Type of Music: Smooth Jazz/Nuevo Flamenco/New Age

Hometown: Oldwick, New Jersey

Notable: Wayne Wesley Johnson has played guitar for several notable jazz artists, like Sandy DeVito and Eddie Berg, and even played drums for Les Paul (Les Paul said Johnson is "a fine guitarist. . . and fine drummer too." Johnson was even the leader of The Yellow Jackets, who I remember listening to back in high school.

Ruben Romero has been playing guitar since age 11. He has released over 17 albums, and played with other international musical stars, including Jesse Cook, Oscar Lopez, and Ottmar Liebert. And New Age label Narada has released two volumes that feature Romero's work, along with other guitar artists like Paco de Lucia and Al Di Meola.

Highs: "La Gloria" was one of my favorite tracks on the whole album, and one that really makes flamenco music accessible to casual or even new fans. The piece was originally written and recorded by Romero, and was recorded again for this album. The piece showcases the two different techniques of Johnson and Romero. However, my absolute favorite was "Caricias para la princesa" (Caresses for Princess Diana), a hauntingly beautiful and sad tune that was written by, and featured, Ruben Romero.

Lows: No joke, there really were no low points on the whole album. When you get musicians as experienced and talented as these two, you'll be hard pressed to find anything wrong with the music

. Fans: Anyone who loves great guitar work or likes to relax to guitar jazz. Fans of Al Di Meola, Ottmar Liebert, or Pat Metheny -- three big mainstays on New Age radio shows on NPR -- will love "Hypnotic Safari."

Production notes: This is probably one of the best engineered recordings I've heard in a long time. Everything is superbly mixed, and engineer William Bartley should be proud of the work he did on this. This is definitely a showcase recording if you ever want to show off your new high-end audio system.

Promo notes or Indie-Notes: My one real complaint with the whole CD is that the "Anatomy" section of the CD cover, which lists the background of each song, is written for guitarheads. Each song lists the different guitars, rhythms, tuning methods, types of guitar strings and even fingerstyles. Maybe I'm committing some guitar heresy by saying this, but this information really didn't interest me that much.

However, there was a little personal background on each song, like who it was written for, or some performance history of the song, which was more interesting. Plus, I did appreciate the bio and background information included on the cover -- which is very rare on any album -- so it's a trade-off.

Summary: Let's face it, both Johnson and Romero are guitar masters. Their technique and ability is razor-sharp and they're able to create some of the best jazz guitar work I've heard in the 15 years I've listened to jazz. If you can listen to Wayne Wesley Johnson and Ruben Romero without at least tapping your foot or humming along, have someone check your pulse.