Chart Notes

What's the new what?
By Gordon Murray
Dave Koz is still speeding along at No. 1 with "Life in the Fast Lane" (Capitol) for a fourth week, giving him the third-most increased plays on the chart. Eric Darius follows his lead once again, as "Goin' All Out" (Blue Note/Capitol) stays perched at No. 2, making this the fifth consecutive week that he and Koz have held the top two spots.

The Top 5 songs this week all register gains in plays, two of which reach new peaks in both chart position and plays. This week's Most Increased Plays champ, Tim Bowman, reaches new heights with "Sweet Sundays" (Trippin 'n' Rhythm) (4-3, up 32), as Warren Hill's "La Dolce Vita" (Evolution/Koch) rises 6-5, up 22. This marks the first Nielsen BDS chart Top 3 hit for Bowman and the first Nielsen BDS chart Top 5 hit for Hill. Finally, Paul Hardcastle slips slightly in position with "Marimba" (Trippin 'n' Rhythm) but still registers his most total plays in four weeks (3-4, up 18).

Airpower honors are realized for Michael Lington's "You and I" (NuGroove) (21-18, +18). Over on the audience chart, Lington makes a dramatic 10-position jump, 30-20, with a 92% increase in audience impressions, thanks in large part to an add and eight plays on KTWV/Los Angeles.

Three songs tie at 77 plays each: Chris Standring's "Have Your Cake & Eat It" (Ultimate Vibe) (+24), Fourplay's "Fortune Teller" (Heads Up) (+7) and John Legend's "Good Morning" (G.O.O.D./Columbia) (+4). With the tiebreaker set as the plays' gain, Standring came out ahead, at No. 21, while Fourplay and Legend follow at No. 22 and No. 23, respectively.

This week's lone debut is Phil Perry's first Nielsen BDS Smooth Jazz hit, "Shower the People" (Shanachie), at No. 29. The song (a cover of James Taylor's 1976 No. 1 AC hit) hails from Perry's latest album, "Ready for Love," which became his fifth Top 10 on Billboard's Top Contemporary Jazz Albums chart in the Sept. 6 issue. Perry is performing on Thursday (Nov. 6) at New York's Apollo Theater as part of a WBLS tribute to 93-year-old Hal Jackson with Regina Belle, Kenny Lattimore, Chuck Jackson and others.

How's this for a cool achievement? Multi-instrumentalist/arranger and producer Darren Rahn is the producer behind the Top 3 songs on this week's chart. Rahn produced, mixed, co-wrote and played keyboards and some saxophones on both Dave Koz's "Life in the Fast Lane" (Capitol) and Eric Darius' "Goin' All Out" (Blue Note/Capitol). He also produced and played keyboards on Tim Bowman's "Sweet Sundays" (Trippin 'n' Rhythm). The NuGroove artist has a new album of his own due out in March of next year.

Recommended Listening: Tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins is back with a must-have live jam compilation, "Road Shows Vol. 1" (Doxy/Emarcy). The album, just released on Oct. 28 (and which debuts at No. 16 on Billboard's Top Contemporary Jazz Albums chart in the Nov. 15 issue), is the first in a series of compilations of songs from Rollins' personal soundboard recordings and the Carl Smith collection. The seven songs take the listener on a chronological journey across the globe, beginning in Tokyo in 1986 and continuing through France, Sweden, Poland and Canada before finishing in 2007 in New York. Rollins plays with the best: Clifton Anderson on trombone, Bobby Broom on guitar, Christian McBride on bass and Roy Haynes on drums, just to name a few. This straight-ahead jazz is anything but sleepy -- it kicks, swings, bops, rocks and invigorates the soul. I know I'm already looking forward to Volume 2.

By Gordon Murray radioandrecords.com

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