Checked out the top 10 aj releases from MP3.com to see what's out there...
http://genres.mp3.com/music/jazz/acid_jazz/
Here's my quick rating, on a 1-5 scale (5 is best);
1. Jazz in the Park, Vegas Lounge 2 stars... trumpet and Rhodes... the kind of repetitious melody that you hear on Smooth Jazz stations, but with some retro instrumentation. Lotsa trumpet here.
2. Bottle Rocket, Gretchan Lieberum.... 2 stars... Don't see how this counts as AJ... female jazz-type vocalist, not too groovy
3. Miles from Chicago, New York Horns... 21/4 stars... an Amandala / Tutu tribute? Complete with Miles vocal samples... professionaly done, and thanks but I've got Amandala (and Tutu)
4. The Bed's Too Big Without You, Gretchen Lieberum... 2 stars... someone's friends are working overtime with the downloading... nice muted trumpets in there...
5. Pocket Funk, Groove Factory, 2 stars... this is actually a pretty interesting attempt... steel drums and "future shock" era electro sounds... don't expect it to rock nearly that hard though...
6. Incognito, Mister Soul... 3 stars... hello, if it wasn't for the smooth jazz sounds dripping from every corner, this wouldn't be bad... certainly a nice sound... professionaly done, a nice, mildy danceable beat... some good solos... fun elevator stuff...
7. Wind Jam, Something Different... . A live recording, but a messed up file...
8. The Late Nite Bronx Organ Jam...Cleo's Apartment... 3 stars... Hey, it gets 2 stars for the title alone! Actually, it's not an organ jam, but a trip-hop excursion with some atmospheric trumpet (way back in the mix) and keyboard noodles, as well as your subway and other atmospheric noises...
9. Noon is the Crack of Dawn... That Phat...3.5 stars... Apparently, there are some Greyboy AllStar alums on this net-only ep release. Well, this is some big league AJ in that Greyboy vein, no doubt. Grooves nicely, some great guitar playing, drumming and a good, jazzy line.
10. Mr. PCP... Vegas lounge... 3 stars... Another artist with 2 songs in the top 10? How can this be? Corruption at MP3? More trumpet and Rhodes bizness... but this one a little funkier and more adventurous than the first. You've gotta really like trumpet to dig this.
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The winner... definitely "That Phat..." but only for those of you longing for the AJ sounds of the early 90's.... A close second would be Mister Soul....
DISCLAIMER: My ratings are adjusted upward somewhat in view of the fact that it was all FREE... The music overall is pretty tame
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu May 11 2000 - 19:23:46 MET DST