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Artist: Band: Gold Coast
Album: Latitudes
CD Review: Gold Coast is the 3 man smooth jazz band built by

Jonathan Coleman – guitars, marimba, vibes
John Ugarte – bass
John Pickell – percussion

but on this 52 minute release, the boys are helped out by a load of exceptional talent. Mainly:

Patrice Rushen – keys
Gerald Albright – saxes, flute
Ndugu Chancler – drums
Terri Lyne Carrington – drums
Dave Carpenter – acoustic bass
Oscar Brashear – trumpet
Mamak Khadem – vocals

The spirit of the 10 tracks is just like the booklet says. For instance, the cool sound emanating from ‘November High’ is described as ‘travel with us to the New York island of Manhattan, and feel the smoky blue haze that only jazz swing can produce.’ It’s a brilliant bus stop of 5 minutes, before you’re ‘Falling Again’ into the bass rush of some melodic acoustic guitar feelings that will take you back to the 70s and beyond, when life was slightly chilled on the Sunday porch and well worth living.

Though the entire cd is instrumental, there is a voice. Mamak Khadem’s lovely vocals work almost as a sound effect against such luscious tunes as ‘Dunes’ that fronts an elegant soprano sax against a night-designed tune. It’s described as bringing ‘North African coasts into focus’ but to me it works equally well to get me back to NYC where culture clashes thrive and the jazz is as smooth as it always is on the lines of Latitudes.

www.goldcoastmusic.net