Solo effort by Sam Prekop of The Sea And Cake. Love this album and the two LP's that follow,"Oui" & "One Bedroom". Sam manages to fuse Rock with Jazz and some nice electronics thrown in. Hints of Satie & Eno even!
Solid, as is everything this band does. Chicago really is the crossroads of America!

Raw Stylus effortlessly combined british acid jazz elements with sophisticated, elegant Steely Dan-esque american jazz/soul/funk. In fact, like on this track, the music sounds very much like a Steely Dan backing track with warm Fender Rhodes keyboards, precise horn section, funky rhythm section and jazzy guitars. Which really isn't much of a wonder when looking at the credits of the album. Let's see: The album is impeccably produced by the Dan's producer Gary Katz, features an incredible amount of fine session musicians including Steely Dan regulars (like Bernard Purdie, Randy Brecker or Hugh McCracken), has even Donald Fagen providing synths on "37 Hours (In The U.S.A.) and they even embedded some chords of "Josie" in the song. Unfortunately, despite the talent, Raw Stylus remained a one album band to this very day, kinda sad actually...

A smooth jazz-funk groove with Rhodes and synths playing melodically against each other. It sounds like Azymuth. In fact, it is Azymuth. Conversation, glasses clinking, a girl laughs in the distance. And Silvio's voice comes in, nice and mellow, describing what it's like to have a bunch of friends over for a get-together. Although he's one of Brazil's hippest crooners, a man who specializes in somewhat cliched yet mysteriously cool and affecting love songs, he lays back here and lets the country's greatest jazz-fusion outfit do its thing. How many romantic crooners ever do that?

Cocktail hour Jazz ala Joey Altruda or Chris Joss or Montefiori Cocktail. Scofield's band are Medeski, Martin & Wood.

A perfect straight-forward jazzy take on the Beatles' classic. Goldie is in peak performance and reminds me of Michelle Pfeiffer in 'Fabulous Baker Boys' on this song.

This really is the stand-out track from Ed Motta's 2000 album, "As Segundas Inten��es Do Manual Pr�tico". On this album, and in albums since, Ed seems to span jazz-latin reluctantly with pop. The rest of the album, bar a couple of tracks, is a fairly straight forward pop affair, but the song writing on his albums since have been a lot more adventurous and in this vein, but nothing has matched it since.

A masterpiece of post rock genre! cheerful, jazzy, incredible sound..it takes you to another world..

This track makes you wish you had some of the title. A crazy mix of marimba, sax, and sitar grooving in a rock-jazz mode. Probably his best work from the period, apart from his great jazz-mass from the previous year with Lalo Schifrin. This album is full of now sound madness, with Oliver Nelson leading most of the set in good form, but the two PH directs himself, this one and "Guv-Gubi" make the record worth seeking out.

Cool in the Xxtreme !
Sixties dance jazz funk instumental from harpist Dorothy. Complete with organs, flutes and bongos it is driving classy joyful music .

The album also contains the awesome "Action Line " which is weirdly atmospheric and deeply strange

This is one of my favorite songs of all time. Very cool soul-jazz, with vicious, biting lyrics. "Money can buy you silk and sable/false religion/fame and fable". Young and Holt even manage to get a dig in at their former boss Ramsey Lewis by mockingly quoting from his big hit "Wade in the Water".

A slow modal jazz blues from the record that defined modal jazz.
Miles - Trumpet
Julian "Cannonball" Adderly - Alto Sax
John Coltrane - Tenor Sax
Bill Evans - Piano
Paul Chambers - Bass
Jimmy Cobb - Drums
Like allways with Miles all musicians are outstanding. The modal form - in short very few chords and more based on notes in scales - whas new and fresh so the musicians had to be very creative and innovative. And They Succeded in making some of the best music ever created.

The song is actually a show tune - originally from 'Gypsy'. The only place I know this version exists is off Harry Connick's laser disc - featuring a live performance from '91. Anyway, if you listen to Mel Torme belt out this showtune, it sounds, well, like a showtune. I'm not a big fan. It's kind of dimply cheeked-cheesy. Harry sings it like it's an absolute standard. Slows it down, gets a little soulsy and smooths it out... perfect crooner jazz. Unfortunately there is a good deal of talking and tap dancing breaking up the song.

"as political a song as I got" - says Ben Folds.
a quieter bouncy jazzy song where Ben sings to his son about how fucked up the world is. they point and laugh at the ignorance and consumption of most of the world. two verses and a solo or two, a short song comes together for his EP, Sunny 16. here's hoping he'll revisit it and flesh it out with another verse for the promised album...

An unusual take on this classic Burt Bacharach tune, more commonly heard sung by Sandie Shaw. This Swedish vocal group adds a musical phrase to the song which adds something to the atmosphere. The incredibly wide vocal range of the group is used to full effect. The result is a very appealing mixture of 60s pop and vocal jazz.

Soul Yatra-the band that tours worldwide for Henessey, has recorded an album titled 'live on tour'.
Download mp3 tracks from the album at:
http://www.geocities.com/jazzgoa/soul

Joni Joni Joni. Great poetess of the north! A wonderful merging of folk & jazz here. Some of the most beautiful poetry by this already prolific artist. Also a standout on this record is the bass playing of Mr. Jaco Pastorius. From the poet who said "we are stardust,we are golden,we are billion year old carbon,and we've come to find our way back to the garden. Joni Mitchell "Woodstock"

Today on my way out from my favourite store I saw a bargain bin that had the lp 'In and out of Focus' (by Dutch band Focus). Anonymus is the B-side opener with magic interplay between flute and guitar (Jan Akkerman vs Thijs van Leer). Dutch progjazzfunkystuff all the way. For 50cents it's a perfect buy; I never bothered to pick it up along the way during many visiys. Essential listening!

This is one of my favorite Bacharach-David songs. It would be difficult to top Dionne Warwick's original, but Anita Kerr's jazzy cover comes awfully close. Kerr's arrangement is more muted and pretty - and when the drums kick in between chorus and verse, the results are breathtaking. Real cool!

If You have a good hi fi system seriously set up with good speaker cable and good interconects and your taste is smooth jazz. this lady is wonderful. Just piano double bass and drums hear. The detail in this CD recording is brilliant. every light touch the drummer makes you can pick it out. the track i have picked is the title its soft haunting and rather special have a listen.

http://www.jazzweek.com/feature/article/7_000432.html

A really nice cinema-pop gem from the team that brought us The Windmills of your Mind. Sung by Sally Stevens, one of Hollywoods great voices. Such a charming little song. It's one of those things you instantly play again after the first time you hear it. It's more or less a song about freedom, with lyrics that still sound fresh today:"...Bullets fly like popcorn on the screen, recommended wholesome nice & clean, making love's the thing that can't be seen... Why?"

Found it on this sort of cash-in LP for LeGrand's UA soundtrack work from 1970. Originally from the soundtrack for "La Piscine", which is harder than hell to find on it's own. The LP is awsome for fans of LeGrand for it has 3 tunes from "The Thomas Crown Affair" , "La Piscine" , "The Young Girls Of Rochefort" & the jazz theme from "Play Dirty".

I think this song is possibly Supertramp's best, though I think it could have been better too. The lilting first verse is particularly striking, although as the song builds, the shrillness of Roger Hodgson's voice becomes wearing and there is an excess of repetition. The instrumental breaks in particular show one of the band's more positive characteristics - a jazz-inspired rhythmic urgency, and the sax solos are as excellent as always.

Here is a real music man from Africa who stirred alot of contraversy by forming his own political party and using his music as a weapon against the colonial british government. He wrote Beasts of No Nation in 1986 after spending 3 years in jail without being convicted. Beautiful voice!! Influenced by American jazz and Drum rhythms of west nigeria. Many consider him the African James Brown or Bob Marley, but this is not so. Find out for yourself!

Pat Fish of Northhampton, England, is not a rock star for reasons which might include his naturally reticent and embarassed nature, excessive amounts of Oxford education, and the vagueries of the marketplace, but would not include his songwriting talent, which is massive, if perhaps a wee bit limited in scope (no weird chords, all songs about heartbreak, drunkenness, or cannibalistic fantasies about the Prime Minister). "Big Saturday" is a rousing near-rock number in Pat's heartbreak mode. His singing is liquid, soulful (but not shouty), tender, and helpless in the face of love...a love that MUST remain unrequited for the good of other friendships and sundry considerations of duty and fidelity. At least, I think that is what is going on in this simple, yet devastating tune. For more info, see http://www.jazzbutcher.com/htdb/albums/sex.html

Acker's trad-jazz stuff leaves me cold, but this groovy instrumental picks up a musical theme (from the 1963 movie version of the Keith Waterhouse classic) and runs with it.

An AMAZING rearrangement of "Eleanor Rigby". Earland kills on organ, and he's backed up by the incredible Melvin Sparks on guitar and Houston Person on tenor sax. An absolute classic of Hammond jazz.

