Various Artists: This is Smooth Jazz

Yet another stellar smoothie collection from Instinct Jazz brings you the silky sounds of Kirk Whalum, Gerald Albright, Brian Bromberg, and more. This is the music of smooth evenings with young ladies like the one on the cover of this disc, and, smooth fans, glass and babies' bottoms never had it so good.

A minor quibble, that does not detract from the velvet danceable sheen of this music: this collection comes with helpful profiles of each of the artists, but it doesn't identify the soloists. So who's playing the horn for Nite Flyte? You have to buy Nite Flyte's Ascension to find out, I suppose. But on the strength of the track here, you will probably want to, so I suppose nothing is lost.

This is the music that grew out of Miles Davis' jump to fusion. This is the spiritual successor of Weather Report and Spyro Gyra. This is music to dance to, enlivened by ever-smooth soloing. Dig it.

Track listing (artists): Dawn (Nite Flyte), Changes (Gota), Cascade (Soundscape UK), Hypnotique (Bill Sharpe), Hide & Seek (Count Basic), Tangled Web (Brian Tarquin), Dream Your Dream (Duncan Millar), Move a Little Closer (Shakatak), The Good, the Bad . . . (Martin Fuss), Solitaire (Chris Standring).