Smooth Jazz is not yet a recognized genre in France, but the French pianist and composer Philippe Renan has made it his personal business to change that! He expresses his musicality and influences in this new album – All Right – made up of 11 contemporary jazz tracks that bring a certain French flair and new impetus to the genre. Mixed in Brazil, mastered at the Abbey Road studios in London, composed, performed and produced by just one man with a host of musical influences, All Right brings something new to jazz. Its outstanding brass sounds in particular make this album perfect background music.

Background music?? Yes, Smooth Jazz isn’t for listening, it’s for hearing. It becomes part of the scenery, sending out good vibes, making connections, soothing busy minds, relaxing, transporting, stimulating imaginations. All Right?

The first Smooth jazz album composed, performed and produced by just one man. With only his digital orchestra for company, Philippe is alone at the helm, playing each instrument in turn. In the studio, the piano is played live first before the trumpet, the bass, saxophone, the guitars. These instruments work together in cool, complicit harmony. The essence of the percussive groove is provided by a leading high-performance tool famous for its real drum tracks. The overall effect is infused with the smooth flow of jazz. The quality of the brass sounds library is outstanding. Philippe works his magic on the keyboard, his fingers transforming illusion into a musical reality. 

Today, thanks to advances in the storage capacities and memory of computers, the quality of reproduction of acoustic instruments has exceeded our imagination. However, it is still difficult to obtain a natural playing from a keyboard, especially for brass and guitars. That’s kind of the challenge of the album: to reveal and convey real emotion. In other words, All Right tries to recreate the real-time alchemy of several musicians, in a musical genre where live performance is normally unavoidable.