The Top 100 Contemporary Jazz Songs – #93 | Urban Knights – The Rose

Here’s another entry into the collection otherwise known as “The Top 100 Contemporary Jazz Songs” on T.U.M.S.

The single you are about to hear has to be one of the most startling yet revealing arrangements ever made for cjazz. The focus of the composition is spiritual by nature, but the entire track seemingly will stick with your ears for a long time to come.

The power behind collaborative jazz group URBAN KNIGHTS: Ramsey Lewis, Omar Hakim, Victor Bailey & Grover Washington, Jr. (along with The Emotions & Freddie Hubbard) will sustain time for years. What an amazing legacy…..Released on GRP Records back in 1995, graceful, slow-tempo track “The Rose” is found on the debut album “Urban Knights I.” This project should be in everyone’s album collection, if not, jazz portfolio. Produced by Maurice White from Earth, Wind & Fire, “The Rose” swayed me time over time, especially listening to Grover flow on the brass, the harmony, the vocals…. Always front and center in the CD player whenever I was either on the road, in my office or in the backyard watching my sons grow on the basketball court. The entire project is a masterpiece & climbed respectfully to #5 on Billboard’s Jazz Albums Chart back then.

In the years to follow, more releases from The Urban Knights featured a ‘who’s who’ in contemporary/smooth jazz: Gerald Albright, Jonathan Butler, Najee, Fareed Haque, Dave Koz, Earl Klugh and much more. If I were you, look into it!

These songs and more in my collective keeps aging like fine wine…

To access our current countdown list of Top 100 Contemporary Jazz Songs, please click here!

Terrill Hanna/Publisher – Owner
The Urban Music Scene.com

PS: This is not a countdown, this is a collection.