Fattburger

It had to happen sometime in this era of musical cybermania; nearly every smooth jazz artist or band has a website, but Fattburger is the first with the gumption to actually name a recording after theirs. Fattburger.com doesn't attempt to spin the kind of ambitious cybertale the Rippingtons did with 1996's Brave New World, but there are a few playful odes to our modern world. With its bouncy funk beat and sly note-for-note interaction between Carl Evans' synth lines and Hollis Gentry's silky soprano sax, "You've Got Mail!" is the type of spunky tune that the band's been doing for years. "Joy" is another of the sort, with Gentry's horn floating over Tommy Aros' sparse but insistent percussion before Evans chimes in with an elegant piano solo. When guitarist Evan Marks replaced Steve Laury several years ago, the band finally had the option of going beyond the smooth and tackling some rock-heavy fusion issues. This continues to provide a brilliant balance. On "Groove Y2K," Marks rides a crisp and edgy, almost mournful blues melody line over Kevin Koch's hardslamming drum groove before breaking out toward the end and jamming with abandon. Despite its title, "Nice Bits" offers no such subtleties; Marks turns up the distortion and wails over Mark Hunter's chunky, rolling basslines and his own wah-wah accents, handing things over every few bars to Evans's high-flying Fender Rhodes retro-cool. ~ Jonathan Widran, All Music Guide