Michael Paulo's ingenious
"Millennium Swing" on the saxman's
Midnight Passion would have been the perfect party music to ring in Y2K with. Using the dramatic backdrop of the
Johann Strauss theme made famous by the movie
2001 as a launching pad,
Paulo weaves retro-soul and blues/funk keyboard flavors (alternating synth-created B-3 and Rhodes sounds) and wah-wah guitar clicks with brass flourishes and a playful call and response between his honking soprano and
Michael "Patches" Stewart's trumpet.
Then it's disco all the way with
"YT," which combines a punchy drum machine, soaring tenor melody, and a synth string line that approximates the vibe of the
Soul Train theme. Most of the other tunes are more typical of
Paulo's previous catalog, a mix of easy funk grooves and dreamy, smoldering ballads that the album title -- which recalls that of his first album, 1989's
One Passion -- would seem to promise. In looking towards the millennium, he seems to be surveying elements of the past three decades.
Kimo Cornwell's Rhodes brings a '70s
Crusaders flavor to several tunes, while
"Struttin' With Mama Mae" combines '90s hip-hop energy with occasional bursts of the type of synth accents that
Jimmy Jam and
Terry Lewis used with
Janet Jackson in the '80s. ~ Jonathan Widran
![Live in Amsterdam [UK]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0743218260827_p0_v1_s90x140.jpg "Live in Amsterdam [UK]")
![Whipped Cream & Other Delights [CD]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0814647020112_p0_v3_s90x140.jpg "Whipped Cream & Other Delights [CD]")
