Patrick Yandall - Jazz on the Vine (2020)

It is the independent musicians with small budgets that keep the fire of the smooth jazz genre burning. Among them it's guitarist Patrick Yandall who distinguishes himself by special activity. He begins the New Year with his album Jazz On The Vine (2020), dedicated to the Napa Valley wine region.

Patrick is a welcome guest at the events in this wine region, which brings its products closer to the consumer with numerous smooth jazz activities. Patrick's main passion is creating new music every day. Playing many instruments with a convincing perfection is his ability and especially advantage when recording a new album. Playing with other musicians is really joyful but studio time is not cheap and that's the reason why most musicians are working todays in their own home studio.

Patrick has written and produced all songs of the new project. Patrick admits that this is already the fifth album without the help of other musicians. The title song commemorates the festival that is held annually at The Osthoff Resort. While the intro sounds somewhat spacy with its wave sound, the guitar driven main theme is almost jazzy despite the use of a lot of reverb.

Road To Napa links seagull cries and the sound of the sea with the fact that a small, though minor, part of the Napa Valley is close to the ocean. Atmospheric guitar playing is combined with vocal sound samples and occasional piano parts. With You takes things slowly and does not hide any R&B influences from the Motown era. On Next Level Patrick even merges stylistic elements of Prince's music with smooth jazz.

Singing and playing guitar at the same time can be a challenging task on a live event. Play Me Out is under the influence of George Benson's sing along technic. Lock It Down plays even more clearly with Benson's stylistic elements. When it comes to acoustic guitars, people not only like to refer to Spanish names, but like Patrick, they rely on the Spanish school of playing. Instead of using trumpet sounds, Patrick should play a real trumpet on Alicante.

Darker the Grape, the sweeter is the juice. At times Patrick's genius flashes up when playing the guitar. Its Red Tonight is the longest piece of this album. Undoubtedly a song with a lot of commitment. Orfila is Patrick's homage to the excellent vineyard in San Diego county.

Yandall is a true Blues fan and with Blues in the Valley he fulfills his need to have at least one Blues track on his new album. The Springs is the fitting acoustic equivalent to the wonderful landscape of California. Last Rounds on Me goes a completely different way than the rest of the album. This piece could easily fit on an album by Eric Clapton.

Admittedly, it is the most cost-effective way for a musician to limit himself to himself and to do without the cooperation and input of other musicians. But at the same time it is also a challenge, because here the musician faces the critical ears of his listeners. Are his compositional, playing and arranging skills so mature that they meet all demands? After all, every musician is in constant competition with his or her fellow musicians, who spend more money on their project in all areas. Patrick has successfully met these challenges with his album Jazz On The Vine.