Just a perfect, perfect pop song. Makes you wanna dance and groove along, but at the same time it's soo unbelievably sweet and a just a liitle melancholy. It starts with a drum beat, and then there's this bass-and-drums groove for a few seconds. Then a little sweet electric piano line enters, just before the voice begins singing the melody: "I'm drinking stars up in the sky, you know where you are / I'm driving cars around your house, it seems so fun". When it's time for the chorus ("So listen to my bubble go pop / I'm coming in, I'm coming over the top"), the main voice sings over a backing vocal doing an "ooh" harmony, and then there's absolute genius backing vocal, where the word "pop" becomes "papapapa". After that, a little guitar riff/solo, along with a very cool electric piano line. Then it just repeats everything all over again one more time, for infinite happiness. The time for a middle break has arrived. A new funky bass groove with lots of different "papapa"s harmonizing together. Now, go back to the first bass-and-drums groove, with a jazzy, relaxed guitar solo, and then it's just grooves and grooves and heavenly harmonies, "Blowin' bubbles".

A very tasty and rather 'European-sounding' cover of the 1967's psyche-jazz Tom Scott's original from the well-known session percussionist-vibraphonist Emil Richards. Although it comes in a compilation of Emil's best late 60s latin-jazz recordings (interestingly, not a single horn instrument is used in the whole set!), this is an energetic percussive jazz-rock piece, with great vibraphone and bells(!) solos.

Groovy! groovy! This is one of the better versions of Tom Scott's indo-jazz swinger, and has been compiled a lot over the years. It has this great buzzy sitar played by Bill Plummer, and some sweet flute by Ira Schulman, who's presence on the album just sets the whole thing off! Dave Mackay's the blind pianist behind a lot of great west coast jazz like Don Ellis & Emil Richards, and his touch is just effortless. The two harmonize on the best tracks, like this one, sounding an awful lot like Jackie & Roy at times! Also, Vicky does a great Gismonti-inspired piece called "Moon Rider" and there's a version of Mackay's moody "Here" that's just sublime. A winner all the way, and must for J&R fans for sure.

One of the most nonsensical song title ever, yes, I know and much derided for that reason, but to quote Otis Redding when told his lyrics didn't make any sense, "I'm gonna worry about settin' the groove. I get that groove going, they don't care what I say." Boogie Oogie2 has got groove to spare, with a jazzy intro (similar to Boogie Nights by Heatwave) before that bass line drops in shakes the floorboards. Just like all the dance craze songs of the 60s, the disco era about vocals were mostly used as a counterpoint to the rhythm section. The Mizell brothers add a touch of sophistication to this female-led band (Hazel Payne and Janice Marie Johnson on bass and guitar - they're the ones on the awesome album cover) which is a step further in the commercial direction after their work with Jazz Funk kings like Donald Byrd, Gary Bartz and Johnny Hammond. This song is up there with G.Q.'s "Disco Nights (Rock Freak)" and anything by Chic in the sophisticated disco category.

A remake of the Paul Simon song, Erin Bode takes the words and adds a soft, jazzy sound to it.

This is part of the De Wolfe library collection. A good library collection has just been reissued in Japan that includes some of the better selections that this catalog has to offer. Now that most of the great music libraries have found snug homes, this CD is an easy way to avoid the price gouging and hassle of scoring a song you just want to listen to. I like this song because it has a unique cool and light tone, while being somewhere in between bossa and uptempo dancefloor jazz. Something to listen to in the shade at the beach. It only clocks in at 1:41, but you couldn't ask for more or less.

Really suprised to see this one in a thrift store recently. I was taken back by the bad cover photo of some blue cheese in tin foil with saltines and a bottle of wine.(?) Anyway, the music is fantastic, much in the vein of Jobim's CTI work from the same period. This piece grooves almost more in a Deodato way, with a nice funky nocturnal jazz bite. Nice to see the gap close on the years between his Bossa Rio stint and the records he did for Discovery.

Strangely enough it was recorded in Minneapolis MN while he was living there. On the RCA subsidary Daybreak.

a couple of great spy jazz tracks from the movie "si j'etais un espion" by my favourite old pervert..funky guitar/strings combination followed by a morricone-like piano part. (this entire soundtrack seems to be quite inspired by some of morricone�s work...) there's a really nice repetetive bass line that pops up a couple of times during the track.

A band that blend elements of classical, jazz, funk, rock, folk, and electronic music.

Why i like it; a beatiful song about moving forward in life, and Katie Noonan's vocals are wonderful to listen to....

...Say i love, i live and breathe in now....

The idea of a funky jazz harp rendition of this classic Jim Webb song is probably cheesy to some people, but trust me, this one works brilliantly. The opening shimmers delightfully with fender rhodes piano, strings, and a huge breakbeat. Dorothy's harp then takes over, and we move into a nice pop/funk/jazz take on the song. The relentless beat is pretty funny when you compare this version to others (e.g. the Glen Campbell hit version, also Nick Cave's classic stripped down version from 'Kicking against the pricks'), but it is really very charming, happy stuff. A similar funk/pop hybrid occurs on her version of 'Windmills of your mind' - highly recommended.

Great loungey beat that's dying to be sampled. This is early Brigitte Fontaine and it reminds the folks at Dusty Groove of early Serge Gainsbourg. I agree. Cool upbeat jazzy beat with emotive singing. Wish I spoke French. The only problem with this song is that it's too short.

One of the far too few originals on this great underrated LP.The duo has a familiar west coast pop-jazz sound,much like their labelmates Bud Shank & Joe Pass.Except where as those two have way too much generally lackluster output,this duo has tons of talent packed into one exciting session! Ken plays an icy alto & soprano not unlike Paul Desmond and Beverly sings with all the grace and soul of ladies like Lena Horne and Dinah Shore. In this track, one of the most energetic on the LP,the group swings in a brisk 5/4,with Ken blowing a soulful line and alternating into creshendos with Beverly paralelling in a sassy vocalese. Wonderfully breezy,and just the kind of peppy bossa-like lounge tune you'll listen to over & over & over...They also do great versions of"A Man & A Woman"(with Ken adding some tasteful vocals himself)and "Eleanor Rigby"! A tough record to find, and no compiled tracks are anywhere to be found.... sad.

Glad to see all of the Nick DeCaro recommendations here. I'm going to jump on the bandwagon and recommend my favorite DeCaro recording.

DeCaro interprets the "Pet Sounds" classic in a jazz style which recalls Chet Baker more readily than Brian Wilson.

A suprisingly emotional track which stands on its own.

Good Beach Boys covers seem to be a rare thing. This is easily the best I've heard. Any recommendations?

My favorite cut from this amazing soundtrack. A mix of Alpert, Glockenspiel, and jazz scat... Unlike anything else recorded really.

Two years before he became the musician responsible for the great music featured in the classic 'Peanuts'animated TV specials, Vince Guaraldi and his trio hit the charts with this great little instrumental that is the epitome of San Fransisco-style jazz. Vince Guaraldi was a master at Jazz piano and the artists who performed with him created truly great performances that any lover of jazz will be glad to have in their collection.

PS: Released as the B-Side of a single to radio stations, disc jockeys preferred it over the A-Side.

This is a jazzy, haunting track from an LP I bought in Brazil last year. I've tried hard to find information about Jean Kelson, but the only mention I've found (other than those I've made myself) is in one of Ed Motta's excellent archived radio shows at his official site (http://www2.uol.com.br/edmotta/sala.htm). Ed plays a different track from this album, Munganga.

Catolé sounds musically like a variation of Baden Powell's classic 'Berimbau', and opens with an incredibly catchy refrain featuring piano, percussion and trumpet. Gentle male voices then come in and flesh out the melody. The entire album is great. I wonder what the chances are of it coming out on CD...

Don Ellis is a often overlooked trumpeter/bandleader. His style of jazz was most well recieved in CA, and he's most famous for his Fillmore appearances opening for people like Janis Joplin and Frank Zappa. This is a demonstration of his prowess and his ability to construct an amazing band, and take them to new heights. Recorded hot on the heels of his French Connection score, and more than a decade into his career.

The piece is a sprawling morphilogical journey, full of orchestral passages and time/tempo changes, and blissful rests. He utilizes an "Electric String Quartet", which, through the magic of studio production, sounds like a full string ensemble! Making the wole track just bristle with dark energy.

Produced by the great Teo Macero, who had been doing great work at Columbia for a long time. He did some stuff with Ramsey Lewis around the same time, as well as Miles Davis. This record also has a great version of his "French ConnectionTheme" and really entertaining versions of "Alone Again (Naturally)" & Yes's "Roundabout"!

This nice slightly avant-gardish jaz track i found on a cd for 2 euro's.

Excellent early jazz song from Serge with a very sparse arrangement and a lively rhythm. Further proof that the man could do anything he wanted.

