Jazz Articles about Various Artists

Various Artists: Cuadernos de Mexico

by AAJ Staff
January 20, 2005

Spend more than a couple of days in Mexico and it becomes readily apparent that people there make music in a very different way than they do in the United States or much of Europe. Stop to sip tequila in a cantina, and musicians will stop by on a regular basis to offer a song, scattered amongst the flower sellers, shoe-shiners, and other traffic drifting through. For a relatively small amount, depending on the situation, you can have ...

Various Artists: What Is Hip? Remix Project Volume 1

by Chris M. Slawecki
January 14, 2005

This is probably the release I had the most fun with--laughing alongside friends at parties, singing at the top of my lungs alone in the car with, fun--in 2004. Folks in or around their forties (such as yours truly, H.S. class of 1978) will find that this collection of classics Warner Bros. pop catalog, remaked/remodeled by the most modern of contemporary remixers and beatmasters, hits their sweet spots for new music and nostalgia.

Soft, trippy romanticism gently shimmers ...

The Complete Jazz Casual Series

by Mark Sabbatini
December 27, 2004

The Complete Jazz Casual Series Various ArtistsEfor Films2004 If Ken Burns' 10-disc “Jazz" is a freshman lecture, this is a senior recital.All 28 episodes from America's first television jazz series are featured in the eight-DVD boxed set The Complete Jazz Casual Series, where a huge number of legendary musicians such as John Coltrane and Dizzy Gillespie displayed their prowess between 1961 to 1968. Whereas Burns' series is slick and ...

Tribute to John Coltrane/Tribute to Bill Evans: Double Time Jazz Collection

by John Kelman
December 22, 2004

Various Artists Double Time Jazz Collection: Tribute to John Coltrane/Tribute to Bill Evans Eagle Eye Media 1987/1991; Reissued 2004 In its ongoing series of reissues under the Double Time Jazz Collection moniker, Eagle Eye Media has put together two tribute shows on one DVD that demonstrate how a conception that is reverent yet forward-thinking can work wonderfully in one instance, and somewhat less-so in another. Tribute to John Coltrane: Live Under the ...

Various Artists: The Rough Guide to Mediterranean Caf

by AAJ Staff
December 15, 2004

The title of this compilation is something of an invention, but it's a good idea and deftly realized. To the extent that the vast area bounded by the shores of the Mediterranean can be adequately sampled on one disc, this collection does the trick: sixteen tracks totaling a generous 76 minutes bring together music from fourteen countries. They range in tone from warm acoustic ballads to quick-paced electric dance numbers, but every piece is something that you could imagine hearing ...

Mixtaper.com

by Mark Sabbatini
December 8, 2004

Sometimes it's a great thing getting a reminder of one's ignorance.

Stumbling upon these user-created collections of free music downloads, usually compiled from different sites and grouped into virtual “albums," exposes an entirely new genre of site foreign to me despite years of scouring the Net for files. Maybe it's just associating the “mix" thing with the vapid techno/sampling remixes littering sites everywhere, but Mixtaper's genre-sorted collections fixes that perception in seconds.

Jazz fans, for instance, ...

Various Artists: Poor Boy: Songs of Nick Drake

by Jon Opstad
November 23, 2004

The popularity and appreciation of Nick Drake's music seems to have grown in recent years. Not long ago a tribute programme was broadcast on British radio presented by none other than Brad Pitt, just one indication of the increased exposure Drake's music has received lately.

The refreshing thing about Poor Boy: Songs of Nick Drake is that it never feels as though it is merely going through the motions as a tribute album. There is a genuine sense of reinterpretation ...