Jazz for a Summer Night, as released by Savoy Jazz in 2003, is a continuation of the popular Jazz For series released by 32 Jazz in the late '90s. Those discs contained songs from the catalog of the Muse label from the '70s, '80s, and '90s, and so does this disc. The 16 tracks are spread over two discs, and jazz giants like
Bobby Hutcherson,
Phil Woods,
James Moody, and
Richard "Groove" Holmes all contribute tracks and brush shoulders with jazz middleweights like
Sonny Phillips,
Carlos Garnett, and
Cindy Blackman. As the title suggests, the songs are relaxed and the mood is swinging in a polite and sophisticated way. Although the songs date from well beyond jazz's peak years, the performances are uniformly solid and the disc is a nice low-priced collection of mellow jazz perfect for kicking back on a warm summer night. ~ Tim Sendra