The Florida Theatre
Jacksonville FL
October 13, 2006

Craig Chaquico and Warren Hill have rocked a lot of cruise ships and were onstage together with one of the most exciting Guitars and Saxes lineups. Ray Parker Jr. is a pop/R&B hit maker with some impressive jazz sessions in his discography and a smooth jazz instrumental getting top 10 airplay. Packaged as “Superstarzz” it’s an interesting combination. As solo acts they are about as different from each other as you can get. Hill and Chaquico’s audiences overlap. Parker brings a whole new segment of the crowd into the room.

Chaquico has always had a strong fan base in Jacksonville. He got a lot of airplay when we had a pop/rock oriented smooth jazz brunch show and was the show-stealing highlight of the 2000 Jacksonville Jazz Festival. He has a contingent of fans that knew every song and every story he told. Parker drew a lot of fans who came to hear him do the hits. Hill may not have been as high profile to this audience but a sax player with charisma, chops and great songs is always a crowd pleaser.

Chaquico, Hill, and Parker set the mood for the evening with a rousing version of “Come Together,” On previous tours this has been the one that wrapped up the show and got the crowd on their feet and begging for more. As an opener it made a great statement. This was not going to be a “sit back and relax” kind of night. Chaquico’s set underscored that fact. He’s always been a master at pulling hard rock chops and searing leads out of an acoustic guitar. “Café Carnival” morphed into Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love.”  The Santana flavored “Luminosa,” followed , and his reincarnation of “Find Your Way Back” had him prowling the aisles, standing on chairs, tossing his hair like a rock star and playing a rapid-fire assault of chords and notes that left the crowd standing and screaming. “Return of the Eagle” and “Gathering of the Tribes” returned to the more meditative acoustic setting of his first two albums and turned the auditorium into a late-night campfire under the stars.

The transformation of the band when Hill took the stage was fascinating. It was the same group of musicians but they shifted from loose and edgy to tight and polished to match the shift from acoustic rock to a jazzier vibe. Hill can just flat out play. He doesn’t get as much publicity but he’s in the league with the best of them and when he gets hold of a strong song he’s amazing. The stretched version out his mid-90s hit “Take Out Dreams” had the crowd mesmerized and he took a subdued romantic ballad “Our First Dance” and turned it into a showcase that went from bebop riffs to low timbred growls and power-ballad wailing. ”Mambo 2000” brought Chaquico and Parker to the stage for some no holds barred jamming. One of the highlights of Hill’s set was keyboardist Michael Whittaker, who did a gorgeous solo during the intro to “First Dance.”  His keyboard virtuosity was central to the texture and the energy of the set.

This is not Ray Parker’s first venture into jazz flavored territory. Over the years his impressive resume has included sessions with artists like Herbie Hancock and the Crusaders and there are several credible instrumentals on his new CD, Free. While the crowd was geared up to hear his hits I thought the most impressive part of his set was when he sat down with just an acoustic guitar and started talking and jamming on the melody lines from some of his favorite songs. He’s quite a guitarist with a really original approach to playing. It would be fun to hear him expand on that. He did stay acoustic for an updated version of “A Woman Needs Love (Just Like You Do)” and “Mexico,” a catchy song from the new CD. Then he put on the electric for a punched up version of “The Other Woman.”  It doesn’t matter what kind of music you grew up with, outgrew or grew into, everybody likes “Ghostbusters,” especially on Friday The 13th in October. It got everyone up and dancing, into the aisles and shouting the refrain. Back for an encore they tore into a guitar and sax driven version of “Daytripper,” leaving the crowd fired up quite thrilled with three different approaches to this music we call Smooth Jazz that meshed perfectly and got spiced up by some blasts from the past.

- Shannon West