Philippe Saisse - Next Voyage (1997)

Philippe Saisse creates most of the sounds on Next Voyage with the flick of a switch on an amazing arsenal of keyboards. Like Jeff Lorber but with less soul, Saisse is a master producer, blending acoustic piano with too many keyboards to name - yet he rarely employs them in the service of compositions which stand out from any other. He seems more concerned with unfolding an overall vibe, yet that vibe's overreliance on click tracks and drum machines wears thin about midway through. On the plus side, many of his keyboard runs especially his bluesy touch on the Fender Rhodes and jazzy acoustic soloing - are bright and exciting, and, on occasion, he cleverly intertwines real trumpet (courtesy of Jeff Beal) and classical guitar (Marc Antoine) into the mix. But those more organic moments are few and far between on what comes across as a very canned project. More frustrating, the one time Saisse gets a real live jazz band (including saxman Andy Snitzer) together, their jamming is obliterated by a pretentious vocal rap on race relations. -- Jonathan Widran