Edit: Unfortunately, the images originally included in this post are gone, because of hosting problems in late 2009. My apologies.
I love jazz, and by extension, I’m a big fan of acid jazz. Acid jazz is what I listen to when I want something a little more spunky and fun than a conventional jazz adventure. (If you know anything about South African music, I enjoy kwaito too, for much the same reasons.)
But it’s a narrow musical ribbon, something between pure jazz and hip-hop or house music. It’s not as popular as conventional jazz, or as easy to pin down as some other derivatives. So I’m overjoyed when I find a good, solid acid jazz album that plays well too.
Here’s one I love.
This is probably the best thing I’ve downloaded from Jamendo since Revolution Void‘s Increase the Dosage. Fast, fun, spunky, upbeat and musically perfect. This is exactly what I look for in acid jazz. I’ve listened to it about ten times in the last three days and it gets better each time.
The lead vocalist has an excellent voice, if a somewhat restrained range. It would be nice to hear her push her limits a little more, just to add sparkle to some already excellent tunes. The tracks are professionally mixed and edited, and come with a remixed track (Get Your Life) after a slightly faster, more house-ish track (My Joy) at the end. From start to finish this is a very precise, very professional and very fun album.
It’s unusual that I find something this likable on Jamendo, but I can’t help but give this one two enormous thumbs up. Download it; you will enjoy it.
Motho ke motho ka botho 