“Department: Smooth jazz from the band Special EFX. But: The New York guitarist, composer and producer Chieli Minucci founded the band in the early 80s …
… at a time when the genre of smooth jazz didn’t even exist. Since 1984 he has released over 20 Specieal EFX albums and found time for nine solo albums and various session jobs (including Lionel Richie, Celine Dion and Omar Hakim). A workhorse, it seems. Yet the word “hectic” doesn’t seem to appear in the Grammy-nominated musician’s vocabulary. At least that’s what the 2001 album “Butterfly” suggests – a twelve-part collection of buttery, melodious, highly relaxed songs. Minucci found perhaps the most original harmonies in the title “Fantasia Blue”. He garnished the soundtrack-typical mood with surprising arrangement twists. Well, there you go: Smooth jazz with depth.
