Resurrecting Jamendo Thursdays

Edit: Unfortunately, the images originally included in this post are gone, because of hosting problems in late 2009. My apologies.

I remembered about an hour ago that I used to show an album or two from Jamendo every Thursday. I still get fresh music off Jamendo all the time, so I’m not sure how I fell out of the habit of reviewing it once a week.

Here’s an attempt to bring the tradition back to life. And just so you don’t call this a weak effort, here’s a triple shot of some great, great jazz — more than six hours worth.

Be warned, this is powerful stuff — sometimes daring and experimental, but always melodic and expressive. If you like your jazz clean and neat around the edges, this might not be what you’re looking for. This doesn’t fall easily into one bracket or another, and some of the longer sessions move between styles, sometimes without warning. Add to that, the albums were recorded live, so there is some variation in sound levels and background noise.

But it’s marvelous stuff if you like more “classic” jazz styles, or if you want your jazz without any refinements. No loops, no synthesizers, no beat machines — live jazz in a pure and unadulterated, undistilled form. This is the kind of jazz your high school music teacher really wanted you to like, before you went off in pursuit of big-hair pop music. 😉

Give it a listen; I’m confident you’ll enjoy it. It’s a big download — well over 600Mb total in ogg format, so if you’re not on broadband … find somewhere you can use it. It’s worth the time invested.