Acclaimed
smooth jazz guitarist Tim Bowman was smiling broadly when his
third CD, Smile (Insync Music), released. Bowman
has a lot to smile about too: a happy childhood, a happy marriage,
a happy disposition and a happening music career. All these
elements fuse to create the percussive backdrop for Bowman's
exciting new CD.
Bowman
wrote all but one of the twelve songs this time. "These are
songs I really feel deep down," he says. "I connect
with these like no other songs I've done in the past because I
put every bit of my heart and soul into these." It's true.
These songs touch on the most intimate aspects of Bowman's life.
From the memories of his late father to his passion for his wife,
these songs hit home in a big way.
"I like the passion in the chord changes, on ‘Heart
and Soul’" Bowman explains. "The melody against
the chord changes just gives it a certain kind of groove."
Heart and soul is infused into every song. "Wanda Patrice,"
is an easy melody. " I was thinking about my wife one day
and started playing that melody," he recalls. "Yes,
No and Yes " is another heart song. "That's about
my wife too," Bowman laughs. "Yes, I love you! No
I'll never leave you! and yes I'll be with you for the rest
of my life! It's a love song." Veteran Quiet Storm crooner
Howard Smith, who has collaborated with the likes of Stanley
Clarke and Donald Byrd, sings the song with unspeakable soul.
Bowman's song inspirations come from anywhere at anytime. "I
hear them when I'm driving, when I'm relaxing, when I'm eating,"
he says. "When that happens, I immediately try to get to
the nearest piano or guitar so I can work the song out before
I forget it." Bowman was at home, near his guitar when the
album's bouncy title track came to him. "This song is about
six or seven years old," he says. "I wrote that one
day sitting on the end of the bed talking to my wife. She came
in from a hard day at work and I said `just smile and everything
will be alright.' At the time, I was playing that melody so I
just named it smile. I believe sometimes we just have to smile
because it's not always as bad as it may seem. "
Bowman's euphoric outlook can be traced back to his spiritual
roots. His father was a church deacon and "Columbus G.A."
is in his memory. "My father died Christmas 1996," he
remembers. "He's from Columbus, Georgia and I wanted to write
a song for him. I didn't want to do anything real sentimental,
I wanted to do something upbeat. It's a little bluesy and then
a little jazzy and then bluesy again." On another bow to
his gospel jazz beginnings, he revamps gospel powerhouse Fred
Hammond's "Glory to Glory."
As always, Bowman has only the best musicians playing on the project.
Al Turner, who was Anita Baker's bassist, produced a smooth funk
track called "Watch Out." Tower of Power trumpeter Jesse
McGuire, smooth jazz performer Dave McMurray, bassists D'Andre
Thomas and Terrence Palmer, Bowman's brother and keyboardist Brian
Bowman, and drummer Ron Otis (who works with Earl Klugh and Ronnie
Laws) provided just the right balance of heart and soul to make
this Bowman's best effort yet. To top it all off, the set was
mixed by Craig Bauer at the Hinge in Chicago who has mixed other
smooth jazz artists such as Dave Koz, Steve Cole and Brian Culbertson.
As he surveys the whole year plus time it took to finish the project,
Bowman sees a connecting thread through all the songs. "The
way I'm telling the story, heart and soul is how I feel,"
he explains. "You can connect `Smile' to `Happiness Is…'
which leads into `Wanda Patrice.' This album is full of songs
I feel. Then we go to church a little bit with `Glory to Glory'
and then, that leads back to my father who was a deacon in `Columbus
G.A.' Then, sometimes you just feel like flying away so there's
a song called `Flying Away." There's a song called `Just
Another Day' which is kind of a groove if you're riding in the
car looking out the window and saying `it's just another day.'
Then, at the end of the CD, I have a song called `My Prayer.'
I've had a chance to make a lot of friends over the years, so
there's a song called `Friends.'" With the release of "Smile,"
smooth jazz lovers everywhere will probably be making friends
with Tim Bowman and his music very soon.
