Listening to and appreciating good music has always been a passion of mine. More than just a way to pass the minutes, I surround myself with music as much as I can, as it is one of my more passionate hobbies. From my loudest euphoric days to my most quiet introspective moments, music is always there. For me, music has the ability to soothe the soul unlike anything else. Music also has the ability to create and enhance mood. I’ve learned how music can really be a romantic and sensual conduit for your senses, providing a soundtrack to a romantic candlelit dinner or an evening of snuggling in front of a warm fire as a warm-up for a night of passion.

“Under a Lover’s Moon” is a collection of ten mellow jazz instrumental tunes built around the soprano saxophone and flute of Ken Kritzberg. It is intended to provide that soundtrack for your romantic moods and interludes.

The CD packaging is very impressive. The cover art is simply gorgeous, the face of a women basking in, as David Bowie once wrote, “The serious moonlight.” In this case, the serious blue moonlight. Looking at the dream-state that the cover art model seems to be in, one would get the feeling that the music to be found on Under a Lovers Moon had a very relaxing effect on her.

The CD starts out with the slowly hypnotic “Moongoddess Awakens” and melts into the more spirited “Outdoor Fantasy.” My personal favorites were the melancholy sounding “Lying In Clouds,” “Sensuous Rendezvous,” which had a Middle Eastern flavor to it, and the title track “Under a Lover’s Moon,” which features some nice guitar work.

At a running time of 55 minutes, the ten tracks that make up “Under a Lover’s Moon” run smoothly and seamlessly together, creating a sumptuous and sensual glow for your aural senses. There is a common soundscape that intertwines the tunes on this effort, but it does so without becoming redundant and boring. I personally liked the fact that there are no vocals on any of the songs. It allowed me to really enjoy the subtle nuances and different sounds of the various instruments that come into play on the CD.

“Under A Lover’s Moon” receives five stars from me. Of course, one’s tastes in music are totally subjective. Each of us has musical genres that we find pleasing and others that just don’t do it for us. Each of us also has our own idea of what type of music we find to be romantic. If you enjoy mellow jazz music as I do though, I think you’ll find “Under a Lover’s Moon” to be a nice collection and quite possibly an aural backdrop to a little romantic spark or, even as an added bonus, a mellow companion on a long commute home.