All It Takes

Rick Braun | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 28, 2009)
• Original Release Date: 2009
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Artistry Music
• ASIN: B002B4PC7O
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #48,565 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Easy on the ear., August 6, 2009

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Jazz for the dappers - See all my reviews

This review is from: All It Takes (Audio CD)

The famed trumpeter returns with a mixed bag.
This is his 12th album: it accents the "smooth" more than the "jazz" and also serves as a showcase for keyboardist and producer Philippe Saisse, who has real musical chemistry with Braun.
Braun's big strengths when he first emerged were a musicality, an instrumentalist's timing and ideas and that made him a unique jazz musician, like a modern reincarnation of Herb Alpert.
Success, concerts (and hectic schedules & business) have swelled the budgets, and risked overwhelming his undoubted skills, eloquence and jazz instincts.
The result is an enjoyable but rather formulaic and predictable set of middle-of-the-road pop/commercial jazz which will certainly will make your summer evenings around the pool very pleasant.
After the listening, you really can't say which tracks are the best, all songs being mostly similar and indistinguishable, with the exception of some latin-tinged and midtempo tunes.
But though this set drops into the dinner-jazz and easy-listening boxes, there's enough good orchestral arrangement and sharp trumpet soloing to engage the big-band buffs and plenty of Rick Braun at his best.
A bunch of jazz stars join in: Richard Elliot on sax, the aforementioned Philippe Saisse on keyboards, Luis Conte on percussion, Marc Antoine and Dwight Sills on guitar, Ricky Lawson on drums.
For sure, it will sell well and reach the top of the commercial charts.
My highlights: "I Got Your Back", "Ever Changing World".
The album debuts at # 4 of the Billboard Top Jazz Album. Posted: August 15, 2009
(Billboard Magazine has discontinued the Contemporary Jazz Chart, which was a good thing indeed. Sad. Can we call JAZZ albums the latest recordings from Will Downing or Rick Braun? They are pop/jazzy records! This is move from the music industry which, for market purposes, prefer to avoid that boundary line that might jeopardize the sale of the lightweight, smooth jazz recordings as entertaining, second rate products. What a nonsense).
RnR
Rock Steady
Anything Goes

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Huge Rick Braun Fan, This One I Love, August 26, 2009

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BRB (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: All It Takes (MP3 Download)

Ok, so I'm already a huge fan, but I have to say, this is one of my favorite RB recordings to date. While I'll agree this CD is overall less playful than some of his others, this is by no means "dinner music" as another reviewer has suggested. I'm blown away by this guy's gorgeous velvety tracks. No jazz trumpeter today has got a sweeter sound or more engaging musical sensibility. Don't miss this CD.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars All It Takes, September 7, 2009

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Charles R. Fonaas (West Allis, WI) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: All It Takes (Audio CD)

All it takes to become addicted to rick Braun is listening to this CD.
It's quality Braun all the way with a few twists. His tributes to artists such as Herb Alpert and Freddie Hubbard reflect their styles in such a way that you can almost hear them playing the piece with him. The CD as a whole is lively and entertaining. Parts of it are classic Braun type pieces without being boring or old hat. I have all of Rick Braun's work and I believe this is his best work in a while. I would put it on a par with "Beat Street".