Elan Trotman | Love and Sax

Elan Trotman | Love and Sax (E.T. Muzik Production)
By Brian Soergel

Saxophonist Elan Trotman is a new star on the smooth jazz world. Although inspired by masters likeGrover Washington, Jr. and Kirk Whalum, his compelling tone and R&B touches mark him as a new force a la Boney James or Euge Groove. Trotman, which the New England Urban Music Awards named best male jazz performer, is a Barbados native educated at Boston’s esteemed Berklee College of Music in Boston.

His background means the 32-year-old Trotman blends rootsy Caribbean rhythms with his own smooth style of warm hooks and grooving rhythms. Love and Sax, his fifth CD, is a ballads project of original tunes, with the exception of the standard “When I Fall in Love,” which features the bottom-end bass-and-drums of Alex Al and Tony Moore. A standout original is certainly “Can I Play 4 U?,” a track where Trotman—who plays tenor and soprano saxes but he also the flute and piano—is joined by late, great bassist Webster Roach.

“Love and Sax,” the title track and first smooth jazz single, is a memorable ballad with propelling wah-wah synth effects and a layered, smooth sound. Very sexy. Trotman’s Urban AC side has reuniting with R&B star Tony Terry—they were side by side in vocalist Roberta Flack’s band—for the soulful “Midnight Seranade,” a sexy and romantic song written and produced by Trotman and co-written by Boston-based Neil Letendre of Sure Fire Music. It’s co-produced by Atlanta-based Herman “P-Nut” Johnson of Big Bully, Inc. Terry is known for such hits as “With You,” “She’s Fly” and “When a Man Cries.”

Two smooth jazz stars add to the CD’s appeal. Pianist Brian Simpson—Dave Koz’s musical director and a solo star in his own right—joins “Heaven in Your Eyes,” while American Smooth Jazz award-winning trumpeter Cindy Bradley shows her award-winning stuff on “Oasis.”

Love and Sax is sexy mood enhancer.

Brian Soergel
The Urban Music Scene