Flourishing in the smooth jazz friendly confines of Skytown Records, Swedish keyboard player Mattias Roos will release his latest project, ‘Cali Dreaming’ on September 12, 2022. Indeed with nine original compositions plus one carefully crafted cover ‘Cali Dreaming’ is everything one would expect from an artist who without a shadow of doubt is riding the tsunami of a burgeoning solo career.
Arranged, produced and for the most part written by Roos, ‘Cali Dreaming’ is quickly up and running with the vastly radio friendly title cut. It is the fourth single to be issued for airplay and bears testimony to the incredible quality in depth that this collection enjoys. The song features Jeff Ryan on sax and provides an outstanding platform from which Roos dazzles on keys. When sax duties switch to Gregor Hillman the result is the easy grooving ‘Can You Feels The Love’, which is one of three tracks to include bass player Dwayne Smitty Smith. Another is the recording’s only cover, a moody rendition of the Randy Crawford classic ‘You Might Needs Somebody’ that can be found on her 1981 masterpiece ‘Secret Combination’.
Talking of easy grooving it doesn’t come much better than the spine tingling ‘My Love’ whereas ‘Fast Lane’ (with U-Nam on rhythm and lead guitars) is the sort of feel good smooth jazz tune that is sure to attract follows. Much the same can be said of the relaxed yet enthralling ‘Feels So Right’ that proves to be a wonderful showcase for Roos’ abundant talents and that same relaxed vibe is very much the order of the day as he cleverly links the image of Cali Dreaming with the sort of weather that routinely defines this little piece of west coast heaven. Take for example the hugely evocative ‘Chillin On The Beach’, the equally so ‘Sunny Days’ and then, just as night follows day, the magical ‘Sunset Breeze’ which is anchored by Johan Björklund and Ingemar Åberg on guitars plus Wictor Persson on drums.
Back in March 2021 Roos released the single ‘Commercial Free’, a cool collaboration with hit maker, guitarist and double Grammy winner Paul Brown. Here Roos uses this joyous mellifluous and uplifting number to close out the album and in so doing pulls off a production masterstroke.
Indeed there is little doubt that if his legion of fans were not ‘Cali Dreaming’ before it is a fair bet they will be now.
‘Cali Dreaming’ will be released September 12 on the Skytown Records label.