Grp Records
2005
The Very Best Of Norman Brown
About This Album
Oh yeah. GRP comes up with a compilation worthy of its title. Between 1992 and 1996, guitarist, composer, and arranger Norman Brown released three albums -- Just Between Us, After the Storm, and Better Days Ahead -- for the MoJazz imprint (he was the first solo artist signed to the label). He was the first guitarist since George Benson to lay out solid grooves where genuine improvisation met the groove consciousness with a seamless blend of R&B, deep soul, and funk. His playing is warm, eclectic, and literally stunning in places, even over standard R&B rhythmic foundations. But his recordings -- particularly Just Between Us and the truly electrifying After the Storm -- took the entire "smooth jazz" genre to an entirely new level. His compositions and his way of playing covers -- as demonstrated by the inclusion of his reads of the Isley Brothers' "For the Love of You," Stevie Wonder's "Too High" (on which the composer guests as vocalist), Marcus Miller and Luther Vandross' "Any Love," as well as R. Kelly's "Your Body's Callin'" are so remarkable, uplifting, and downright sexy it's no wonder that they resounded in the NAC radio consciousness the way they did.
Track List (try tracks 1,3 and 11)

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