Smooth Jazz Tribute to Sade

The CC Entertainment imprint, (in)famous for its smooth jazz “tributes” to pop stars, recorded this set in record time. How so? This album’s opening track, “Soldier of Love,” the title track and first single from Sade Adu's 2010 album, was released before hers was, due to the single being leaked to the press and radio nearly two months before the full-length Soldier of Love was released by Sony. Somehow, this has to be a dubious first. The arrangement is identical, with a trio of pitch-challenged saxophones playing the melody line -- and not much else -- and some strings creating a backdrop for the percussion and basslines. That said, it’s dull, not to mention wincingly flat. Other tracks come off just as badly, including a strolling, doo wop-esque version of “Your Love Is King” with the bassline falling/leading the way, and those saxophones can’t seem to quite match harmonically. Let’s face it, while the Shanachie label has been doing smooth jazz tribute records for years and doing a very good job with most of them, CC Entertainment has taken the cheapest route to the bank here, and put together a very shoddy collection of Sade cover tracks that aren’t fit to be played on a low-budget karaoke machine.