VERNON NEILLY

With much respect, love and affection by these outstanding musicians, here you can enjoy various types of arrangements in diverse styles. This album proves Stevie's music is everlasting and there is no boundary of genre and category for him! Although half of numbers are instrumental, their emotional playing with remarkable intonation and articulation is just like singing then I find myself humming together. My favorite is "10. Isn't She Lovely (Instrumental)." Vernon's velvety tone of guitar comes straight to my heart as if I'm having vintage wine. I believe that one of missions of a tribute album is taking listeners into a world of original recordings. This album definitely succeeds in it and I especially hope the young have interest in Stevie's original songs too if they haven't become enamored with his music yet. Sorry for my selfish request but I'd love to get the vol.2 of this album ASAP!!!

Masahara Hoshino
Columnist/Guitarist
- Masahara Hoshino-Guitarist/Writer

Boosweet founder and front-runner, guitarist Vernon Neilly hits one out of the park for guitarcentric music lovers with his all-star salute to pop icon, Stevie Wonder in A TRIBUTE TO STEVIE WONDER. This one is summer hot with special guitar hero guests including great Greg Howe (Michael Jackson, Justin Timberlake), Grammy Award-winning bassist Juan Nelson (Ben Harper), numero uno progressive guitar virtuoso and label mate, Kiko Loureiro, as well as Smooth Jazz favorites, French guitarist U-Nam and saxophonist Michael Paulo (Al Jarreau, EWF). Neilly assembled musicians from several formats and three continents to pay tribute to the living legend. Stevie Wonder’s catalog is bursting with classics and chart-topping hits… Vernon and Friends approach the tunes with great respect and while honoring the brilliance of their composer by remaining integral to Wonder’s melodic structure; they stretch out and push the edges of the envelope. Tracks swinging our way with an essence of Smooth Jazz include “I Was Made To Love Her,” and the Michael Paulo sax-soaked “Isn’t She Lovely.” In addition, you’ll find some guitar-drenched tracks including “Boogie On Reggae Woman,” and “Don’t You Worry About A Thing” with a jazz-fusion approach (reminiscent of Santana’s “Aquamarine”) as well as striking vocals from Fabyan Irving (U.S.), Cristopher Clark (Brazil) and Carlos Zema (Brazil). Fans of Stevie, fans of guitar virtuosity and fans of music will dig this one! ~SANDY SHORE

- Smooth Jazz.com -Sandy Shore

Let's see, where do we start? Vernon Neilly is a name that will probably be familiar to only the most perceptive urban/contemporary jazz followers. His G-Fire release seems to suggest that Neilly is interested in going beyond a mainstream "smooth" jazz audience, really coming into his own with a diverse program that is as notable for what it takes in as for what it avoids. Truly an interesting record, G-Fire is not the typical groove dominated contemporary jazz record. Instead, Neilly, a capable instrumentalist, audibly displays his virtuosity and variety in his program. G-Fire is certainly one of the most interesting "smooth" jazz records to come out in a long time. It may be "smooth," but G-Fire has plenty of bite.
- ALL ABOUT JAZZ MAGAZINE By Peter Kim

Vernon Neilly teams up with fellow guitarists Kevin Chokan, Miguel Mega and high profile player, Mark Whitfield on this ambitious project. G-Fire II is their second release. Each guitarist has a difference in the musical styles and their compositions. Whitfield shows why he's one of the best guitarists in the genre with his tracks, "LFO" & "Smoov Soul". Chokan shines with the tracks "Twinkle Toes" & "Unconditional Love". Neilly & Mega round out the rest of the CD with some pretty good work such as "Por Mi Amour" & "Don't You Cry". This CD succeeded in grabbing my attention. It's a good piece of work that I recommend to all smooth jazz enthusiasts.
- Smooth Jazz And More

From the very beginning of the first note of this CD to the last my attention was riveted to the diversity of the CD project, and how smoothly it connected from one song to the other. Mark Whitfield who needs no introduction from his past recording projects for Warner Bros, and Verve Records, brings the same world class playing to G-Fire II, that has brought him much acclaim from jazz and music lovers world wide. Award winning guitarist Vernon Neilly founder of G-Fire also adds some smoke with his world renown playing, and even adds touches of his vocals skills to spice up this CD release. Award Winning Guitarist Kevin Chokan, musical director of Diana Ross, who has also been the guitar voice for George Duke, Chaka Khan, Phillip Bailey, Stephanie Mills, and many other top artists in Jazz and R&B music, brings his eclectic style to the already heated G-Fire II CD. Lets not forget Brazilian hotshot guitarist Miguel Mega, also an award winning guitarist who rounds out the G-Fire ensemble. This CD is truly a musical gem for your music treasure chest, one that you will listen to over and over again for years to come. Stand out tracks are "LFO", "Por MI Amor", "Angel", "Twinkle Toes", "Afternoon Drive", and the smooth as silk vocal ballad "Unconditional Love". It's loaded with good music !
- Taurus Sweet

Those who remember G-Fire will recall a bit more than just the coolest smooth jazz on the planet. The self-titled previous album gave an interesting twist to the marketing angle of music. These days, everyone from Mandy Moore to an ever-expanded ocean of indie bands can be on top if they can raise a thousand bucks and find the link to DiscMakers. Like self-publishing, this tends to beat quality control repeatedly on the head until the industry is dumbed down into submission.

Vernon Neilly
2. Por Mi Amore (radio edit)
6. Afternoon Drive
8. Sweat
9. Don't You Cry
11. Por Mi Amor (long version) Mark Whitfield
1. LFO (radio edit)
3. Smoov Soul
5. Angel
10. LFO (long version)
Kevin Chokan
4. Twinkle Toes
7. Unconditional Love Miguel Mega
12. Lumi's Song
What the G-Fire experiment has latched onto is album sharing. Find three musicians with a similar feel for the music, form a band, then square the CD into four corners, with each composer/player taking one each. Well, it's what supergroups like Queen used to do. For G-Fire II, the latest jazz-infested treat features the works of Vernon Neilly, Mark Whitfield, Kevin Chokan, Miguel Mega.

