Barefoot on the Beach

Barefoot on the Beach is a smooth jazz album by American singer-songwriter Michael Franks, released in 1999 by Windham Hill Records.

Background
Franks' relationship with Warner Bros. Records (and its subsidiary Reprise Records) which began with the 1976 album The Art of Tea ended with Barefoot on the Beach. The album was his first and only release by Windham Hill, a Sony Music label; subsequent albums would be released by Koch (E1 Music) and Shanachie Records. His compilation albums continued to be released by Warner Bros. The album includes Valerie Simpson, who sings a duet in "Now Love Has No End", Joe Sample, and Jimmy Haslip of The Yellowjackets.

Although the album evokes summer, it also contains biting commentary on Broadcast Architecture's dominance of American smooth jazz radio at the time with "Mr. Smooth". Lyrics such as "some of us remember how much choice there was, before he took the throne" and "his verdict we must wait" lament the dominance and perceived heavy-handed influence of the network on the genre.

Personnel

 * Michael Franks – vocals
 * Randy Brecker – trumpet
 * Larry Lunetta – trumpet
 * Birch Johnson – trombone
 * James Hynes – flugelhorn
 * Michael Brecker – saxophone
 * Chris Hunter – saxophone, flute
 * Bob Mintzer – saxophone
 * Andy Snitzer – saxophone
 * David Mann – flute
 * Bob James – piano
 * Charles Blenzig – keyboards
 * Chris Palmaro – keyboards
 * Mike Ricchiuti – keyboards
 * Jay Azzolina – guitar
 * Chuck Loeb – guitar
 * Steve Khan – guitar
 * Jeff Mironov – guitar
 * Jimmy Haslip – bass guitar, keyboards
 * Will Lee – bass guitar
 * John Patitucci – double bass
 * Dave Samuels – vibraphone
 * Brian Dunne – drums
 * Shawn Pelton – drums
 * Wolfgang Haffner – drums
 * Steve Gadd – drums
 * David Charles – percussion
 * Bashiri Johnson – percussion
 * Valerie Simpson – vocals
 * Tawatha Agee – backing vocals
 * Carmen Cuesta – backing vocals
 * Lani Groves – backing vocals
 * Jim Beard – strings

Reception
Writing for AllMusic, Jonathan Widran praised Franks' vocal style and longevity. "Countless musical trends have steamrolled by since this wry singer songwriter with the cool and collected, wistful onionskin voice first graced the adult music world in the mid-'70s [..] yet Franks has stood his ground, growing as an observational lyricist while his relaxed demeanor stays pretty much the same, and charmingly so." He concluded the album is "the kind of spring in your step music Franks fashioned his career out of."