Horrors! Smooth Jazz Artist Bleeps Cuss Word

When guitarist Marc Antoine releases his new CD next month, it could be the first time that a smooth jazz recording includes a vulgarity. But don’t expect a parental advisory sticker to be pasted onto Antoine’s Modern Times. That’s because the cuss word is beeped out.

It comes on the final song on the CD on a song called “If You Believe.” At the beginning of the tune, during a spoken-word exchange, a male voice is heard saying “Man, turn that (beep) off.” Antoine, of course, is in no danger of becoming smooth jazz’s answer to rapper Eminem – the guitarist is married man with a young child.

But he recorded the new CD in his Madrid studio with European dance music producer and club DJ David Ferrero, who no doubt lent his club and hip-hop sensitivity to the project that will be released on Aug. 16 by Rendezvous Entertainment.

"With the beep, you know something happened," says Antoine. "If, if you leave it in just like that, people will listen to it and they’re not sure of what they heard. It’s like, Was it? Did you really say that? So with the beep, you know something happened so you play it back and say, what? It was all just to save a sticker, man."

By the way, Modern Times is an amazing CD. It harkens back to Antoine's first project, Classical Soul, in its approach, but is still very much a hip and trendy 2005 piece of work.

Antoine is currently on tour in the States with Guitars and Saxes.