Album Review: "Wonderful World" by Chris Standring (8/10)

Ultimate Vibe Recordings

Producer: Chris Standring

Venturing boldly off the smooth jazz treadmill—as he did on 2010’s Blue Bolero—veteran hit-making guitarist Chris Standring applies his exquisite, warmhearted tones and vibrantly soulful sense of romance and swing to a batch of Songbook standards and the dreamy, optimism-filled original “Sunrise,” featuring the inimitable wafting trumpet cool of Randy Brecker. To add lushness and dimension, Standring tapped bassist Geoff Goscoyne to create caressing arrangements and conduct a string orchestra at Abbey Road Studios—and vocalist Kathrin Shorr to work her dusky, sensual vocal magic on “What A Wonderful World.”