A beautiful take on this tune, which sounds as if it were made for the group. The sound is typical of Sergio Mendes’s work - a strong driving bossa nova beat, a beautifully clean piano arrangement, and tasteful vocals.

i've always had a weakness for clarinets. especcialy in jazzy hip hop-influenced chillout music. love the lady-sample.fits comfortably next to the following track, "love scene", too.
a nice bit of incidental music for your life.

What a wonderful gem of a song. It gives a "Shaft" type of feel with an fresh air feel to it. A great underated masterpiece written by the late great Curtis Mayfield for this movie. Apparently this is a forgotten track on this album and overshadowed by the sublime on and on. Break this song out during a party and you become the definition of hip. Enjoy!

Born in Broooklyn , NYC, the Puerto Rican blooded percussionist, has jammed and recorded with most of the jazz and latin legends, Charlie Parker, Art Blakey, Lou Donaldson, Dizzy Gillespie and also sessioned with names such as The Stones, Average White Band, Bee Gees etc.
Cocinando Suave is an outstanding "descarga" , a jam session described by Ray himself as "... a slow burner" Listen and enjoy

I first heard this song sampled on 'The Truth' by Handsome Boy Modelling school, essentially the bones of the instrumental coffee cold, with new lyrics from Roisin Murphy (much better than Fergus MacRoy's on a alternate version of the original).

The song itself is piano based, and has amazing drumming. I am a musical goon and cannot explain it much more than that, but the song has a really nice dusty feel to it. The fact that this was sampled in a modern hiphop record and the drums remained unenhaced says a lot.

This is a great song and well worth tracking down for any fans of funk, jazz or hip hop.

Although this track is not my favorite from Berlin's Jazzanova, I think it best represents the best bits of of their own work and their remixes for others. This track is a few years old but has been newly remixed by Japan's Fukutomi. Jazzanova are at the forefront of the nu jazz scene in the dance world. Beginning with a soulful piano introduction, the tune breaks into a heavy bass driven uptempo beat, sprinkled with a bit of a jazz scat, and a sample of a very haunting and seductive flute solo that sounds as if it has been lifted from an old soundtrack. The song however is not as simple as this review and must be listened to carefully to appreciate all that it offers.

This track wasn't what I expected. My previous favorite version of this song (although I have many) was probably the one by Mel Torme on his 1962 album 'Right Now'. And since that version was arranged by Ogerman, I had expected this version to be simply an instrumental version like Torme's recording - a cool, finger-clicking, jerky pop number. In fact, there's something much cooler and more sophisticated about this version.

The tune is picked out first by an organ, and then by the brass and woodwinds before returning to the organ, which then jams around the main tune. A really beautiful string section comes in early on, creating some unusual chords that really add to the song and work very well alongside the 'cool' effect of the organ and rhythm. I wish Claus had recorded more songs with this mixture of percussion, jazzy instrumentation and lovely thick string parts. A few tracks on one of his other 60s LPs, 'Latin Rock,' come close, but I'm not sure any of them are as nice as this one.

vocal jazz/funk/soul

The first track from the first of Joni�s �jazz� LPs of the late 1970�s is all about opposition and equilibrium, (as are all her songs from this period). It is both richly melodic and dense/chant-like in structure, empty and lush in arrangement, its propulsive/hypnotic groove studded with Jaco Pastorius� weird, atonal bass speed bumps. Joni�s words/voice/performance is likewise wildly romantic and knowingly jaded simultaneously. The song is the sound of best singer/songwriter ever elegantly/effortlessly pushing the envelope.

David Snell is an amazing harpist. This track was originally released in 1975 and is from the "On the Side of Angels" album. Since then, it has been found on a variety of compilations; The Mighty Mellow, Cinemaphonic 2: Soul Punch and many others. A great jazz track.

"Easy fantastic, lonely together.." - I have listened to this song at least 100 times since receiving it on Audiogalaxy. Simple yet beautiful. I never knew Mos Def had such a pleasant and sexy voice! I am in heaven when he sings "I just go walking in the rain ... when I feel you passing by..." The back drop is provided by the talented contemporary 8 string jazz guitarist Charlie Hunter (once a member of Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprosy).

Italian singer Edda dell'Orso is the voice backing many soundtrack scores and lounge-beat tracks by Ennio Morricone, Alessandro Alessandroni, Armando Trovajoli (and his 'Mark 4'). This is a Cinecitta-composer Romolo Grano composition for the cult fantasy-drama TV-series 'La Montagna della Luce'. A very deeply and sensually voiced Edda accompanies the slightly latin-flavoured, percussive funky-jazz piece; the haunting funky bassline and a very gentle tenor present throughout the track complete this exotic, obscure jazzy soundtrack.

Many people think that Petula Clark first came to the US when the song 'Downtown' topped the charts in 1965. However, she actually came to Los Angeles in 1959 and recorded an album of Jazz songs. Among the many treasures produced during these sessions is 'Darn That Dream'. She sings this great song with all the innocense and charm of a hopeless romantic whose desired love is just out of reach. Her resignation to unrequited affection for her unavailable romeo is interrupted briefly by a soaring interlude from the orchestra. The sweeping melody almost suggests that she is dreaming of being held in "his" arms as they dance across the floor of a dimly lit ballroom. In the end she must come back down to earth and awake to the reality that she will never have the man of her dreams, however she refuses to give up the hope that one day she will get her happy ending. I know I'm rooting for her!!

On "Aja", Donald and Walter reached the zenith of their perfection, with an unsurpassed attention to sonic detail and texture. In fact, the recording of these 40 minutes of music took them about a year of studio work. They assembled an incredible array of the finest session musicians around at the time, creating 7 timeless tracks of jazz-rock fusion, impeccably engineered and produced by Roger Nichols (this is the other Roger Nichols!) and Gary Katz. "Deacon Blues" is certainly one of the most heartfelt, mellow tracks they ever created. It never ceases to amaze me how seemingly effortless they create this elegance in the harmonies and chord progressions.

Super organ led (Herbie Hancock no less) Swinging jazz dance number... Buy the album, if only for this track and the Brilliant cover!

A musical excursion through psychedelia,hip hop,country and jazz,in a compact slice of sample rich mayhem,uses Them "I Can Only Give You Everything" as its pivotal riff along side typically obscure Beck lyrics and Stooges drumming,these shambolic ingredients cook a juicy mean groove.

Blossom Dearie is, in my opinion, one of the most underrated jazz vocalists of all time. Dearie's phrasing and piano playing within the small group arrangements on this album of standards are very, very reminiscent of Mose Allison (who just so happens to be another of my all-time favorites). On this track in particular, she delivers a very charming performance, combining the innocent ingenue with the blase urbanite.

The Brand New Heavies were one of the significant groups of the then popular "Acid Jazz" sound in the early 90s. "Dream On Dreamer" still strikes me with it's precisely executed funk rhythm and lush production: Tight rhythm section with funky drums, guitar and bass combined with jazzy piano chords, swirling strings and a crisp brass section. On top of that some flutes, fluegelhorn, percussion and organ with a very pleasant vocal performance by N'Dea Davenport.

Another stunner from an album full of them, "Eden Rock" finds common ground between folk-rock and quiet storm, sounding very ahead of its time. Piano, congas, bass, Spanish guitar and a smoooove lead vocal over jazzy changes mark this as a lost classic. It anticipates many of the paths that 70s pop, rock and R&B would follow. Two minutes and twenty-five seconds of joy.

Eleanor Rigby does not immediately seem like the kind of song which would sound good as a cover version, but this fantastic version by Oscar Peterson proves otherwise. It opens with a simply heavenly string sequence from Claus Ogerman. Then Peterson’s gentle and percussive piano comes in backed with an driving bossa nova guitar and a huge, rich string arrangement. The tempo then switches over to a more jazzy style with a walking bass.

One of the few succesful attempts at using a gospel choir on a jazz recording (along with Max Roach's "It's Time" LP from the previous year...which, coincidentally, featured the same chorus), Byrd's "A New Perspective" album was the first time it was really attempted with a small group setting (Roach's was backed by an orchestra). This, the opening track, begins with a vocalese scat by the choir that calls to mind old slave work songs. From there, the incredible band (featuring a very young Herbie Hancock and Kenny Burrell, among others) strikes up, and begins to follow a basic riff with the chorus that takes you through the remaining nine-plus minutes with various tempo changes throughout. An equally impressive edited version appeared as a b-side to the single of "Cristo Redentor", which got to be a minor hit on the pop charts.

A very cool and swinging jazzy pop vocal. Michel's range is quite remarkable, and there are some cool backing vocals too. About halfway through of the song, some completely over the top scat vocals kick in, and two different vocal Michels carry out a nonsensical scat 'conversation' until the end. Definitely an unusual way to complete a song, but it works fantastically.

Classic period Traffic ,soulful vocals ,jazzy electric piano and funky flute .Never soaring but gently uplifting on a sunny morning.

Jazz music for a hazy dream. Clean and simple arrangement with nice moments of well-articulated soloing. Altogether beautiful, with a cool and detached sound.

