Search - Smoke N' Function :: Smoke N Function

The recording's title is a lot like the music: a little left-of-center, maybe a bit spaced, oddly promising. If the idea of some head-nodding acid-jazz colored with splashes of smooth-jazz sensuality and easy-going pop sounds appealing, find a place in the relaxed, informal conga line being led by Phoenix-based saxophonist Cliff Sarde and shuffle along. A modest but mostly enjoyable affair, Smoke 'n Function is a one-man, all-instrumental production (primarily keyboards, MIDI loops, sax, samples) that politely ruffles its easy-listening ambiance with subtle grooves and brief incantations from Zuni, Navajo, and Tibetan voices. You can catch traces of influences from 3rd Force (the clipped beats of "Smokee") to Fleetwood Mac (the laconic, romantic "Mikaela's Song") throughout the disc, and while tempos shift from track to track (say, from the quick-paced piping on "Native Groove" into the sultry pulse of "Seven-Thirty"), somehow the mood remains attractively unified. Above-average background music. --Terry Wood