Kim Waters – I Want You: Love In The Spirit Of Marvin

On his last CD, “You Are My Lady”, saxophonist Kim Waters scored a smooth jazz hit with the legendary Marvin Gaye’s most famous songs. “Got To Give It Up”. Now, Kim has finished a new CD, his 16th, titled “I Want You: Love In The Spirit Of Marvin”. The 11-song CD has 2 songs composed by Gaye, the title track “I Want You” – which has lead vocals by Vivian Green – and “Distant Lover”.

The remaining nine tunes, were remade by Walters with his touch to capture some of Marvin’s magic. Among those songs are “Lets Get On It”, “Groove With Me”, “Some Dreams Come True”, and “Smooth Sailing”.

I believe you have to be on top of your game to remake a song that was made by one of the most creative and talented artists ever. Kim gave a valiant effort: however I found myself wanting to hear the original Marvin instead. For example: Back in 1977, Marvin put eleven minutes and fifty-two seconds into the song “Got To Give It Up”. You can’t touch that! They put in some major work to create a masterpiece that will be forever in the music history books.

“I Want You”, the title song, was performed vocally by Vivian Green. Once again, the song didn’t flow like the original. Kim’s sax play was nice, but the vocals fail to compare.

For the smooth-jazz listener that is on a diet, this CD is a nice ‘light’ diet.