I didn't entirely get Ed Motta until I listened to this album. For me this is his perfect mix of sacred and profane styles, his soul and his jazz. Only his third album and his first two employ retro styled instrumentation, it sounds like a 1970s session from Luther Vandross without the glitzy disco production. Ed's voice sounds so great paired with the Fender Rhodes which dominates this album. The arrangements are complicated, unpredicatble but entirely accessible. Entre e Ouca, which means "Enter and Listen," has a mid-tempo disco feel with a bouncing bass line, sharp guitar lines and that rhodes. I like his newer, more challenging albums as well, but this sound immediatly speaks to me like the best crafted pop songs.

Most of the soundtrack to this comedy-caper flick is pretty standard '60s soundtrack material. This track, however, is moody, top-notch crime jazz... The arrangement is chaotic but stirring with some really heavy bass-piano, wailing brass, and organ (used more as an atmospheric sound effect than to deliver any melody). Special thanks to Darrell Brogdon for playing this on his Retro Cocktail Hour.

The prolific and always entertaining Ramsey Lewis.This track is one of my favorite from his collaborations with the legendary fusionist,Charles Stepney.It has all the best elements from their work,lush orchestral textures,rock steady soul jazz,and the siren calls of Miss Minnie Riperton.It sounds like this recording was done during the same sessions as Minnie's incredible solo album,Come To My Garden.In fact,the record contains a version of "Les Fluer" that has the same istrumentation, except Ramsey plays the lead vocal melody in his typical style.

This piece is almost like some kind of lost soundtrack work,impressionistic in a spiritual way,like a cosmic gospel.Travelling the silver thread of consciousness back to the source...An Eternal Journey indeed,and a must for fans of spooky jazz and 60's soundtracks.

More from Canada's Ashley Park Spin Magazine, Uncut, Billboard, and Magnet all rave "Beatles, Bacharach, Kinks"...This song is a jazzy take on that uber hip college sound.

13+ minute Jam african jazz with great percussion and funk overtones....if you like it try anything of his. His Son, Femi Kuti is more avant garde african jazz...similar but with more John Coltrane influence.

From my favorite compilation jazz bizniz! Highly recomended.

I can just imagine people sitting in a seedy New York movie theatre on 42nd Street back in 1961 watching a b-movie called "Satan in High Heels". The film is in its last reel and suddenly the main female character comes out on the nightclub stage wearing a leather outfit complete with 6-inch dominitrix boots and a riding crop! The music swells and she starts to sing:
---
i'm the kind of woman, not hard to understand,
i'm the one who cracks the whip and holds the upper hand
I'll beat you, mistreat you, til you quiver and quail,
the female of the species is more deadly than the male.
---
This little film isn't likely to have ever had a soundtrack album which in a way is sad because in addition to this camply little gem there are a couple of other cute vocals by Meg Myles and the other actresses in the film and some great jazz instrumentals sprinkled throughout as well. The fine folks at Something Weird Video have kindly put this little film out on DVD. You can also catch the scene containing this song on their compilation of movie trailers (where I first discovered this film) released to inform people of their DVD catalog.

In my experience John Gregory is one of the most consistently superb British arrangers of the 60s and 70s. I've never really heard anything I didn't like by him, although I understand that he was very prolific and that I've barely scratched the surface so far.

His arrangements have simultaneously a bite and a beauty that few others were able to match. Although not much of his work is available on CD, there's one excellent disc, 'Mission Impossible and other themes', that compiles most of his 'big band crime jazz' work, dating from the early 1960s to the mid 1970s. The disc isn't very excitingly packaged and can be had very cheaply, but it's full of outstanding tracks.

'Fire and Rain' is from a 70s album (I have it on a Philips sampler from the early 70s), and is a sumptuously arranged instrumental in the vein of some of the work of other British arrangers of the era, such as Johnny Harris and John Schroeder.

Of course, the song was written and originally recorded by James Taylor. His track is quite nice, but maybe it helped that I came to this version 'fresh', without having heard the original. This happens to me a lot, and Gregory's full arrangement and jazzy touches definitely elevate the track for me.

The melody is carried by a beautifully played trumpet, and later by the strings. There's a strong beat throughout, and a particularly groovy break towards the end with some great brass.

apparently the delta rythm boys were quite big in sweden in the late fifties, something wich eventually led to them recording this quirky little song. it's a jazzy take on an old swedish folk song, including the swedish lyrics. however, the vocalists didn't speak the language at the time of the recording, so the result turned out to be remarkably strange. still, it�s a fantastic song, and even if you don't understand swedish (well, most people don't) i think you'll appreciate this. it's pretty tough to come by unless you happen live next to a swedish thrift store, but it�s well worth hunting down. i first heard it on the in-film soundtrack to the film "kitchen stories"(salmer fra kj�kkenet) by bent hamer.
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0323872/
i don�t think there's a soundtrack cd out, but the complete song plays during the end credits, and can easily be ripped. (the film is well worth seeing too, if you can stand subtitles, i recommend ordering it)

A truly incredible vocal/jazz pop track which really has everything. Os Tres Morais were (are?) a mysterious Brazilian vocal trio. Here they tackle a great Marcos Valle song, and do such a storming job of it that this may be one my very favorite tracks EVER in the whole world ever! Honestly. Until I put a sound sample up, please accept these measly words of explanation:
1. It's bouncy and smooth and has warm strings
2. It's actually quite funky as well
3. The vocal harmonies are fantastic. I don't think there are any actual words - it's all just beautiful interwoven sound
4. Someone starts playing a scratchy electric guitar rebelliously at end of the song, completely out of context with the rest of it. It sounds cool.

Freakishly cool jet-set jazz from the great Benny Golson. A Gary Mcfarland tune that he wrote for his "In Sound" LP, and I must say his version seemed pretty hard to top,until this. A mindblowing mix of styles from the period are included in this one track:Gary Mcfarland's easy-latin swing(complete with whistles),The elecrtrified sax sound of Eddie Harris, and a swirling vocal ensemble thats almost in a Hugo Montenegro mode! Wild!!

A very swinging, groovy Latin jazz take on Shorty Long's Motown classic finds Lewis at the height of his form. As expected, Richard Evans turns in an astounding arrangement, utilizing handclaps, studio chatter and a magnificent horn chart.

It's all very beautiful, but the power is particularly in the chorus and the instrumental break which follows it. I am pretty sure that Regina has heard a piece of music which I know and like, such is the strong sense of familiarity I get when I hear this short instrumental part...I mean it sounds like something I particularly like and already know. I can't place the piece at the moment, but will amend when I do...it might be something from a jazz/classical crossover albums.

Jeff Lynne does a fantastic job with the production...the sound is spectacular.

One of the greatest session men ever goes overdub mad with a studio full of instruments. This track is a nice slice of american exotica with tons of swing... a bit too short though. He also does Voce E Eu & Sunshine Superman!

this song rocks! i really love it. ella kicks ass on this smokey robinson cover. find it on the mod jazz or right on! comps. along with some other great stuff...

this is one of my favorite jazz songs, it has a great progression and a great structure. it's uptempo. the entire album is one i've listened to many, many times all the way through. i don't know a whole lot about jazz but the song sounds extremely rich, while all the instruments work together wonderfully.

The MPB goddess breaks free from her previous samba-jazz orientation towards a more pop vibe in keeping with the Age Of Aquarius, via a short-n-sweet Adolfo-Gaspar composition.

This wild track from Les Baxter's superb 'Jungle Jazz' album wouldn't be out of place in a David Lynch movie. In fact, it sounds very like some of the work Angelo Badalamenti did for the 1992 movie 'Fire (walk with me)'. It's really wickedly over the top, with a walking bass, wailing horns, and some incredible tenor saxophone work from legendary session player Plas Johnson. The overall effect is cinematic and disturbing.

A wonderful version of “Going out of my head”, which was originally sung by Little Anthony and the Imperials. It's a great song anyway, with really nice words (well, nice for a Smiths fan like me, anyway: 'there's no reason why...my being shy...should keep us apart...'), but Sergio Mendes also adds an extra musical edge to the chorus, and this really adds a new dimension to the song. The instrumentation is classic Brasil 66: Percussive jazz piano, group vocals, and a driving bossa nova beat.

jazz-like instrumentals. I like it because it's laid back, yet upbeat. Fun, yet fluid lyrics

this is a great mellow funky jazz Hungarian styled piece in the vain of Gabor Szabo...has a great drum beat with superb jazz guitar interplay by Atilla...well worth tracking down

This track opens with a twinkling sound, and a thick chord carried by harmonized vocals. It quickly builds into a ‘Mission Impossible’–like jazzy groover, with piano and bongos. Although this seems to owe a great debt to Lalo Schifrin, the overall sound is somehow very different and refreshing.

Eighties pop with minimalist percussion, quirky lyrics, and jazz-club atmosphere. The organ intro, skillful guitar breaks, spare bass-drum beat, and catchy chorus are my lasting memories of this song which was one of my first "favorite songs." More info on this band at www.jazzbutcher.com

A jazzy upbeat song. Just a little hip-hop to add to the mix.

