Doc's Jazz Music Reviews

My wife and I want to see Richard Eliot and Rick Braun at their R&R tour and it was a great time. Richard is one of our favorite sax players and when you listen to Metro Blue you will know why. He did “People Make the World Go Round” at the concert and it was an outstanding performance. You will not get a 9 minute performance on the album but what you do get will not disappoint.

Old Review

One of Smooth Jazz's true sax icons has outdone himself once again! Richard Elliot, with his fourteenth solo release, on his own label this time (he, along with Rick Braun, is a partner in the company), nails it with METRO BLUE.

He's an amazing player, and he gets better with each new release, showing more creative twists and nuances every time out. METRO BLUE contains nine new songs, all collaborations with Rick. They didn't spare superstar talent in the studio, either, using Jeff Lorber, Peter White, Brian Culbertson, Dwight Sills, and Gregg Karukas, among others, on the sessions.

METRO BLUE is an exhilarating meeting of both old and new schools, using classic horn sections and very cool keyboard sounds...but always sounding clearly "today." The one cover on the set is a song Richard's been wanting to re-do for years, The Stylistics' "People Make the World Go Round." This new version takes a great song and creates an even better one, sounding incredibly fresh and different. No wonder it's already propelled METRO BLUE into the [...] Top 5 most played new CDs on Smooth Jazz radio stations across the U.S. and abroad.

Other standout tracks to my ear include "Inside Out," "Camella," "Coastline," "Mystique," and "Maxi's" but, then again, I wouldn't tune anything on this album out if I heard it on the radio. METRO BLUE is signature Richard Elliot kicked up yet another notch, and I'm predicting that it will end up on everyone's list of the best Smooth Jazz albums of the year! ~Scott O'Brien

Metro Blue

Inside Out 4:08
Camella 4:04
Coastline 4:32
People Make the World Go Round 4:25
Say Its So 4:11
Chill Bill 3:59
Mystique 4:25
Mango Tango 4:34
Maxis 3:59
Metro Blue