Product Description

All It Takes is a fertile collaboration between the chart topping Rick Braun, and versatile keyboardist, composer, producer Philippe Saisse, it' s also a step into a wide-open musical terrain beyond Braun's trademark R&B/pop comfort zone. Most of the songs on All It Takes find Braun artfully combining flugelhorn with muted trumpet (using the Harmon mute). Add Euro, neo-classical, cinematic elements and a touch of disco flash and that's All It Takes for a sensational new disc. From producing Richard Elliot's newest (Rock Steady,) to setting himself new levels of creativity for All It Takes, to the now-legendary Chet Baker inspired shows, Rick performs as the mood strikes - this is an artist who doesn't stand still.

Track Listing

1. Tijuana Dance
2. Puerto Allegre Jam
3. Christiane
4. All It Takes
5. She's The One
6. I Got Your Back
7. Ever Changing World
8. Sleveless In Seattle
9. Berlin
10. Freddie Was Here

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3028 in Music
• Brand: Braun
• Released on: 2009-07-28
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds

Customer Reviews

Easy on the ear.
The famed trumpeter returns with a mixed bag.
This is his 12th album: it accents the "smooth" more than the "jazz" and also serves as a showcase for keyboardist and producer Philippe Saisse, who has real musical chemistry with Braun.
Braun's big strengths when he first emerged were a musicality, an instrumentalist's timing and ideas and that made him a unique jazz musician, like a modern reincarnation of Herb Alpert.
Success, concerts (and hectic schedules & business) have swelled the budgets, and risked overwhelming his undoubted skills, eloquence and jazz instincts.
The result is an enjoyable but rather formulaic and predictable set of middle-of-the-road pop/commercial jazz which will certainly will make your summer evenings around the pool very pleasant.
After the listening, you really can't say which tracks are the best, all songs being mostly similar and indistinguishable, with the exception of some latin-tinged and midtempo tunes.
But though this set drops into the dinner-jazz and easy-listening boxes, there's enough good orchestral arrangement and sharp trumpet soloing to engage the big-band buffs and plenty of Rick Braun at his best.
A bunch of jazz stars join in: Richard Elliot on sax, the aforementioned Philippe Saisse on keyboards, Luis Conte on percussion, Marc Antoine and Dwight Sills on guitar, Ricky Lawson on drums.
For sure, it will sell well and reach the top of the commercial charts.
My highlights: "I Got Your Back", "Ever Changing World".
The album debuts at # 4 of the Billboard Top Jazz Album. Posted: August 15, 2009
(Billboard Magazine has discontinued the Contemporary Jazz Chart, which was a good thing indeed. Sad. Can we call JAZZ albums the latest recordings from Will Downing or Rick Braun? They are pop/jazzy records! This is move from the music industry which, for market purposes, prefer to avoid that boundary line that might jeopardize the sale of the lightweight, smooth jazz recordings as entertaining, second rate products. What a nonsense).
RnR
Rock Steady
Anything Goes

Looking for a New Direction?
As far as smooth jazz/jazz crossover music, I will always cite Rick Braun...if you have ever seen him live, you KNOW he is the real deal. Having said that, this latest cd seems like he is looking for a direction to go, and is sitting in the middle of the road until he finds it. Good Luck, Rick, I hope you find a new path to blaze, we are waiting and will be there when you are ready to take us with you.

Easy listening with some originality
I'm not going to discuss each cut, only to say Rick's earlier work showed more imagination, more musicality and, well, just more. This is easy listening that occasionally shows some flashes of older albums, but overall, is barely better than elevator music.