Candy Dulfer "Sax-A-Go-Go" 1993**

When I first came to the Netherlands, I had a conversation with a young lady who told me she played the saxophone. I surprised her by telling her that it's a rare instrument for a woman to play. She believed it to be a rather feminine instrument. I guess that's a testament to Candy Dulfer's success in her native land: that she familiarised everyone with the image of a beautiful young woman playing an instrument previously associated with older black guys, and made it look sexy. Not that black jazz musicians can't be sexy to some people, but for most of us Candy is an infinitely preferable sight. Her father Hans Dulfer is a renowned sax player who began teaching Candy the basics of the instrument at the age of 6. Her debut "Saxuality" in 1990 sold very well and was nominated for the Grammy award. Although still only 20 years old, she soon began performing and recording with giants of the music world such as Van Morrison, Pink Floyd and Prince. This follow up plays up her R&B/Hip Hop influences and is obviously aimed at the pop charts rather than the jazz connoisseurs. The slick production values and use of synths and drum machines may have served their purpose at the time but sound dated today. Candy's playing, on the other hand, is technically faultless - maybe a bit too safe and sometimes almost bland. But it is what it is -no Miles Davis cool genius or John Coltrane passion but a pop approach to jazz as background music to groove to at a club or chill out with a glass of wine. The funky dance numbers include "2 Funky" (obviously), "Sax-a-Go-Go" (featuring rapper Easy Mo Bee), "Bob's Jazz" (classy acid-jazz with nice organ/saxophone interplay) and the Funkadelic-like "Jamming" - all composed with the help of her producer, Ulco Bed. Two classic soul covers showed what she can do given classic material: Average White Band's "Pick Up the Pieces" and Eugene McDaniel's "Compared to What" (the only track with full vocals, a bad idea when you're competing against Roberta Flack's original version). "Mister Marvin" and "Man in the Desert" are two mid-tempo originals while "I Can't Make You Love Me" and "Sunday Afternoon" a couple of smooth ballads. Granted, it's all glossily produced, packaged and sugarcoated to sell to a pop and R&B (rather than jazz) audience, yet under all the gloss and glitter there still lies a jazz musician. And not a bad one, either...

**** for Bob's Jazz, Pick Up the Pieces

*** for 2 Funky, Sax-a-Go-Go, Bob's Jazz, I Can't Make You Love Me, Compared to What

** for Mister Marvin, Man in the Desert, Jamming, Compared to What, Sunday Afternoon