Dinah Washington was known as "queen of the blues" but she also had a great flare for jazz singing. This is a remarkable example of her phrasing ability and exquisite style. Quincy Jones' genius shines in his musical arrangement and orchestral conduction.

hot, swinging jazz at its best. Diana Krall with an incredible talented ensemble, John Clayton - Acoustic bass, Jeff Hamilton - Drums and Anthony Wilson on guitar. On this recording Krall shows her full potential, amazing technical skills on the piano combined with an exceptional vocal interpretation.
She also made a studio recording of this song which is good, but nothing compared to this version. However, if you are interested in buying this song I strongly recommend buying the DVD, then you get 2hrs+ of top quality entertainment.

Ben Bagley gathered some of his friends together back in the 1960's and put together compilation records of his favorite composers. Blossom Dearie was featured on several of these albums. One of the best tracks she recorded for Mr. Bagley was a great jazz song from the 1920's called 'I Want To Be Bad'. A wonderful song from the era of the flapper, she gleefully breezes thru lyrics such as, "If it's naughty to let a male read you like a book, and in BRAILLE, let a lady confess I want to be bad!" The song is ripe with double entendres and Blossom carries it off with a wink and a nudge. This is Blossom at her best!!

this is perhaps my favorite jazz ballad. maybe the most romantic song you'll ever here. stan getz's saxaphone sounds like it came down from the clouds. it sounds so soft and warm. it's often so subtle that you here just air passing across the reed. and cal tjader's vibraphone adds just the right punctuation. the song is ethereal. romantic and ethereal are hardly words i use often, but they seem to be the best i could think of to describe this song.

This magnificent track is from the oft-ignored years Aretha spent at Columbia Records. Most of her material for the label consisted of religious songs and jazz standards and she truly shines here. She sings with a sense of urgency and a slight cry in her voice as she pleads with her love not to abandon her. As much as I love her Atlantic catalogue, this song and the album it comes from are at the top of my Aretha Franklin list.

if you love trio jazz ie bass, drums, and piano you will love this version of a great standard. along with chuck israels on bass and larry bunker on drums. i never get tired of this song also check out the 2nd cut elsa a very dreamy song

My track of choice in the excellent Silver Morning 1975 LP of this distinguished singer/songwriter. To the best of my knowledge, this is not a cover version, but a shining original. It comes in swinging 3/4 time, it's the most jazzy of the LP's tracks, it has a kinda dramatic soundtrack feel, it's simply great!

Chris Botti is an accomplished musician in the worlds of Jazz and Smooth Jazz. His style is reminicent of Miles Davis but with a more melodic approach. This song incorporates an ultra-lounge feel with a cool jazz vibe. Botti's trumpet playing here approaches Miles Davis' minimalist playing style.

A weird and unsettling piece of lounge music ,nightmarish backing vocals and jazz like vibes set the tone ,with a bontempi like beat pushing the track into shark infested waters and tropical scariness .A brief but perfect vocal passage from the sardonic Terry Hall sends this track in to the realm of sublime brilliance .

An incredible harp track that lives up to the title, establishing a late 60s/early 70s jet set lounge mood right from the beginning. Backed by a jazzy rhythm section with just bass, drums and some sparse guitar work it's due to Snell's melodic, dreamlike, almost etheral harp playing that makes the track so evocative. I was pleased to see the track was just selected by the Thievery Corporation as an opener on their compilation album "The Outernational Sound", good choice i must say.

There is a significant amount of groove present in this, Green's paean to his adopted hometown of Pittsburgh. Green's guitar playing is absolutely sublime in this trio arrangement featuring the incredible Big John Patton on Hammond and Ben Dixon on drums. Green takes the lead throughout the song, and Patton provides some inspired, laid-back organ playing with a few terrific vamps thrown in and Dixon lays down a perfect rhythmic counterpoint to it all. One of those tracks that you just can't help but to bop your head to.

The late eighties wasn�t the ideal time for Mark & The No-Marks� deranged hybrid of English folk, free jazz and ghost puppetry, but there never has been an ideal time. Exclamation Mark, dressed up in his ridiculous David Crosby-esque green cape, refused to pander to contemporary fashions and trends, and even seem to resent any acclaim or approval, as if it was a sign that he was doing something wrong. This may explain why he hated this live favourite, scornfully introducing it at shows as �our sell-out�.

I chose the track not only because it�s the only thing that was ever officially released (along with its b-side, an utterly spastic reworking of the Monkees� Theme called �March of the No-Marks� replete with Tube station announcements- �this is the Bakerloo line service to Elephant & Castle�- and girls yelling, �Mark NO! No MARK!!!� at the singer) but it is also by far the best thing they ever did. And it was still far, far from sell-out material (it barely sold any). It is the only No-Mark record you need to hear. All of their less grating eccentricities are here, the schizophrenic dialogues, the lyrical obsessions with pylons and German bunkers, the shoddy jazz drumming, the demonic chanting, the cackling, the mewing (!), but this time it�s all held together by an ace nagging riff, and a supremely warped and swashbuckling chorus where an increasingly unhinged mark sneers, �it�s cooool not to care, sooo cooool not to care�� before he eventually loses all sense entirely and barks breathlessly, �NOT NOT, it�s not sooo care! COOL!!!�

Mark of course was incensed that their label released it as a single and vowed never to �bow to the pound� again. And as a result retired to his studio cave, muttering that their forthcoming album, �a didactic concept album about animal reincarnation� would be their most progressive work yet. And disastrous. If the rumours are true �My Family Are Other Animals� was abandoned after a record company executive visited the studio, described the tapes as �utter utter shit�, and then tried to throttle Mark with a microphone cable.

Lots of Cilla's earlier material was top quality, this Lennon/McCartney song (never actually recorded by the Fabs) knocked me out when I first heard it on my cousin's Dansette in 1964. Spooky melody which almost strays into jazz territory in the instrumental break. Sophisticated pop of the highest order.

I'm no Cilla fan. While I've enjoyed many of her recordings, she was no match as an artist for such contemporaries as Dusty Springfield, Dionne Warwick, Lulu, or even Pet Clark, Sandie Shaw, and Jackie DeShannon, all who did very similar material. Still, Cilla had one advantage the others didn't, Lennon-McCartney tunes written with her in mind. I think the Beatles, who knew her well, understood her vocal limitations and provided songs that would show her to best advantage.
"It's For You" is certainly one of the finest recordings she ever made. Its jazzy arrangement, the edgy key changes, and the tempo shifts are as sophisticated as they were unique in 1960s Britpop. The music contributes to a sense of intrigue to the clever, ironic lyrics that pretend to dismiss love only to give it. Cilla rises to the occasion, giving what might well be her best performance ever--stunning!

Yes, it´s Bon Jovi´s hit. And yes it is Paul anka doing a swingjazz number of it that actually works very well. If you can bear that it is a bit cheesy Anka actually elevates the song to a whole new level and also manges to bring a sense of drama that suits the lyric very well.

This wonderful record is the closest I've heard to an American Nick Drake. Very short and jazzy, acoustic guitar, vibraphone, impeccable white soul vocals... what more do you need? Good if you like Tim Buckley. That someone could be this good on their debut album is little short of incredible. Heroin victim Hardin's second album is even better.

This song is one I remember enjoying greatly as soon as I heard it shortly after its release as a single. To me it encapsulated perfectly the angst and frustration I often felt at that time. It did this as much through its sophisticated musical content and texture as through the lyrics. Listening to it now, it's as good an example as any of how different synth sounds go in and out of fashion. Hollis gives a typically intense vocal performance, and there are subtle hints in some of the instrumental lines of the more jazzy direction the band would later take. Highly recommended - don't miss this one. Oh, sorry - wrong site. Thought I saw the word Ebay somewhere.

This has been recorded by several others, including versions by both Dave Frishberg and Bob Dorough, the composers, but Blossom's version is the best! It swings!

fave part:
I dig! I'm in step.
When it was hip to be hep, I was hep.
I don't blow but I'm a fan.
Look at me swing. Ring a ding ding.
I even call my girlfriend "man," I'm so hip.

An acoustic (classical) guitar rendition played over the closing credits of the Showtime Film: "Varian's War" The vertuoso Jazz musician from Quebec has graced us with the finest performance of this much loved and performed chanson extant. It is perfection.

This lost Jorge Ben stormer has a rawer sound and harder rock edge to it than usual during this, his greatest period. Relegated to an obscure soundtrack LP, it stomps all over the place at a slower, heavier and more menacing tempo than anything on "Ben" or "A Tabua De Esmeralda." The beat is anchored by that famous acoustic guitar sound, heavy bass and a loud cowbell, as Jorge yells out improvised nonsense in a hilarious mix of Spanish and English! "Rock Steady-O!!" Must be heard to be believed.

never liked musicals, especially not the ones done by andrew lloyd webber. this one though is a whole different story! strange moog sounds mixed with big band jazz.

