West Side Stories

Jeff Lorber | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 8, 1994)
• Original Release Date: 1994
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Polygram Records
• ASIN: B0000046WD
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #28,090 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A True Lorber Fan..., July 22, 2004

By 

C. Freeman "Jazzy Lady" (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: West Side Stories (Audio CD)

I love this cd. I have been a Lorber fan since "It's A Fact" as a little girl. I have bought most of his cd's. West Side Stories was enjoyable from the first track to the last. I felt the cd prior had been a transitional project for Jeff. I didn't get the same vibe from the 2 cd's prior to West Side Stories. When I heard "Say Love" on the radio, I knew the Jeff I have grown to love was back. I immediately bought the cd. Although every track has it's own unique flava, they all have the Lorber style to it. The melodies flow. I became an Eric Benet fan after "Say Love".

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lorber Letting The River Run, February 8, 2011

By 

Andre S. Grindle "Andre' Grindle" (Brewer Maine) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: West Side Stories (Audio CD)

As the follow up to Jeff Lorber's comeback album Worth Waiting for this 1994 record features a similarly themed all star lineup of musicians who'd been working in the jazz/pop/rock/R&B/ funk field for over two decades. John Robinson on drums,Paulinho Da Costa on percussion,Hubert Laws on flute and guest vocals from Eric Benet and Ce Ce Peniston would certainly be just about an ideal combination of musical talent for any musician in those genres looking for a crossover project with a high degree of creative integrity. And that suited Lorber to a tee because comebacks can be easy to make but keeping the momentum going can be a whole other matter and in many ways he bettered himself in a lot of ways on this particular album.

One might refer to this music as smooth jazz and essentially it is. But considering the source it's coming from Jeff Lorber always injects his music with plenty of adventurous and musically fascinating solos from not only himself but from sax player Gary Meek. Most of the music is on the medium-uptempo nature and there are plenty of strong compositions here in that vein such as "Grasshopper","Say Love","Road Song","Tours End" and "Never Let The River Run". One of the major selling points on this album are that the same level of musical and production quality lends itself just the same to the slower tunes such as "Point Venus" and "Iquassu Falls" where the music,especially when Lorber takes off on a piano,B-3 organ or fender rhodes solo really takes on a strong flavor all it's own and brings the melodic improvisations to life.

"Tuva" goes for something very compelling as this very tribally rhythmic South American sounding number is built around the throat singing of Kongar-ool ondar built around a typically Lorber style pop-jazz number. It's quite unexpected to a degree and is one of the strongest pieces on the album. Ce Ce's vocals lend themselves well to "Don't Forget The Love",a contemporary pop/R&B flavored tune that does for this time and Lorber what Karyn White did on "Facts Of Love" eight years earlier. The album concludes with a tastefully arranged re-imagining of Lorber's own 1979 classic "Toad's Place",the original of which is featured on his Water Sign. While it's true that the music of Jeff Lorber changed significantly in the 1990's and was in fact a lot more typical of commercial instrumental jazz of the period this is one of the artists (if not one of the founding fathers of smooth jazz to begin with) who was continually able to maintain both success and creative integrity.

5.0 out of 5 stars A great album is a great album, June 5, 2011

By 

stephenghowe "stephenghowe" (Frederick, MD USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: West Side Stories (Audio CD)

Only two reviews? This album had a smooth jazz hit with vocals, "Say Love", which is actually pretty decent (might be the tight vocal harmonies); there's another vocal number, I think, that is disposable. The rest is excellent mid tempo fusion lite with elements of jazz, rock and funk. Lorber continues to make good music, but this is his best, followed by the preceding "Worth Waiting For".