Grover Washington, Jr. - Prime Cuts: The Columbia Years 1987-1999 (1999)

The 1970's and early '80s were Grover's best years, so this "best of" package is hit-or-miss. To be fair, though, the late '80s weren't the best years for smooth jazz as many artists moved to synth bass and drums. There's some of that here, but there's also a few tracks that would have fit in on his albums Mister Magic or Winelight. There are three tracks here that were previously unreleased that may have been among Washington's last studio recordings. On December 17, 1999, after taping four songs for The Saturday Early Show, at CBS Studios in New York City, Washington collapsed after suffering a heart attack. Sadly, he was only 56 years old.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks:

	Title	Album	Year
1	Take Five (Take Another Five)	Next Exit	1992
2	Sacred Kind of Love	Time Out Of Mind	1989
3	Only For You (Siempre Para Ti Sere)	Next Exit	1992
4	Please Send Me Someone To Love	All My Tomorrows	1994
5	Strawberry Moon	Strawberry Moon	1987
6	Summer Nights	Strawberry Moon	1987
7	Heat Index	previously unreleased	1999
8	Next Exit	Next Exit	1992
9	Blues For DP	Then And Now	1998
10	Soulful Strut (The Top Down Version)	previously unreleased version	1992
11	The Love In His Infant Eyes	Breath Of Heaven	1997
12	The Night Fantastic	previously unreleased	1999
13	Protect The Dream	Time Out Of Mind	1989

Keepers here are Only for You (Siempre Para Ti Sere), Please Send Me Someone To Love, and Strawberry Moon. It's nice to hear the amazing Herbie Hancock bring it on Blues For DP and Soulful Strut (The Top Down Version) is a lot of fun. There's nothing skippable here; the remainder of the tracks are good enough for background music.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Time Out of Mind (1989)