Jazz Funky DL

Benoit Delbecq - Crescendo In Duke (2012) {Nato Music nato-4375}
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© 2012 Nato Music | nato-4375
Jazz / Contemporary Jazz / Modern Jazz / Keyboards

Crescendo in Duke is jarring. Not in a ridiculous or repellant kind of way— after all, it’s a collection of Duke Ellington compositions. Safe enough. It’s of the high quality usually associated with French pianist Benoît Delbecq, too. It’s just that it’s so straight-ahead, it’s all but unrecognizable as a Delbecq album. Delbecq’s made a name for himself with his prepared piano, creating a catalog of unorthodox jazz that can easily silence any grumblings about the gimmicky nature of mucking around the inside of a piano. But aside from a loop that underlies “Portrait of Wellman Braud” and a quirky take on “Whirlpool,” there’s not much of that here. Just the usual big band business with a more modestly-sized band.

A New Orleans musician in every sense of the word, drummer Stanton Moore's main gig is with his enormously popular funk band Galactic but he also plays with a wide variety of other musicians in both club and studio settings. Growing up in New Orleans, Moore was attracted to the thriving music scene, where he absorbed the work of Professor Longhair, Meters drummer Zigaboo Modeliste, and his mentor, Johnny Vidacovich. After meeting founding Galactic members Robert Mercurio and Rich Vogel in the early '90s, Moore played in a series of early versions of the group, including Galactic Prophylactic and the Ivanhoes (in which the band learned a good portion of the catalog of the legendary Meters, New Orleans' founding funk band).

Robin McKelle's previous recordings featured a big band, with her vocal stylings leaning on the pop side of jazz. While effective to a degree, she sounds similar in this setting, where this band is stripped down, a small horn section remains and electric keyboards still give the music a retro feel. Her tune choices are all over the map, copping soul and pop tunes with a funky underpinning, rarely swinging although occasionally shuffling, and featuring McKelle's coarse, gritty, at times supple, sophisticated voice. Her accompanying musicians are cream-of-the-crop up-and-comers, including keyboardist Xavier Davis, bassist Tim Lefevbre, saxophonists Mark Gross and Alex Harding, as well as two appearances by veteran Houston Person…

Singer and oud player Dhafer Youssef is one of the most appealing stars of world music, yet his music still resists categorisation within that vague genre. Last year we heard him in a "supergroup" with Omar Sosa and Anga Diaz, but he sounds more comfortable accompanied by the talented crop of Norwegian musicians loosely associated with "nu-jazz". This cool style of playing, loose-limbed and hard-edged, provides the perfect backdrop to the Mediterranean warmth of Youssef's compositions. The most significant collaborator is producer-guitarist Eivind Aarset, who supplies backdrops of wide-ranging style and density, while remaining empathetic to Youssef's musical personality. Youssef can be deep, light-hearted, complex, funky and achingly romantic, sometimes all within one song. The album's pace is leisurely, full of atmosphere, groove and great playing, but rarely self-indulgent; you never forget whose album it is. By taking the most positive aspects of nu-jazz, Aarset and Youssef have forged a thrilling new sound that could make Divine Shadows a crossover hit.

Kenny Burrell - Guitar Forms (1965) {Verve Master Edition 521 403-2 rel 1997}
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© 1965, 1997 Verve / PolyGram | Verve Master Edition 521 403-2
Jazz / Bop / Cool / Progressive Jazz / Big Band / Guitar

Though the jazz guitarist Kenny Burrell is associated mostly with Blue Note-based hard bop and soul-jazz (he had a hit with the funky "Chile con Carne"), he is also a musician of considerable artistry. Witness his landmark 1965 collaboration with Gil Evans, Guitar Forms, which rivals anything the arranger did with Miles Davis. Indeed, the track "Lotus Land" has a bolero form very reminiscent of Sketches of Spain.

Randy Brecker has been at the forefront of jazz since the late 1960s. His debut album as leader way back in 1969 was Score (Solid State). In addition to numerous albums under his own name he's also recorded with George Benson, Duke Pearson, Dreams and Larry Coryell's Eleventh House, to name just a few. But perhaps he is best known for the albums he produced with his younger brother, the late Michael Brecker as The Brecker Brothers. Lest people forget what a significant force of nature the BBs were, Stuart Nicholson in his book Jazz-Rock: A History, described the Breckers' horn lines as becoming "the model for countless fusion bands in the 1980s and 1990s."

The only constant about Nguyên Lê’s career is that it’s always evolving. The Paris-born and based musicianhas established himself as a preeminent voice in combiningmyriad global musics with Vietnamese influences in thrillingand groundbreaking ways. His latest release, Streams,continues in that tradition. The album is a collaborationbetween Le and the worldly-minded talents of Americandrummer John Hadfield, Canadian bassist Chris Jenningsand French vibraphonist Illya Amar.

Worldwide est le nouvel album du groupe parisien The Big Hustle. Avec un son très marqué funk, ses 11 titres font des incursions dans la soul, le rock, le hip hop… Emmenés par le bassiste Sébastien Levanneur, les musiciens - qu’on a bien envie d’appeler les « hustlers » - sont des aguerris de la scène française. Depuis, plusieurs années, ils travaillent avec des artistes ou des groupes comme Malted Milk, Beat Assailant, Manu Dibango… Ils sont influencés par le funk et le jazz électrique de ces dix dernières années (Lettuce, Soulive, Snarky Puppy, Electro Deluxe). Et ça s’entend !

Born in Azerbaijan, Shahin Novrasli draws on Caucasian culture, classical European music and jazz beats to carve out his own unique brand of music. A protégé of the great Ahmad Jamal, this young pianist is an artist and composer to be reckoned with. His art of improvisation, inherited from the mugham tradition, places him among the most innovative music-makers today, at the crossroads between East and West.