A really nice gently tropical instrumental with strings and a rock (drums/guitars) backing. I seem to be in a minority in adoring Les's 'Que Mango' album (which apparently was originally sold only in supermarkets at $1.99). I actually listen to this album as much as I listen to his classic exotic jazz LPs from the late 50s. It contains lots of great, shimmering, groovy tracks, such as 'boca chica', and the superb 'tropicando', which you can now hear almost everywhere (via a TV ad, and the aptly named 'Thievery Corporation'). Record geek part: on the vinyl version of this I have, the track 'Jungle Montuno' is shorter and sweeter - it begins one minute into the CD version of the track. I'm just mentioning this because the first minute seems to me to be inferior, and from a different song.

"Sun, the moon, the sky ... and you and I," - I wish I knew where the samples used in this track are from - from the opening piano melody to the refrain (it's possible that the vocals were recorded specifically for this tune). If someone can help out, thank you. I am pleased to hear Jazzanova offer such decent track. After being disappointed by the less than stellar remixes 1997-2000, I was thrilled to hear a very good original creation off of their forthcoming debut full length. Soulful, mellow and ez.

Simply beautiful music. Fontaine and Higelin take turns singing verses, accompanied by a jazz band that delivers spare, but beautifully affecting melodic touches. The chemistry of the two voices is great, and everytime I hear this song, I can't wait to hear the next reply in the flow of their odd, sad conversation about influenza, love, and death. "Ma grippe vous va tr�s bien... La mort vous ira tr�s bien." (My flu suits you very well... death will suit you very well.)

Normally I'd steer well clear of anything on the Acid Jazz label - the early 90's bad music debts have a long way to go to be paid off - but the presence of one of my soul idols just tipped me into buying this natty little blue vinyl 45.

Everything that made me love Etta James' Fire (see recommendation elsewhere on site) is amplified through this brilliant, brilliant song. Bettye's vocals are super-harsh, matching the song's acid sentiment and grasping rock-funk.

It's a tribute to how well this single is done that I thought it was a new vocal performace from Bettye instead of a reworked version of an old song. Bravo!

'Laura' has long been my favorite standard. The tune is elegant and haunting, and completely devoid of some of the schmaltzy feel that plagues many popular standards.

Written as an instrumental for the 1944 film of the same name, this was composed as a piano-based number, and so Julie's version is perhaps not the most orthodox recording. However, it's incredibly powerful and atmospheric, and I *think* it's my favorite version.

The entire track lasts just 1 minute and 40 seconds. The first verse is sung as a solo voice without any accompaniment other than the spooky reverberation effect. When the music does come in, it's provided by a small jazz trio led by Barney Kessel. Kessel's delicate jazz chords and picking complement Julie's voice beautifully.

A lost folk-jazz classic. I remember hearing this the first time and thinking that Portishead must have used this as a schematic for their live album.Spooky art-school-chick folkie lyrics with lush,velvety arrangements by an enigmatic Leon Salem. Jazzy and very passionate!

It's a great funky, melodic tune with great Spanish hammond organist, Mauri Sanchis.
It is his first cd and his web is great also, www.maurisanchis.com

Prior to hearing her "Something" LP, I always referred to Dame Shirley as "The Godzilla of Song". By this I meant I always felt she treated a tune the way Rodan treated Tokyo, like something to be smashed underfoot. While I lived/died by her Bond themes, and such like, I never thought she was capable of nuance, restraint, and/or sexiness. Then I heard this god-like album, brilliantly produced and arranged by Johnny Harris. This cover of The Doors' song perfectly sums up the record's strengths. It's jazzy, sexy, incredibly funky, yet still totally Dame Shirley in all her over-the-top-glory. Probably the best Doors cover ever (though Nico's toxic reading of "The End", and Siouxsie and The Banshees' strangely Motown-esque version of "You're Lost Little Girl" come awfully close.)

This song is the most recognised theme from any of the numerous Peanuts television specials. While I am a huge fan of Charles Schulz and his beloved comic strip characters, this song and the album it is pulled from could easily stand on it's own. Mr. Guaraldi is a master at jazz-oriented piano and his trio plays together like a well-oiled machine. The absence of any vocals makes his music the perfect background for dinner parties and gatherings where conversation is to be encouraged.

Very nice lyric & Henrique has a fine voice & nice guitar style. But the real standout is Sivuca on accordian & scat vocal on this song & the whole album. One of my favorite jazz scat records. The other being Guilherme Vergueiro's "Naturalmente" lp from 1978.

From one of the key Tropicalia albums, a typically genius Veloso composition, with a jazzy but vaguely psychedelic feel, sung in gorgeously beguiling style (and in English!) by Gal. Actually, this whole LP is essential. (note: in London there seem to be a lot of vinyl pressings � of dubious legality � of vintage Brazilian LPs around at the moment. Sound quality is sometimes iffy, but most of this stuff is hard to find on CD).

I cannot say enough good things about Blossom Dearie! She is truly one of those performers that everyone should have in their collection. This song is perfect for her singing style and she runs with it. You can almost envision her throwing her arms up in resignation to the fact that love is a pain but none of us can live without it.
This track is pulled from Blossom's only album for Capital Records. She is backed by an orchestra rather than the usual small jazz combo which better suits her intimate style, but she shines nonetheless.

It's what the world needs to heal

'Love Will Take Its Time' is from the soundtrack to the film 'Apartment Hunting'.

O'Hara devotees like myself have been waiting for 15 years for a follow-up to 'Miss America' and we got a fine one in 'Apartment Hunting'.

'Love Will Take Its Time' is a jump blues/jazz number with few of the vocal tics/tricks that make O'Hara a singers singer.

Those who love creative vocals must check it out!

It is not being distributed widely so you may have to go here: http://www.apartmenthunting.com/ if you want it.

The famous Austrian percussionist Nicos Jaritz recorded a local best-seller LP in 1978 called 'Macumba', full of percussion-heavy jazzy pieces with a latin feel. This is the title track, a haunting flamengo-flavoured mid-tempo jazzy groove with a flawless interplay between a heart-breaking Spanish guitar and a tenorsax solo. I haven't been exposed to many tunes like this, it's really most entertaining, and very, very fresh-sounding!

This is a typical exemple of Noir-Music. Italian Noir Music. Very groovy and jazzy.

The perfect theme to Roman Polanski's underrated comic horror film, The Fearless Vampire Killers. With stacked vocal harmonies, suggesting the background singers at some sort of Bulgarian black mass, floating on bat wings over a very jazzy rhythm section, this song is, at once, very creepy and very funny. I have long believed that Siouxsie and The Banshees came into existence entirely due this influence of this track. (Play it back to back with "Switch" or "Israel" or "Cascade" sometime, and you'll see what I mean.) Stereolab likewise. Broadcast or Goldfrapp could do a brilliant cover of it.

A very cool sunshine pop style number from the soundtrack to the Brazilian soap opera 'selva de pedra'. This two-minute track has an irresistable groove and some nice harmonized group vocals. The vocals are mostly gentle and smooth, like strings, but there are also some jazzier scat phrases thrown in. The entire soundtrack is highly recommended.

The title track of Television's 1975 album is the greatest statement of their cumulative abilities as a band. A majestic epic of dual guitar interplay, metronome bass playing, unconventional jazz drumming, and the strangled vocal screeds of Tom Verlaine, Marquee Moon begins with a double-stop riff. A second tangled guitar weaves in, a bass thuds upward, and a lockstep rhythm forms behind the surreal lyrics. From the chorus to the long, flowing jams that follow the third verse, the guitar interplay between Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd amazes again and again. Instead of rhythm and lead guitar, the two guitarists trade solos and phrases, tones and colors. Even when Richard Lloyd plays simply, he dominates the color and tone of the solo he underscores, and when he lets loose a solo, it flows like poetry, phrasing and declaiming the beauty of the notes it contains. Band leader Tom Verlaine twists and curves his notes all over here, careening in on himself and threatening to implode before finding a perfect spot. The majestic peaks this song climbs to seem almost impossible, and it very nearly stumbles by running long. However, nothing can detract from the climactic jams that culminate in Tom Verlaine's singing bird-call guitar notes and gentle spills of warbling riffs.

Bossa nova jazz. Excellent loungy-type tune with beautiful accompanying saxophone.

this frech jazz/soul artist is a recent discovery of mine. and it's too bad it took me so long to find him! just as talented as the well-known jaques dutronc. most of his early stuff is great, and gets a bit more "souly" as time goes on. if you like 60's french music, check this out.

Maybe it's just me getting older, but I lap this kinda stuff up these days. I can't get enough of ol' style R&B, jump blues or a song like this: swingin', heartbreaking and outstandingly sung by a woman who is undeservedly just a footnote in musical history.

Ernestine (who sometimes recorded under the name Annisteen) works her smooth chords to a blues vocal with light jazzy backing. Almost Peggy Lee like in places, but with the benefit of King Curtis' sax and an amazing rhythm section that Ernestine obviously connects with.

