Marc Vanclaggett - Jazz At Sunset - 2010 - Marlex

No-one reading this will need an introduction to Marc Vanclaggett. He won massive critical acclaim back in 2003 with his debut set for Marlex records, "I Want You", and his set featured one of THE songs of that whole year. many a year has since passed and having searched for the great man again, have discovered that dear old CD Baby have his NEW CD as well as a single, "Baby I'm The One" in stock! The album, "Jazz At Sunset", is a seriously soulful, funky jazz affair and highlights yet another string to this gentleman's envious musical bow. It's not a boring Smooth Jazz outing by any stretch, though even fans of this genre will find a lot to warm to here. This reminds me of what jazz-fusion albums were like before the Smooth Jazz explosion, and elements of Najee etc can be heard here. The seductive soulful opener "Jazz At Sunset" contains some lovely warm keys, synths, summery flute and Najee-type sax. Mellow it may be, Smooth it ain't! The excellent and gritty "Ramsey" must, I am certain pay homage to one of the greatest pianists in the field, Ramsey Lewis, and in turn one certain late, great Charles Stepney.

A great number, and fortified by the following track, "Rebecca", with a sexy tropical feel and chilled out piano touches. The funky, strident "Raven" adds real light and shade and is meaty enough to tremble the old bass-pins, and short though it is matches the chunky belter "The Doctor" nicely. What or which Doctor is this about? Not Matt Smith's latest travelling bow-tie adorned Time Lord, surely?! What really absorbed my attention is the deep, resonant bass on "Wilshire Blvd"...the bass, dreamy keys and rasping flute...a great little number and then some! The set ends nicely with a short but sweet reprise of the title song and rounds this up very nicely. Though there are no full vocals, it's still a must and I have to say that i didn't expect a Jazz set from this man. What we do also have is the single, "Baby I'm The One", which is a traditional vocal ballad with a spoken intro and definitely sits in a late 80s / early 90s soul groove. Vocally the man is on top form and this jam is definitely harking back to a better time for quality R&B music. Head over to CD Baby and check it out!

Barry Towler

The Vibe Scribe

Marc Vanclaggett - I Want You - 2003 - Marlex Records

The excited hoo-hah that followed from this CD in early 2003 was MASSIVE. I spoke at length with Marc at the time and the vast majority of interest came from the UK. Marc was blown away at the interest and love he received, and it's not rocket science to understand exactly why when you hear the CD, and the title track in particular. If you love your soul harking back to the halcyon days of the late 80s early 90s quiet storm format then please make yourself acquainted with Mr. Marc Vanclaggett. Honestly, I was 10 seconds into "I Want You" and I was gobsmacked and completely sold. This was the best thing I’d heard for a very, very long time. We are talking super soulful, dynamic, fresh and unadulterated sexy vocals in a Billy Griffin / Walter & Scotty mode! Check out the web site and hear exactly what I mean. Serious stuff, this. The stunning music does not stop here. "I’ll Be There For You" follows on and manages easily to keep the quality running. This track is very much in the Whispers / Babyface mould and is thoroughly essential.

Again, "When You Need Someone" is a cool midtempo number that raises the bar of musical quality top another level. Marc duets with a mighty singer, whom I am eager to hear more from, called E.J. Welch. If you like Gene Rice then you will like him! We're 6 years on and still no new material from either Marc or E.J. Come on, guys! The sultry, sexy "If I Could Hold You" really is a top-draw performance also. I found the midtempo semi-instrumental number "Butterfly Crossing" very much in a mid-1980s Leon Ware style and the quality continues with the chunky synth laced "Love To Burn" which is very late 80s / early 90s and top quality to boot – very close in comparison to Gene Rice’s "Love Is Calling You" and similar to the uptempo work of Gerald Alston / By All Means. The album is topped off with the beautiful and "Songbird" which possesses a gentle melody. Albums like this one are ESSENTIAL - and still available from CD Baby.

Barry Towler
The Vibe Scribe