Playin’ Favorites

Playin’ Favourites is a collection of Peter White’s favorite classic songs from the 60s through the 80s, beautifully re-styled on the guitar, including his rendtions of Bill Withers’ ‘Lovely Day’ and Van Morrison’s ‘Crazy Love’.Obviously this collection of old pop hits is aimed at the smooth jazz set, not the mainstream jazz crowd, and by its standards, it gets the job done with its carefully produced blend of shimmering atmospheric effects, spare horn charts, lite grooves, breathy female background voices–and, of course, White’s ringing melodic statements, for which he should be called Mr. Clean–if he isn’t already. The songs include Van Morrison’s “Crazy Love,” Ray Charles’ “Hit the Road, Jack,” Burt Bacharach’s “The Look of Love” and Bobby Hebb’s inevitable “Sunny.” The guest performers include Jonathan Butler, Bob James, and Jeffrey Osborne. –Lloyd Sachs

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