Jazz Articles
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Aka Balkan Moon & AlefBa: Double Live
by Karl Ackermann
The music of the Balkans has been progressively finding a prominent place among Western listeners of creative music in the past several years, though its presence has been a relevant factor for decades. Notably Raya Brass Band, Eastern Boundary Quartet and Balkan Beat Box have directly and indirectly incorporated the regional influences in the context of post-modern approaches blending regional folk, world and jazz elements. A number of like-minded musicians--the core trio, Aka Moon (billed here as the AKA Balkan ...
read moreVarious: The Very Best of This Is Acid Jazz: A 10 Year Celebration
by AAJ Staff
This double CD collection charts the growth and mutation of a genre that has little acid-ic about it, and whose links to jazz are usually by way of funk. The first disc, covering the years 1991-1996 has a distinctly more upbeat tone and features funky jam sessions that channel the energy of the peak of the acid jazz movement. Tracks from Little Big Bee and the Hip Joints are cheerful reminders of the kind of funk that Brand New Heavies ...
read moreVarious Artists: This is Smooth Jazz
by Robert Spencer
Yet another stellar smoothie collection from Instinct Jazz brings you the silky sounds of Kirk Whalum, Gerald Albright, Brian Bromberg, and more. This is the music of smooth evenings with young ladies like the one on the cover of this disc, and, smooth fans, glass and babies' bottoms never had it so good.
A minor quibble, that does not detract from the velvet danceable sheen of this music: this collection comes with helpful profiles of each of the artists, but ...
read moreVarious Artists: 10 New Smooth Jazz Releases from Instinct Jazz
by Robert Spencer
Just when you think the music can't get any slicker, or groovier, or smoother, Instinct Jazz does it again. Smoothie jazz fans, get on your dancing shoes and lower the lights; it just doesn't get any smoother than these ten.
Bill Sharpe,State of the Heart, Instinct 426
Keyboard sharpie extraordinaire Bill Sharpe lets the rhythm take you high on eight originals plus two from fellow keyboard wiz Don Grusin. The grooves are jumping but as smooth as they can be, ...
read moreCount Basic: Trust Your Instincts
by Robert Spencer
As you might expect from the Count at this point, Trust Your Instincts is funky, glossy, shimmery, soulful, wailing, smooth, and incredibly booty-shaking. The Count (is he this slick-headed gentleman accompanied by the amply-endowed woman in the liners?) delivers up, amid deft shifts of personnel, a nonstop funkfest enlivened by vocals as strong as those of any diva wailing and whispering and cajoling nowadays.
Underneath the vocals is popping synthesizer and drum work, laying down a foundation as smooth as ...
read moreVarious Artists: The Best of Acid Jazz: In the Mix
by Robert Spencer
Yes, yasss, dig him, it's DJ Smash, bringing you a nonstop party of Acid Jazz, that funky stepchild of the r&b funk pioneered in the Sixties by Lee Morgan, Ike Quebec, and so many others.
Everybody Loves the Sunshine" kicks off the jamfest is a vocal number from The Soul Society, featuring Roy Ayers. It's worthy of Earth, Wind, and Fire, or at least Earth, Wind, and Cool Breezes.
Sharpshooters follow with Heavyweight," a synthesizer boogaloo featuring chunky unison horns ...
read moreBrian Tarquin: Soft Touch
by Robert Spencer
This music was born in the Seventies. Do you remember The Hustle"? Barry White? If you like that, baby, this is for you! Danceable grooves that last all day long, fronted by Tarquin's sweet guitar, plus the saxophones of Phil Brown and Jacko Peake, Damon Brown's trumpet, and the sax and flute of Dave John-Baptiste. There's even a string base, courtesy programmer Tony Campbell.
There is nothing overheated, nothing overdone, not a hair out of place in the music of ...
read moreVarious Artists: Smooth Jazz Radio Hits, Volume One
by Robert Spencer
Oh yaaaaaaaaaaasssss, it's another smoothfest from Instinct Jazz, and this one, let me tell you, is smoother'n glass, smoother'n the finest crystal, smoother'n your bathroom mirror, and oh yaaasss, smoother'n yer baby's bottom.
It's two from the redoubtable Gota, three from the jam meister extraordinaire Count Basic, and one each from Soundscape UK, Brian Tarquin, Duncan Millar, Shakatak, Exodus Quartet, and Chris Standring.
If you do not know those names, and yet call yourself a smoothie, get this disc and ...
read moreNite Flyte: Ascension
by Robert Spencer
Ascension ! What! Nite Flyte, smoothies extraordinaire, covering Coltrane's most ear-stretching avant-garde piece of all?? Fear not, friends of Mr. Smooth. Other than a loose album-long concept ("Lift Off," Take Me Up," ), this smoothie document bears no resemblance whatsoever to Trane's fabled Sixties freak-out. No, Nite Flyte's Ascension is a freak-out for the Nineties, a feast for folks who couldn't care less about anything - not Clinton, not Monica, not Saddam, not Kosovo - except where and when they'll ...
read moreVarious artists: Smooth Jazz for a Rainy Day
by Robert Spencer
Smooth Jazz for a Rainy Day promises exactly what it delivers, and delivers exactly what it promises: shimmering smooth music, not a hair out of place, well-executed and solidly danceable. This Instinct collection kicks off with Joe Fuentes' Slow Brew," on which his reflective, musing guitar easing out over an elegant funk beat; it's a smooth opening to a goldmine for smoothies.
The elegant funk never lets up. On the second track, the more extroverted Maybe Someday," Darren Motmedy plies ...
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