Music fans are right on time this Friday, January 30, 2026 evening at The Vogel in Red Bank, NJ for a concert of contemporary smooth jazz by saxophonist Richard Elliot.
Richard Elliot was born in Scotland but moved with his family to Los Angeles at the age of three. He began playing clarinet at seven but switched to saxophone in junior high school. Growing up, he listened to the music of Joni Mitchell, Carlos Santana, and Dave Brubeck, but was especially inspired by the Motown sounds of Smokey Robinson, The Temptations, and The Four Tops.
Elliot landed his first professional gigs playing for Natalie Cole and the Pointer Sisters. After touring with Melissa Manchester, he was asked to join the horn band, Tower of Power, and he performed with them for five years. He followed that up by working with The Yellowjackets in addition to a trio of his Motown idols: The Temptations, The Four Tops, and Smokey Robinson.
Elliot started his solo career with his 1986 recording, Trolltown, and continued with several successful Blue Note recordings including 1992’s On the Town and 1997’s Jumpin’ Off. His 2007 album with trumpeter Rick Braun, RnR, topped the contemporary jazz charts. In 2014, Elliot was nominated for a Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Album for his work on Dave Koz and Friends’ Summer Horns. His latest effort is 2024’s Straight Up Down.
Inside the Vogel theater, the lights dim and guitarist Gerey Johnson, drummer Eric Valentine, bassist Nate Phillips, and keyboardist Ron Reinhardt take the stage before Richard Elliot enters and the ensemble opens tonight’s show with an energetic rendition of Elliot’s funky smooth jazz composition, “Boogie.”
Impressing with his rich, full sounding tone, Elliot moves to the groove playing tenor before Nate Phillips takes off on bass and the two rhythmically perform face-to-face center stage to audience cheers and applause.
Segueing into “Right On Time,” heads bop in the audience as Elliot’s soulful sax cries out on this R&B-infused ballad. Gerey Johnson bends his guitar strings as he solos and Elliot sensually plays up and down his tenor on the rubato coda which is deftly accompanied by Rob Reinhardt’s cascading keyboard.
Drummer Eric Valentine’s steady beat introduces “Boom Town,” a rhythmic funk piece where Elliot renders the catchy melody before Ron Reinhardt is featured on a twinkling Fender Rhodes keyboard solo. The piece concludes with the ensemble heating up the stage under sweeping colored lights.
The crowd avidly applauds and Elliot responds by stating, “Thank you so much! How’s everyone doing tonight?” When a fan calls out, “Happy belated birthday!” Elliot replies, “I appreciate that!” before joking, “66 is kind of a weird number, but last year was cool since I got on Medicare!”
Elliot asks, “Do we have any Stylistics fans here?” and audience members cheer as Elliot and Co. step into The Stylistics’ “You Make Me Feel Brand New.” Elliot’s rich, sultry sax calls as he performs with emotion on a reimagined arrangement of this 1973 Philly soul hit.
Segueing into another Stylistics’ number, heads bop and feet tap to the funky R&B rhythm of 1971’s “People Make the World Go Round.” After wailing and growling on the sax, Elliot encourages concertgoers to sing along on the tune’s syncopated “People — make the — world — go round” refrain.
Music lovers react with energetic applause and Elliot introduces a song from his latest album, Straight Up Down, entitled “Very Delicious.” On this funky swing tune, Elliot walks across the stage, teasing the crowd as he dances with his tenor prior to rendering a bebop sax solo. Reinhardt slaps his keys on a rhythmic organ solo before Elliot ends the tune with a screaming sax coda under flashing lights.
Funky clavinet opens “Who,” a rhythmic hip-hop tune where Reinhardt rhythmically plays the “Who” lyric on the synthesizer while Elliot improvises up and down on his tenor. Nate Philips renders a funky and percussive bass solo, spinning in a circle in front of his stage mates as he plays. Eric Valentine offers up a hip-hop drum solo where he adds shots, fills, bass rolls, and cymbal crashes, impressing as he twirls his drumsticks while playing. Finally, the entire band comes back in on the coda, percolating and building to a dramatic conclusion.
Music lovers cheer and Elliot and the band launch into “Harry the Hipster,” a funky contemporary smooth jazz piece where Elliot plays high on his horn before the arrangement ends in a flash of light.
Elliot and Co. segue into a medley of pop tunes which opens with Kool and the Gang’s “Summer Madness.” On the arrangement’s ethereal-sounding introduction, Elliot bends notes and trills on his electronic wind instrument, aka EWI, to the audience’s delight.
After the rest of the band joins in, Elliot makes the EWI sound like a siren before switching over to tenor on this sensual R&B tune.
Continuing the medley with a song made famous by both Santana and Gato Barbieri, Elliot’s tenor screams out the melody of “Europa (Earth’s Cry Heaven’s Smile),” a soulful Latin-jazz number which features a crescendoing arrangement that fills the theater with emotion and elicits an enthusiastic standing ovation from the crowd.
Elliot explains to concertgoers that his EWI is a “cross between a saxophone and a synthesizer which also talks.” On “Cali,” he uses a mic plugged into the instrument to scat and sing, “Shake it, shake it, shake it,” before the band joins in singing and playing the chorus of Montell Jordan’s 1995 R&B hit, “This is How We Do It,” under atmospheric lighting.
Music lovers hoot and holler and Elliot asks, “Can we do one more for you?” The crowd responds in the affirmative and Elliot and Co. “keep it old school” with an upbeat rendition of the funky Rick Braun/Richard Elliot smooth jazz tune, “Heartbreak Hotel.” Gerey Johnson incorporates a snippet of Seals and Crofts’ “Summer Breeze” into his guitar solo before he and Elliot duel on their instruments to wild cheers, applause, and a standing ovation.
“Thank you so much! You guys have been wonderful!” exclaims Elliot as he and his bandmates leave the stage. Returning, they conclude tonight’s show with a sultry and passionate instrumental version of Percy Sledge’s 1966 hit, “When a Man Loves a Woman,” where Elliot gets down on one knee and plays with emotion and soul.
Inspiring cheers, applause, and another standing ovation, Elliot humbly reacts by stating, “Thank you. God bless you. Goodnight.”
As music fans make their way out of The Vogel theater, several comment on tonight’s performance by Richard Elliot. Remarks Thomas from Long Branch, “It was an absolutely wonderful show! It was great entertainment and a great night out.” Gary from Ocean County concurs, explaining, “Richard Elliot was fantastic! He’s come a long way from when I first saw him with Tower of Power. He plays with a lot of feeling and his band was fabulous, too.”
Janice from Fair Lawn reveals, “This is the second time I’ve seen Richard Elliot here at The Vogel and he put on an excellent show!” Evelyn from Little Egg Harbor agrees, adding, “He was fantastic and his band is excellent, too. My husband and I first saw him back in 1993 and he’s still got it!”
Richard from Bridgewater comments, “I thought it was a fantastic concert — the whole band was wonderful; they played so fluidly and sounded really smooth. His use of the EWI was tremendous and there was a lot of passion to his playing which the audience really embraced.”
Lastly, Louise from Holmdel insists, “Richard Elliot was fabulous! I’ve seen him before and he was so good tonight,” before Lisa from Queens, NY concludes, “I’ve been following Richard for 40 years now — I’ve seen him many, many times — and he was as good as ever tonight!”
To learn more about Richard Elliot, please go to richardelliot.com. For info about great upcoming performances at The Vogel — including Spyro Gyra on March 12, Jimmy Webb on March 22, and Rick Wakeman on March 29 — please navigate to thebasie.org/venue/the-vogel/.
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