by Scott Yanow
This outing from Eddie Daniels is a definite disappointment. A remarkable clarinetist who ranks at the top of his field, Daniels sounds quite restrained throughout the easy listening set, just throwing in a few complex runs on &Beautiful Love& as if to remind listeners who he is. With a tasteful but rather anonymous-sounding rhythm section (including guitarist Chuck Loeb and pianist Bob James), Daniels mostly sticks to melodic interpretations during a theme apiece by Bach, Erik Satie, and Rachmaninov, four of his own originals, two by Loeb, and the title cut. The music, subtitled &Intimate Jazz Portraits,& is supposed to be quiet, but that is no excuse for it being uniformly dull. The clarinetist is obviously capable of much more significant work.