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Back Roads is an album by the American saxophonist Bob Berg, released in 1991. It peaked at No. 8 on Billboard's Jazz Albums chart. The album was nominated for a Grammy Award for "Best Contemporary Jazz Performance".
Production
The album was produced by Jim Beard, who also contributed on keyboards. Its title was inspired by Berg's travels around his East End home. Berg was backed by Mike Stern on guitar, Dennis Chambers on drums, and Lincoln Goines on bass. Berg decided to focus less on technique and fast tempos, instead concentrating on the tunefulness of his playing. Some of the tracks were influenced by the music of Steely Dan.
The Boston Herald called the album a "calculated crossover affair", stating that "it features the breezy blowing and bright melodies favored by fans of the Quiet Storm radio format." The Philadelphia Daily News said that the musicians "function in the vein of the ECM label's most accessible, tuneful sessions fronted by Keith Jarrett and Pat Metheny." The Globe and Mail stated that "most of Back Roads is lighter, softer and indeed more produced than has been Berg's fashion... Chambers firms up a couple of pieces, but the rest comes perilously close to the pop-jazz of someone like Grover Washington". The Chicago Tribune noted that Berg "can sound as lite as they come one minute and like Michael Brecker the next." The Toronto Star opined that most of the tracks "are classy but typical synthesizer-inspired fusion exercises, jazz-tinged energetic rock at best and modish musing at worst".
