When your uncle is jazz trumpeter Donald Byrd and you grow up in Montreux, Switzerland, home of the world's most renowned jazz festival, there's a good chance that you'll become a professional musician. In the case of contemporary keyboardist Alex Bugnon, he has taken this impressive lineage and built a career as a chart-topping artist and core contributor to the Smooth Jazz radio format. Ultimate Alex Bugnon represents the FIRST compilation by this chart-topping keyboardist, featuring Piano in the Dark, Second Time Around and 107 Degrees in the Shade.

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Head Over Heels Alex Bugnon 1. Elis 5:57 2. Any Love 5:31 3. Winnie 5:52 4. Missing You 6:01 5. Earth Interlude 1:47 6. Head Over Heels 6:10 7. No Other Love 5:00 8. Can't Get Over You 5:18 9. Dance Of The Ghosts 5:09 10. Human Epilogue

On Free, Alex Bugnon continues in the direction taken on 2003’s Southern Living, working in Atlanta with producer and fellow-keyboardist Phil Davis. Together they’re emphasizing a lighter, spacious, more natural sound. They’ve continued to reduce the heavy synthesizer tracks, spotlighting Bugnon’s acoustic piano and Fender Rhodes with strong melodies, light funk grooves and bright percussive detail. The band is made up of crack session players, including strong contributions from soprano saxophonist Vincent Henry, who coils in and out of the title track, and bassist Victor Bailey. Davis’s production values come to the fore here, adding rhythmic insinuation with exotic world-beat detail on tracks like "Sierra Leone." As usual, Bugnon’s piano sound has a special resonance. Whether it’s the percolating "Fingertips," the sultry "Pillow Talk" or the deep soul groove of "Downtime," Bugnon creates some soulful, floating moods here, reaching a career high in the process. --Stuart Broomer