As usual, the fellows mesh perfectly, helped by the fact that the supporting talent is so soulful. Without looking at the CD track info, you'll find yourself never noticing that "Don't You Cry" bleeds in so well to the long version of "LFO" that they are two separate songs.

"Don't You Cry" fills in your 2 a.m. night drive with a positive outlook that can't possibly have you falling asleep at the wheel, even though this is technically smooth jazz on the adult contemporary side, layered with steady and nearly total Neilly control. The only thing the man didn't do on the lyric-less song is the bass, cool credit going to Charles Glen, who blends like charcoal on a blackboard. Neilly's high plucks in the electric lead guitar only show off the night, not the man, making it as sweet as love, hold the pain and heartache.

The killer tune on the disc might be the opening "LFO" from Whitfield, which also comes back with an extra minute at the end. George Fontanette's muted trumpet matches moves with Whitfield's taintless guitar lead via mirror-like precision. The effective and never overdone drum programming shakes steamily into Neilly's "Por Mi Amor" (twice, once for an extra minute at the end, as well), which blends an R&B color into the mix with a slight female vocal. Sifting blues with jazz, the experience simply allows Neilly to shine with a seemingly improvised performance while oceans sway in the mind and lovers embrace.

- MI2N Associate Writer Mark Kirby

Vernon Neilly is a Southern California guitarist who runs his own label from the Inland Empire town of Rialto. He’s one of the growing numbers of smooth jazz musicians who use their own wile and pluck to get their music heard, and his music is worth hearing. He can be heard too often on commercial radio, but he’s also favorite at Internet radio stations and makes music as palatable and enjoyable as the top musicians in the genre.

His first CD was marketed simply as G-Fire and featured him and other longtime studio and touring guitarists Miguel Mega, Kevin Chokan and Morris O’Connor. All wrote four songs each for the album. On G-Fire II, Neilly gets more credit, Mega and Chokan play on a few tunes but O’Connor is gone and in his place is respected jazz guitarist Mark Whitfield. Whitfield really leaves his mark on this project as some songs feature him exclusively while Neilly gets the spotlight on others. They don’t play on the same songs.

It’s a nice mix of guitar styles. Whitfield, for example, lays down some Benson-like lines in the CD’s opener, “LFO,” while Neilly comes back on the next track with the easy-listening “Por Mi Amor.” This song is so lounge-y it’s cool. Imagine you’re in a bar in the 1960s with a martini. Neilly also play keyboards here, and layers both that and his guitar over each other so they often play the same notes at the same time. The rest of the CD lives up to those two songs, which by the way are included on the CD as longer, non-radio cuts.

While it stays firmly rooted in easy-listening smooth jazz (none better than “Smoov Soul”), there are several musical styles that come into play. For example, both “Sweat” and “Twinkle Toes” (with Chokan) give a shout-out to reggae and are so infectiously upbeat it’s hard to grin while playing them. On “Lumi’s Song,” Neilly hands the guitar over to Mena, who plays a funky guitar on the album’s most rock-ish tune. With the marvelous “Afternoon Drive,” Neilly gets to show his vocalese skills a la Benson while programming some wonderfully quirky, 1960s-type drum sounds.

G-Fire II really shows a grasp of smooth jazz. This may be the album of the year for someone you’ve never heard of before, but deserves much wider recognition.

Smooth grade: A



- Brian Sorgel

Raised in Nassau as a child, Hawaii as a teen and later transplanting himself to Miami, Vernon Neilly is a musician who has been surrounded by beauty and music all of his life. His mother, an accomplished violinist, insured this. Now as a guitarist, Vernon plays with a passion inspired by like-minded forefather Carlos Santana laced with a tropical soul all of his own. His latest album picks up where its two predecessors left off with listener friendly smooth jazz and fusion tunes such as “Afternoon Drive,” “Twinkle Toes,” “Por Mi Amour” (long and short versions) and his style-defining “Smoov Soul.”

- Lisa Coleman

Although there are a zillion tribute CD’s out there, this one combines some instrumental licks, interesting vocals, and some axe shredding. Vernon shares the guitar duties with Greg Howe, Bill Hudson, Miguel Mega, and Kiko Loureiro. Michael Paulo adds the sax among a group of other competent percussion, keyboard, vocal and bass specialists. The songs are all classics, and the refreshing take on this disc is what was needed, rather than direct copies.

Boogie On Reggae Woman is a quick tempo, Greg Howe lick induced take on Stevie’s classic. I Wish is a quirky Stevie Ray sounding framework, mainly complements of Kiko, as well as the strong guitar interpretation on Don’t You Worry About A Thing. Bill Hudson gives Superstitious a feel that Jeff Beck would approve of, while Carlos Zema adds vocals with ranges that Ozzy would enjoy. This is definitely the single cut, made for airplay tune. Miguel Mega adds some cool speed runs to For Once In My Life while Christopher Clark does a great job on the vocal end. Juan Nelson among others does an admirable job on songs with complicated rhythms that Stevie originally layed down keyboard bass to play against electric bass.

It’s always hard to cover legendary material, but Vernon really gave it a major punch. The musicianship and arrangements are focused, and most of all fresh.

The overall combined rock vs. jazzy feel is unique, and the disc is definitely a guitar player’s interpretation of how they would play the songs. Give it a listen. Very diverse, good licks, I think Stevie would bop
- Skope Magazine