Customer Reviews

After 8

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

It's 13 years since his first album, and almost inevitably Ronny Jordan is trying to move his style forward and "After 8" is certainly a change of direction, and in many ways his most sparse album to date. Many of the tracks have only a combination of Dario Boente ( who does the majority of the programming and some keyboards across the album) and Gene Lake or Abe Fogel on drums,with the addition of one other instrument. When this combination has strong themes or melodies to work with it comes together well ("7th Heaven" and 'Steppin Out"), but a couple of the tracks lose direction and needed more editing ("Going Uptown" for example). The very best tracks are those where there's a little more in the mix. My favourites are "Lighthouse" and his version of Johnny Mercer's "I remember you", which Jordan dedicates to his late parents. It's probably an indication that Jordan has mellowed in the intervening years, and whilst he starts to move in innovative directions this is an album that charts the ways that he's likely to be moving in when he produces the next album.

Ronny Jordan his first 2 albums, "The Antidote" and "The Quiet Revolution" launched his career. He was called the new George Benson. Every track of these 2 albums was really great. I bought all his albums since then, but his later albums were never as good as those first 2. I admire that he tries all different kind of styles. On this album he tries evening background music. The tracks often start strong, but than it does not build, it becomes a lullaby. Boring, and I almost never play it.

Seems to be a lot of negative vibes for our london boy's latest release , i will admit "Brighter days" is surely gonna be hard to beat , but true jordan fans should seek this out for the satisfying if simple "say no more" "search to find" and "steppin out".For the killer track (and ronny always has a killer track) check the opening title track co-written with the son of the one and only George Benson.I know collectors that will buy the album for the title track alone.

For those who are familiar with Ronny Jordan's style of play this CD should come to no surprise. Initially Ronny gained International Recognition for his contribution's to the Acid Jazz movement in the early 90's. He has since disbanded from the Acid Jazz genre of music and is now doing in my opinion what he does best and that make smooth guitar ballads and tunes to ride to. This album is perfect to listen to with a nice babe, a meal and a glass of wine. I share the same sentiments of a previous review. I believe this album is cool but in comparison to "A Brighter Day" which in my humble opinion was his best album it falls short. "After 8" has some diversity. The highlights of the album are "Bahia Magic" which kind of took me back to the track "Rio" from "A Brighter Day", the title track and "7th Heaven" are just smooth cuts to ride to, and surprise for me was when he covered the jazz standard "I Remember You". You don't find Ronny Jordan typically covering jazz standards often. He covered Wes Montgomery's "Mr. Walker" on his release "The Quiet Revolution" and Grant Green's "Mambo Inn" on "A Brighter Day" and who could forget his interpretation of the Miles Davis classic "So What" from "The Antidote". I can appreciate an artists which knows there comfort zone. In my opinion when artists get to creative and try to reinvent at times that's when I stop listening. If your a Ronny Jordan fan it's a good CD to own but, if you expect a funky album like "The Antidote", "Off the Record" this is not the CD for you.

Peace,

First off, Ronny Jordan is a great guitarist. Compared to George Benson and Wes Montgomery, he does sound at times like these two masters. There is also an Earl Klugh feeling at times in his playing.

His first album (The Antidote) created the greatest expectations. Follow up The Quiet Revolution was good, not great. Third album was very good Light to Dark. Since then, not too much to rejoice about with uneven releases, quality wise. This his latest delivery is a big flop in my opinion. Why ?

Well, this is just another example on how slippery the slope of "smooth jazz" has become in the last 5-6 years. The music is repetitive and flat. It is so bad that you end up wondering if there are actual musicians on this cd. Sure, Ronny Jordan excels in the guitar playing, but I feel he either was a bit short of ideas (or energy), or that he got contaminated by the dullness of the rest of the music. If you get a closer hearing at all the songs, you actually get the impression everything is just programmed and gets in a loop from the beginning to the end of the track.
Sounds like computer music.

Who is to blame ? Well, we have Gene Lake on drums, playing without failure, but without any passion. We don't know who plays bass (maybe a machine does), and the keyboards and programming are shared between Dario Boente and Bernard Mason. Again, Ronny Jordan is a top of the line guitarist, but the rest isn't there. I've listened to the whole cd several times (just to make sure I wasn't judging based on a mood type of thing) and still can't get hooked up to it.

I should have guessed by the cover sleeve picture that this was going to be a disappointment (Ronny, on a comfortable couch, dressed in a smoking with black bowtie...uh ?). But I did not think it would go in the (wrong) direction smooth jazz has taken for a while now. Having said this, the last two cuts of this cd are much better than the rest of the album. Now, whether you want to spend your money on a 53 minutes cd (yes, sounds like a vinyl duration) with only two worthy tracks is a personal choice. I would skip it. And stick to the two albums I mentioned above.

Ronny Jordan is in sophisticated mode here, and it's an intoxicating concoction of tunes for those After 8 soirees! The absolute knock out punch on this disc is the exotic Bahia Magic, a 7 minute plus gem with Ronny in top form cutting loose to delicious Brazilian rythmns. One of his best efforts in years!

This CD has some firing cuts: Bahia Magic:Going uptown:Caught Up are on point, the rest is romantic smooze, which is well done, but no different to what's out there.

I am a big smooth jazz fanatic and was looking forward to this CD. It turned out to be a little bland in my opinion.

neither of the last (2) Cd's I have purchased are quite up to the standards of his prvious work...."Darkman", but listenable.

I have never bought a ronny jordan album I didn't like but this one came close. I just got the feeling the this was kind of put together last minute. It seemed kind of plain, and not well thought out. Some of his guitar playing sounds a lot like other songs from past albums. I like his music and look forward to hearing it. I just expected this one to be as good as his other albums are. Maybe it will grow on me.