Blue Note Revisited

This is yet another jazz remix album – this time with big Blue Note names, including Wayne Shorter, Donald Byrd, Eddie Gale, and Grant Green. A host of talented producers/DJs (DJ Spinna, Madlib, Herbert, Jazzanova, 4 Hero, and DJ Cam) makes this worth checking out. Everything just drips of jazz (obviously). Some tracks are duds, but there are some gems here.

I especially dug tracks 4, 9, 11, 13, but also check out 3, 6, 7, 12.

- Captain Dee (7/04)

1. Lounge-y female "ooohs," quiet piano and brass, quirky sounds. (3:47)
2. Starts with repetitive beat, xylophone-ish keys, occasional male vocals. Then everything comes alive with a fiesta vibe. (6:00)
*3. Ultra funky bass, jazzy keys, multiple female vocals. Uptemo beat. (5:23)
**4. Carefree horn riffs. Playful flute and moog-like solos. Atmospheric chorus of vocals and sax join in towards the end. DJ Spinna is the man. (6:03)
5. Swinging beat, blues-y female vocals, brass and keys accompaniment. (3:49)
*6. Sultry female vocals throughout. First half totally sounds like a porn soundtrack (not in a bad way). Then it transforms into a smoother, upbeat groove with strings. (7:01)
*7. Lovely little intro, then drums-heavy jam of moog, keys, and bass. Alternates between fast and lounge-y segments. (6:23)
8. Echoing female vocals, pensive keys and sax with slow bass and beat. Second half is clearer, and very catchy. (3:41)
**9. Raw hip-hop beat, warbling trumpet, some rapping samples with scratching. Top-notch production. (4:08)
10. Aggressive beat, cinematic background instrumentation. Very thick sound with occasional samples. Moog-like instruments go to town. (4:10)
**11. Trippy, haunting chorus of vocals with broken beat. Distinct Jazzanova sound with overtones of Prefuse 73 mixed with John Arnold, perhaps? (7:40)
*12. Dreamy guitars with crisp beat. Definite bossa nova feel. (4:43)
**13. Dark pianos (often electronically tweaked), quiet minimal beat. Great, heavily cut-up interlude that just screams Herbert/Doctor Rockit. (4:39)