Anchorage guitarist Pierre Bidondo and his brother Craig, a keyboardist and percussionist, spent six years because of that distance to record their just-released instrumental album "The Homecoming." The 14 original compositions, mostly light, Latin-accented fusion, date as far back as the '80s, and, for better or worse, the session is often reminiscent of a time when guitarists such as Freeman (lead player for the Rippingtons), Larry Carlton and Lee Ritenour were emerging among the first stars of smooth jazz.

One of the "betters" is acoustically inclined arrangements where the musicians' contributions are clean and well-defined, without the drenching synthesizers, slow thumping bass beats and saccharine sax lines that get so much airplay on today's 94.7 FM-LITE stations. Among the "worses" is the inevitable lack of opportunity to hear those players shine beyond catchy themes due to the four- and five-minute radio-friendly length of nearly all songs.

To the brothers' credit, most of the themes are strong and engaging, even if too often there is a vague feeling of having heard a variation by one of those early-era smooth performers. The opening "Samba Del Fiero" is a perfect example: I couldn't stop associating the song's lively and rapidly absorbing hook with a song from a Rippingtons album released eight years ago. Also, the brothers each take only a few bars for perfunctory improvisations that are more bridges than solos, a deliberate ignorance of the free-thinking musical spontaneity that's a foundation of jazz.

There's some breakout selections, beginning on the fourth song with the album's title track, which the brothers describe in their liner notes as the music for a "big Basque-style dinner with all our friends and family, Basque, Norwegian, American, etc., past and present." The beginning and end of the song feature noise reminiscent of a small live club, which is "our dining room percussion section and audio soundbites recorded at family gatherings over the past 30 years." The song itself is another upbeat hybrid of authentic Latin and American pop-jazz, but a sense of legit family affection provides a subtle kick of extra energy. The brothers also toss a playful and bouncy theme between them in "Natty Road," described as a country road walk with Bob Marley and Jerry Garcia, with a liveliness that makes it easy to envision the fun they might have had during the recording (and probably even more performing it live).

The liner notes do an excellent job of giving listeners a reason to pay closer attention, with entertaining and informative descriptions. "Skip It" is a tribute to their jazz and rock heroes, for instance, and they ask listeners to figure out some of those influences. "Bumpin' On Fourth" is described as a tribute to guitar legend Wes Montgomery and "the characters that populate Fourth Avenue in Anchorage," although it's a bit too much electric and too little eclectic to really paint that musical portrait. On the other hand, Pierre takes a bit more time to stretch out on guitar and Craig does likewise on "Oregon," a luxury both engage in more during the album's second half. Both play more harmonically than daringly, allowing the easy listeners to coast along in their mood uninterrupted, if depriving the close listeners of sustenance.

But too often it's easy to forget tepid themes as soon as a song is over, and there's very little chance to appreciate contributions from the five sidemen credited. Percussionist Gordon Lear is the most prominent of these, and his rhythms always ensure there's a healthy heartbeat, which just makes one wish he had a chance to show off the range of his talent during a couple of minutes on his own.

This makes "The Homecoming" a worthy background music acquisition and something fans of instrumental folk are likely to enjoy if a dash of audio salsa appeals. Appealing to jazz purists may never have been their intent, so it's hard to downgrade them too far for that, but there's nonetheless a feeling of untapped potential that leaves the listener feeling less satisfied at the end than they ought to be.