, although "Walking on Beale Street" and "Bobbie's Blues" only offer subtly rhythmic hints of the real thing. Jones' real gift is the way he combines piano with synthesized pan flutes and traditional blues instruments like double bass and acoustic guitar. The album will do well with insomniacs.