Saunders Sermons - Classic Delight

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    Saunders Sermons is in a good place. He's an in-demand trombonist who can be heard on recordings by Jay-Z and Fantasia. Saunders toured with 50 Cent, Diddy and Maxwell. He performed live on television with Mary J. Blige. Sermons acted in live theater with Billy D. Williams. His trombone playing allowed him to work with jazz heavyweight Roy Hargrove and R&B/jazz/hip-hop fusion master Mike Phillips.

    That means Saunders brought a wealth of experience in multiple genres into the recording studio when he made his debut album, Classic Delight.  While this experience is valuable, it is not necessarily an advantage when it comes to an artistic approach for an album. An artist typically has to decide whether the work is going to lean primarily to the jazz or pop side. In other words, will the record be a straight-ahead or jazz-fusion interpretation of R&B music or will it be an R&B record infused with jazz influences? Artists who attempt to make a middle of the road album usually end up with one of those "smooth jazz" records that get flattened by the jazz, R&B and hip-hop big rigs.

    Sermons opts for the latter, which is not surprising since he acknowledges that R&B is his first love, and as a young man soul music likely comes to him organically.  The native Floridian started singing at age 5, majored in jazz studies in college, and also worked tirelessly on songwriting and arranging. And he deftly uses all of his skills and influences on Classic Delight.. The fruits of his work as a songwriter can be heard on Classic Delights' four original tunes such as "Don't You Understand," and the excellent "I Need." The creativity of Sermons arrangement takes a front seat on the covers of "Straighten Up and Fly Right," "Gee Baby" and especially on his jazz/neo-soul version of "In a Sentimental Mood." And his mellifluous voice can be heard throughout the disc.

    Sermons infuses this album with a soulful swing. This is what you would get if Eric Roberson collaborated with Jeff Bradshaw. Classic Delight is definitely an R&B album, but the original tunes on Soulful Delight brings pay respect to high quality soul/jazz fusion work that artists like Roy Ayers did in the 1970's. The covers reveal Sermons as an artist who studied up on masters like Cole and Ellington.

    Finally, something must be said about Sermons' maturity and humility as an artist. It would be easy for a performer with his skills to do everything to ensure that his imprint is all over this album. However, Sermons willingly shares space with his sidemen who get prime solos on several of the tracks. The confidence to know when allow individuals to shine is one reason why Classic Delight is not only the name of the album, but a description of the quality of the work. Highly Recommended.

    By Howard Dukes