Guru - Jazzmatazz

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Free Music Notes for Jazzmatazz

Free Music Review: My God this is good
Hit: 5 Stars

I've heard a lot of different stories about how this album was recorded (who performed over what, what was improvised etc.) but as far as I'm concerned - that doesn't matter. The point is that this album is a real high-water mark in hip-hop, one that doesn't seem under any real threat of being surpassed just yet.

As Guru says in the liner notes, the album is "jeep ready" as far as the music is concerned and yet it's also the sort of music that your parents would enjoy. Both of those statements (as contradictory as they may seem) are 100% true. Tracks like "Slicker Than Most" and "Le Bien Le Mal" feature one of hip-hop's finest lyricists doing his job the way only he can. "Le Bien" is also noteworty for being one of the first introductions that France's MC Solaar had to the wider world of hip-hop.

As for the jazz credentials of the album - these aren't in doubt at all. A friend of mine who plays jazz trumpet was stunned when he heard the list of jazz artists who were involved on this project. After I'd taped it for him, he played it for his trumpet teacher who was equally stunned. Every single performer excells themselves on this album.

Donald Byrd's trumpet makes Guru's lyrics have a different cadence in "Loungin'" - while this is one of the standout tracks, it is somewhat hampered by the spoken sample at the end. Ronny Jordan's guitar is truly superb and will move you - either head or feet depending on how you're feeling at the time. The pianos of Lonnie Liston Smith provide a perfect backing to "Down The Back Streets", while Roy Ayers' vibraphones give a reat feel to "Take A Look At Yourself".

As far as I'm concerned, it is the 2 saxophone tracks that really make the album great. Branford Marsalis' work on "Transit Line" is that rare kind of instrumentalism which actually makes the listener experience what is being sung about (in this case, the feel of a New York subway). Courtney Pine is simply heavenly on "Sights In The City" playing both sax and flute. The track winds up being carried by an amazing sax solo at the end - the kind of solo which would not be worth hearing were it played by a performer of inferior class - as it is, the sax solo becomes yet another of this album's many highlights.

Of course, the other vocalists are superb as well. N'Dea Davenport and the other woman whose name has completely slipped my mind are both current or past members of the Brand New Heavies and they really bring that feel to their performances. Davenport richly justifies her inclusion on 2 tracks by sounding almost like a different singer from one to the next.

This CD has rarely left my changer sice I got it - let it stay in yours as well. You deserve it.

Jazzmatazz Poster

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