Bruce Von Stiers

I have to confess that I had never heard of Jaared before his new album was sent to me. But I became an instant fan. Of course, I love saxophone music and this artist is a premiere saxophonist. The title of the album is Hangtime and it was released by Marimelj Entertainment.

There are ten studio cuts on the album and an additional cut that was done live. There is over an hour’s worth of smooth jazz music on the album.

Jaared attributes some of his music to influences like Boots Randolph, Stan Getz and Ace Cannon. Some of the more recent sax influences for Jaared are David Sanborn and Nelson Rangell. This love of playing the saxophones shines through on this album.

The first song on the album is Make It Happen. It is the intro song for the syndicated show 8101. It has a nice smooth beat, with Eric Carter helping out on guitar and Patrick Cooper doing the keyboard work.

The second song is the title track, Hangtime. If you aren’t tapping your feet and swaying your body after 30 seconds into the song, then there’s no hope for you. This song had me smiling and groovin’ right from the start. The song has Jaared on the Alto Sax and Carl Lester on Electric Bass. They are helped out by Earl Carter on Electric Guitar and some programming done by Nate Smith.

Ibiza is the third song. It has a somewhat haunting beginning. This song features Ken Navarro on guitar and Eddie Montalvo on percussion. Ibiza is heavily Latin flavored and the guitar work by Navarro is excellent.

For those old Pop Rockers out there, the fourth song will be remembered well. It is How Much I Feel, a song that was done by Ambrosia forever ago. Jaared not only plays the sax on this song, he does some background vocals on it as well.

Van Morrison’s Crazy Love is the next song, which is done extremely well. This is the best cover of the song that I ever heard done. I was really impressed by both Jaared’s performance and the guitar work of Stan Cooper.

Moonbeams is a smooth song that will invoke visions of moonlit nights when listening to it. Nate Smith provides the additional instruments and programming to Jaared’s alto sax performance.

Happy Times is a bouncy song that features Peter White on acoustic guitar and Jay Jay Williams on drums. Wishing On A Star is a light and airy song that features Kim “KC” Corbett-Light on vocals.

Sensation is a song that has some good background music feeding Jaared’s sax. It kind of reminded me of a smoky, laid back dance floor with bodies moving slowly around it. Search Light picks back up the pace a little and makes you want to jump around again.

The extra song on the album is Forward: I Love You. This is a live version of a song that was on Jaared’s first album. It is a very tender and beautiful song.

Look for Hangtime at your favorite music retailer. The release date for the album was October 1st, so it should be available.