Michael White - So Far Away (1994)

Although music like that heard on drummer Michael White's CD is marketed as "contemporary jazz," much of it sounds like Ramsey Lewis's recordings of 20 years ago. The hook-filled melodies, whiny sax by Everette Harp, the obligatory throwaway soul vocal from Phil Perry, a few pleasing but vapid melodic solos, the token jazz tune ("'Round Midnight") and fadeouts whenever the music nears the five- to six-minute mark are all quite predictable and formulaic. There is nothing objectionable about the music but nothing at all memorable or unique about it either.