Search - Paul Hardcastle :: Jazzmasters: Greatest Hits

Love every song on this CD

R&B Jazz Gal | Houston, TX | 04/06/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Jazzmaster's Greatest Hits CD was the greatest discovery ever! Every single track is fantastic. I discovered Paul Hardcastle's music just recently while at the jewelry store having some batteries replaced in my watches. The jeweler was playing Hardcastle 2 on her portable CD player in the small store. When I was asked if I minded waiting for a few minutes for my watches, I was thrilled as I wanted to listen to more of this awesome music! When I asked her the name of the CD, she shared info on Jazzmasters as well. I listened to samples of different Paul Hardcastle CDs on Amazon that evening and was further hooked. This one was one of my favorites and I've already ordered several copies as gifts for friends and family. I highly, highly recommend this CD when you want to simply chill with sexy, soulful music, have a glass of wine or just relax and let it take you away to a different place....."

A different kind of "Smooth Jazz"

Mike | San Jose, CA | 01/02/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I first discovered Paul Hardcastle via a Website streaming "Smooth Jazz" music. I enjoy certain performers in that genre and avoid others like the plague. While Hardcastle is certainly a purveyor of the form (it would be kind of hard to deny that with song titles like "Jokers Wild (Smooth Jazz Version)"), he's not offering run-of-the-mill, generic "quiet storm" music here.



I own this CD as well as The Jazzmasters V, The Collection, Hardcastle 3, Hardcastle 4, and Hardcastle 5. I prefer the instrumental tracks over the vocal ones (although some instrumentals do feature wordless "vocalizing" or a spoken line or two).



There is a level of melody, of tension, of complexity, something memorable in Hardcastle's music that isn't normally found in this genre. My top tracks from this CD are "Shine," "London Chimes," and "Peace On Earth." I've culled 13 other tracks from the CDs above for a CD-length playlist on my iPod, and I listen to it often.



There's some guitar, but it's not "Nils / Pacific Coast Highway" or a Norman Brown album. There are horns, but they never have that honking, screechy, nails-down-the-blackboard feel that's in some of the Rippingtons' self-described "high energy" tracks. The music is "balanced" without being "sanitized" or "homogenized."



This is a good CD to start with...representative of the range and variety in Hardcastle's music. Chances are you'll want more, just as I did.



"

Worth the money

Karen Ashley | hawaii | 03/15/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"So many artists title an album "greatest hits" and it's a disappointment. This album is gentle and truly smooth jazz without the ugly aftertaste that some artists tend to leave one with. Not every track is a heavenly inspiration but many are. Worth the money."