Not to be confused with the former major-league baseball player of the same name,
Jeff Sparks is a studio musician who played with artists ranging from
OutKast to
Einstürzende Neubauten (on their Silence Is Sexy album) before making his solo debut with 2005's
Havin' Fun. An interesting blend of extremely mellow smooth jazz (only slightly funkier than
Kenny G.) and testifying soul,
Havin' Fun occasionally skates close to the edge of being nothing more than the sort of pop-oriented fusion that gets played over the forecasts on The Weather Channel (the style once memorably dubbed "fuzak"), but there are a few songs that stand up on their own merits. In particular, a soulful cover of
Roy Ayers' "My Life" and its immediate lead-in, the gospel-tinged "Because of Who You Are," make an effective one-two punch.
Havin' Fun isn't groundbreaking in the least, but it's a pleasant listen. ~ Stewart Mason