A Night to Remember

Performer: Johnny Mathis
Artist: Kenny G; Yolanda Adams; Mone't; Dave Koz; Gladys Knight
Engineer: Joe Wohlmuth; Chris Brooke; David Channing; Elliot Peters
Producer: Walter Afanasieff
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: Personnel: Michael Landau, Eric D. Jackson (guitar); Dave Koz, Kenny G (saxophone); Walter Afanasieff (keyboards, programming); Curt Bisquera (drums); Tyler Gordon (programming); Tiffany Smith, Jason Migas Morales, Mabvuto Carpenter (background vocals). Audio Mixer: Jonnie Davis "Most". Liner Note Author: Jay Landers . Recording information: Shakeji, Inc. Studios, Las Vegas, NV; Studio 7303 Houston, TX; WallyWorld Studios, Los Angeles, CA; WEstlake Studios, Los Angeles, CA. Photographer: Jeff Dunas. Arranger: Walter Afanasieff. There are few singers whose appeal transcends the so-called barriers of time, style, and era, and velvet-voiced pop crooner Johnny Mathis is one of them. From the romantic Great American Songbook ballads of the 1950s and '60s to Philly soul to mellow urban R&B, Mathis sang them all right on to the Top 40 charts. A NIGHT TO REMEMBER is a collection that showcases Johnny in duet situations with younger peers (Yolanda Adams, Gladys Knight) and smooth jazz saxophone stars (Dave Koz, Kenny G) as well as on his own. Mathis still has that smooth, harmonious approach that has endeared him to generations of listeners. For 50 years, Johnny Mathis has wrapped his velvet voice around some of the best light pop arrangements in music -- whether it's Mitch Miller in 1958 or Thom Bell in 1977 or Walter Afanasieff in 2008. The 2008 edition, captured on A Night to Remember, may provoke few surprises -- the guests are frequent, the arrangements ineffably slick, the voice smooth yet heart-tugging -- but it's a fine latter-day album for Mathis, who spent the 2000s recording more Christmas albums (two) than non-Christmas albums (one). It's also his first straight-ahead adult contemporary record in a decade. Mathis sounds fantastic for a septuagenarian, and his duets (whether with singer or instrumentalist) prove his talents with the classic warm duet. The material he chooses is excellent as well; most of the songs strike the proper balance between the type of song everyone's heard but never needs to again, and the ones that should be heard more but might take more listens to carry. As well, it's a golden opportunity for producer/arranger Walter Afanasieff. Since the early '80s, Afanasieff has helmed most of the best records by many artists who have come later and courted the same audience as Mathis -- Michael Bolton, Celine Dion, Luther Vandross, Mariah Carey, and Kenny G, to name a few. He definitely saved his best for this date, a landmark in his career (though it comes too late in Mathis' career to outsell some of Afanasieff's classics). Of course, there's never a moment that's not slick and polished -- after all, not one but two smooth jazz saxophonists (Kenny G and Dave Koz) are featured on duets -- but the playing and textures from most of the musicians involved are genuinely inspiring. ~ John Bush

Although Johnny Mathis got his start as a jazz singer, his velvety 1956 hit "Wonderful, Wonderful" set the course for the rest of his career as a smooth pop crooner and key supplier of make-out music. He maintained a steady career course over the following decades, and in the late '70s enjoyed a renewed popularity, scoring a few high-charting duets with Deniece Williams. One of the most popular recording artists of all time, Mathis has reputedly sold over 350 million records, and his 1958 greatest-hits collection--the first compilation of its kind--stayed on the U.S. charts for almost 10 years. Past his 50th year in show business, Mathis was still recording and performing, his special brand of silky pop balladeering never quite falling out of favor.

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