The musicianship on this CD is fine, but the originals (mostly by keyboardist Ron Kobayashi) are full of clichés and forgettable melodies.
Norm Douglas (whether on soprano, alto, or tenor) mostly sticks close to the themes, and the overall effect is quite commercial. Everything grooves nicely without taking any chances and much of the bland material sounds like either background music or television theme songs. There is simply no reason to acquire this lightweight effort which sometimes borders on new age. Songs such as "Fast Lane" and "First Time" fail to live up to the potential of their titles. ~ Scott Yanow