The lyrics are beautiful, too: "You cry so hard, you cry like you never cried before; you moan and you groan so sad, you give the blues to your neighbour next door."

Very rhythmically complex track with gentle finger-picked guitar courtesy of Byrd. Romero was at the forefront of Venezuela's "onda nueva" movement, which was an interesting conflagration of Latin jazz, American pop, calypso & traditional Spanish styles. According to this album's liners: "The time is 3/4, but the drummer often plays 2, giving the beat a 4/4 quality. Or the measure is played in 6, spraying accents in such a way that one hasn't time to count beats to the bar." If that seems perplexing to you, you're not alone. In a 1997 interview, Byrd called this album the most challenging recording he had ever made.

No-Wave Avant-Garde jazz saxophone collossus.

Clare Fischer's oft-covered Latin jazz classic was first recorded by the man himself on a 1966 album whose title escapes me right now. Cal Tjader first cut it on "Soul Burst" the same year, but the truly classic rendition for me is the 1971 Tjader re-recording on "Agua Dulce." With a smooth, flowing Rhodes-based sound, some synth effects floating around and none other than Wendy & Bonnie on backing vocals, this version is the one to beat.

this one is obvious. i fell in love with the song instantly.

Sweet fuck, what pure morning joy. I get a maximalist bliss-out every time I play this. But then, wait, what's that weird jazzy comeback at the end of the song? It's like an army of ghosts of all the happinesses I've ever had coming back to haunt me. It's too much. Holy cow, it's a beautiful day.

It's sort of your typical folk,barbershop quartet,with a couple of jazz and rock touches. The lyrics are funny and sad and just about anyone can relate to them. The Roches voices are gorgeous and the melody will stick with you for decades(believe me !).

Mumbai Jumbo is an exciting and funky sound of indo-jazz fusion. Hear mp3 track at http://www.hullocheck.com/brownindian

An unusal Jobim track, which was recorded in Brazil and is much rougher around the edges than most of his better known work. This track explodes into action half way through with some killer jazz piano.

The big news that I just found out is that this isn't really a Jobim track at all! Apparently, this is really just the work of Deodato and Gaya, even though Jobim's name was put on the cover for the US audience.

Two and a half minutes of infectious, sunny folk-rock with extra added jazziness in the changes. The FAB were a Lovin' Spoonful spinoff of sorts, produced and overseen by the troika of Jerry Yester, Zal Yanovsky (RIP) and Eric Jacobsen. Bassist Kenny Altman, who wrote this gem, later wrote "Feelin' Blue" which was memorably recorded by Earth, Wind & Fire and today apparently is in the restaurant business. Too bad he's not still cooking up delicious tunes like these!

It took me a while to get a copy of this album as even the out-of-print re-issue on Crippled Dick Hot Wax (that's the name of the label, folks. Promise!) sells for a bit these days. I'm glad I got it as it's a fantastic album - the only LP released by the 5 Filipino/American sister vocal group, although I think they released at least one 45". Discovered by George Duke, he wrote the arrangements and his trio of the time provides backing. The album was recorded in Germany (released by MPS) and is a little bit poppy, a little bit jazzy, a little bit funky. There are a number of songs which could be recommended (a number of them jazz standards, such as 'Maiden Voyage' and 'Cantaloupe Island'), but the one I've chosen is 'Niki'. I hadn't come across this track before getting the album, unlike a few of the other tracks which have turned up on compilations over the years.

'Niki' is a song that builds. It starts off fairly casually and builds up to a swinging chorus, accented by some very hip playing by George Duke, still on an acoustic piano during this stage of his career.

Another commendable and notable track on the album, and which I discovered through a compilation created by 'mine host' of Musical Taste, Senhor Delicado, is "Waves Lament". Absolutely fantastic.

No one's recommended this? This song is unreal in so many ways. First, it sounds like relaxing lounge jazz, then all of a sudden it changes into music for a Scooby-Doo episode, then the strange wailing comes in and you're floating through the deep void of space in an alternate reality without worrying about oxygen or the laws of physics. That is all within the first minute of the song. And then, and then, let's not forget the way the Brother kills on the organ, my friends. Then there's the sample appeal, most obviously this was slowed down for A Tribe Called Quest's "Scenario", and recently reworked by Jay Dee, in that trademark handclap hitting, hypnotic head-nodding Dilla fashion.

Another amazing version of this fantastic tune. This features several very different-sounding multitracked guitars, and really is quite astounding. It feels very short at a little under 2 and a half minutes. The opening features an acoustic guitar playing a wonderfully delicate and precise rhythm, accompanied by a nice wall of strings and electric guitar hits. A twangy picked guitar plays the melody, building gradually for about a minute.

The track then explodes into a quite amazing sequence, in which a dirty-sounding fuzz guitar picks out a bassline while a manic and jazzy improvised guitar solo moves around over the top and the strings maintain some solid bluesey chords. The sound is extremely funky, and vaguely reminiscent of some tracks from the late 60s 101 strings album 'Astro Sounds from beyond the year 2000', but ends up being more tasteful. Pure genius!

A great soul jazz track with one of the most beautifully spare and groovy introductions I've ever heard. Featuring Bernard 'pretty' Purdie on drums, Ray Brown on bass, and Quincy Jones on Fender Rhodes, it really is irresistible. The track explodes with a huge vocal choir about half way through; it ends up sounding almost like a gospel song, before slipping back into the cool funky instrumental sound from the introduction

This short track opens the classic 1995 easy listening compilation The Sound Gallery. I'm sure it's well known to anyone with a remote interest in the whole revival scene. It's a really beautiful track, with funky drums, organ, a gentle, whispery vocal chorus, and some great jazz piano. Evocative and glamorous, this evokes a swinging party attended by people wearing sparkly dresses. For me, this is perhaps the ultimate stylish/glamorous 60s recording.

I recently (March 2002) went through my Peddlers albums and made a selection of my faves, which was exactly enough to fill an 80 minute CD. I could probably recommend any song that's on it, so why "On a clear day?" Because it never failed to cheer me up, I guess, and after 30 years it still hasn't managed to induce the slightest sign of boredom in me, because I just love Roy Phillips's singing, his characteristic smokey, velvety voice, and his fabulously stuttering hammond solo, and because of the lush stringy orchestration and Trevor Morais's typical drumbreaks. The song itself is a blast in itself too, of course, I know of a version from the same period by Cleo Laine that I also really like.

A very ethereal song that is perfect for the lilting girlish voice of Blossom Dearie. She is also an accomplished pianist and plays on every song she sings. She is backed by a standard jazz trio on this track and they play in a wonderfully subdued manor that allows her voice and the words to be the focal point of this song. Originally written by a french songwriter, Blossom Dearie heard the song while living and performing in France in the mid-1950's. Upon her return to the United States, she asked her friend, songwriter Johnny Mercer, to write english lyrics to the wonderful melody. The words he wrote tell a beautiful story of love lost, but fondly remembered thru a familiar smell or sound. A standout track from the marvelous LP of the same name. Give it a listen the next time you go to your local music store.

Hoo-wee!! Absolutely smoking soul-jazz from altoist Donaldson with some help from Lonnie Smith on Hammond & George Benson (pre-"On Broadway") on guitar. Leo Morris on drums and Melvin Lastie on cornet round out the quintet.

While he is known as a great singer, Ray Charles is also a master at the keyboards and this is an excellent example of his ability. The usual jazz trio is joined by an impressive horn section that really brings the house down!! You can't sit still while listening to this song! God bless Ray Charles!!

Ah yes.... You know him alright, the tragic lounge singer from "The Valley Of The Dolls"! And the schmaltz is transmitted directly into this version of the top 10 smash with deft precision! This track absolutely kicks ass, and is worth the 25 cents you'll probably have to pay for this work of art! The rest of the record is pretty hum-drum,nothing to sniff at though,especially for fans of swingin' supper-club jazz. Fans of the movie will dig it as well,if not just for the cover,which looks like a still from the film with him in a tuxedo,gripping the microphone with a devilish sneer!

Richards unique take on this standard is unlikely in the extreme.
Recorded for Vee Jay records in 1964 as am album track it seems it only appeared on 45 an "Oldie".
Almost big band in style it's about as jazzy as richard ever got-so far ! It's available on numerous re-issue albums.

I was heard a female version -same backing but different tune and lyric. I've never managed to find out what it is.

Slow beaty groove, deep, dramatic, emotive. This obscure French library tune was recorded in early 70s for an avant-guard French version of Shakespeare's 'Macbeth', and originally released on a very limited "Musique pour l'Image" 7-inch.

I came to Callier's music via arranger/producer Charles Stepney and delicado's recommendation of a Stepney-produced Ramsey Lewis track -- "Julia".

Well, Callier's "Ordinary Joe" (produced by Stepney) is a great track which I listen to over and over.

Of all the tracks I've recommended, this is probably the only one I would recommend by virtue of lyrical content alone: "Now politicians all try to speech you / Mad color watchers all try to teach you / Very few will really try to reach you / If you're lost in a stack / That's OK, come on back." Great stuff.

Thankfully the musical content is also very good. Kind of a pop-jazz style tightly arranged from Stepney. I say tightly, but it never really comes across that way. It really has a pretty breezy and organic sound.

Also, look for an earlier version on Callier's "First Light" which is a bit more mellow, but at least as good as the Stepney-produced version. Maybe better in some ways...

Neko Case has dropped 'the Boyfriends' and pushed the musical boundaries with her new album 'Blacklisted.'

She's moving away from alt. country and incorporating more elements from jazz, soul and experimental music.

The best example of this is Outro for Bees (Reprise), a hidden track on the album. It incorporates jazz(ish) vocals with found sounds to create music that sounds like a badly tuned radio. Very effective and musically challenging...I'd like to hear more like this from her!

This stunning instrumental is a reasonably straight version of a classical piece by Maurice Ravel, originally written in 1899. Eumir plays piano over a dense string background, adding a tiny bit of jazz phrasing. The texture of the layered strings and piano is remarkably intense and beautiful, and the piece is quite exquisite. I expect this recording would offend classical purists, but I must admit that having heard this version first, I still like it the best. Perhaps this is down to the sheer richness of the string recording, which may be endowed by studio wizardry rarely used in classical recordings. Either way, it's really quite incredible, and I urge you to check it out.

From the album Morrison Hotel, Peace Frog is a bouncy toe tapping tune encapsulating funky wah wah with jazzy tones and a hint of country.

What I love about this tune is it's ability to make me get up and dance, head bounce toes tap.

Facinating lyrics, quite contradictory in contrast with the merry, whimsicalness of the music.

"There�s blood in the streets� it�s up to my ankles"

However when your dancing around It has little precedence, the organs and drums take you away and the lyrics are gone.....

Candiria is a band too prolific for their own good in my opinion. Mixing traditional and avan-garde jazz, heavy metal, hip-hop/rap, and everything in between.
Not a fan of hip hop and rap, myself, I refrain from anything they do in that style, but the rest of it is pure extreme, progressive, jazz, metal, instrumental genius.

This is a track from Stephen McCarthy's debut album. Originally recorded by The Beatles as a traditional pop song, Stephen's version is a jazz swing with Piano, Bass and Drums.

One of a few especially jazzy and hip tracks by France Gall, I enjoy this one even more than I enjoy her more sugary pop tracks like 'Christansen'. The arrangement is quite spare - basically just France singing with a groovy small jazz combo. She also gets into some very cool scat vocals. Very, very cool.

Both shocking and extremely cool, this has to be heard to be believed - a 'rock' adapation of Rachmanninov's Prelude in C# minor which really does rock. Cy Coleman lays a huge funky breakbeat and a heavy bassline on top of the beautifully dark, doomy theme. A jazzy guitar comes in and out as the track builds. I've never heard anything quite like it (I mean that in a good way). I am now unable to hear the original piece without Cy Coleman's breakbeat!

Tamba Trio were a Brazilian jazz group more commonly praised for their jazz instrumentals than for their vocals. Their vocals on this track are nice and simple, but it is the instrumentation and arrangement which really make the song. What does it sound like? I do honestly like other types of music, but here goes: jazzy piano, bossa beat, thick strings, group vocals. Really great track, and from what I've heard of other versions, they really transformed this song, which normally sounds very different.

A rather quizzical Latin jazz workout of the Count V's garage classic, rendered here with fuzz guitar and flute! It sounds to me like this uses the same rhythm track as the original version, and since they were both released on the same label, that's quite likely. Another version exists by Brenton Wood (of "Oogum Boogum" and "Gimme Little Sign" fame), also on the same label and also with the same backing track! Talk about getting as much mileage out of the royalties as you can!

Great stuff from a young Letta Mbulu. Her first recording, and with the good company of H.B. Barnum & David Axelrod, is a stunner. This is my favorite track from the LP. It's almost in a Mystic Moods kind of mode, with a thunderstorm recording used for effect, it may have something to do with the lyrics, but since she sings in Xhosa, I have no idea. Her voice is strong and smooth, at times she sounds influenced by Nina Simone, but on this one she is more in a traditional mode. The backing is great Axlerod, with his strong soul-jazz-rock crossover, much like he did for Lou Rawls during this period. Highly recommended for fans of heavier african grooves.

The main theme of Cul-De-Sac. Komeda's off-kilter jazz sensibility was really perfectly suited to Polanski's absurdist comedy. Like many of the best film scores, it seems absolutely essential to the film. If you like Komeda's style, this track really delivers.

a very beautiful cover of the radiohead song done by norwegian-swedish jazz quintet atomic.
bittersweet.

Super Cool Jazz jam from a group based in Eugene, OR.
Interesting instrumentation too: Trumpet, Sax, DJ, Drum, Guitar, Bass, Keys, FXs. Good stuff.

unbelievably cool track, one of my top ten gainsbourg compositions. great jazzy sex beat, smooth vocals.
it's one of his more agressive songs, similar to the also recommended "un poison violent c'est l'amour".
there seems to be a bit of a bit of a prog vibe going on (in lack of better words, i'm not exactly an expert in the technicalities of music).
nice guitar hook. though the track is pretty repetitive, it's by no means boring. the repetition only helps to make it more intense and interesting.
taken from the film le pacha. i think a lot of gainsbourg's soundtrack work is pretty interesting stuff, though some of it often seems a bit rushed or too similar to other cool compositions from the same era (hey, i'm a sucker for plagiarism...)
the soundtrack to cannabis comes especially recommended.

A super cool french vocal with an excellent organ sound running through it. Serge's jazzier output (showcased on the excellent 'du jazz dans le ravin' CD compilation) really blew me away when I first heard it, and this track is probably my favorite from this period.

Performed under its alternate title, "Coney Island", t;he Biddies' version, from their debut CD, Biddi-luxe!, swings and bops with the jazzy exuberance. If you don't know the Biddies, this is a great introduction. These girls have the chops!!

can't believe this hasn't been recommended before. if you haven't heard it, you should probably be ashamed of yourself.

one of the best party songs ever recorded,
it practically commands you to get your ass in gear and have fun. i really don't know what more to say about it, check it out, it's just incredibly solid.
you can find it on volume one of the always reliable 100% dynamite compilations from studio one.

I've been listening to Sun Ra a lot lately and am mesmerized by this song. As far as I'm concerned, it's the perfect blend of jazz and avant-garde. Throw in a space theme (what else?) and you have a classic.

An obvious selection for a favorite track but nonetheless truly deserved. I nearly wet my pants when I heard this track and immediately went up to the dj to ask what it was. I ran out to the record shops in town looking for it and finally found a copy a week later. That was exactly one year ago, this month, March 2001. Its repetitive cymbal/drum shimmy, combined with the samples of "I want you to get together" and "put your hands together one time" begins this journey of jazzy dancefloor heaven. Then the real electricity of the tune begins and yes its otherworldly. Slowly, the house beat teases its way into the song, until it can't take it anymore and the shit hits the fan!! If you don't know it, listen to it and see if you agree.

Janko Nilovic deserves attention. He composed a huge volume of library music in the 1960s and 70s, and what I've heard of his work has all been excellent. Some of it has recently been made available on CD by the Cosmic Sounds label, who are also releasing new work by him. It's hard to sum up his work, because it was quite diverse. From what I've heard, Nilovic was like a jazzier, more wild version of other contemporary library composers like Roger Roger and Nino Nardini.

This is a wonderful instrumental that opens with a bare breakbeat. This is soon joined by bass and electric guitar, which then give way to a Morricone-style harpsichord, which riffs over a descending minor chord sequence. The whole thing remains funky and slightly menacing as different parts drop in and out. The whole piece is really just a simple jam, but the impeccable arrangement takes it to a higher level.

Just Jazz is Goa's premier jazz band featuring jazz diva Belinda Oliveira. Hear sample sounds at http://www.justjazz.8m.com

One of Brazil's classic pop hits of the late 60s, written by an incredible songwriting team responsible for dozens of similar gems between 1967 and 1971. Better known in the English version recorded by Brasil '66 as "Pretty World," but Wilson Simonal truly nailed this with his typically soulful vocals and a vintage soul-jazz-Brazil backing courtesy of pianist/arranger Cesar Mariano and his fantastic Som Tres trio. Also note the swirling strings-and-woodwinds arrangement and climactic hand-clapping singalong climax at the end.

I first heard this cover of a traditional folk song via the 20 jazzfunkgreats blogspot. But I'd heard of Fairport convention previously, Sandy Denny, Richard Thompson and all that, but like so many English people i couldn't bring myself to listen to an English folk group - well MY LOSS.
The song is in two parts, with an eye opening second half drone jam. Spellbinding stuff, with the violin scraping long notes, and (presumably) Richard Thompson scattering trebly white noise almost chords around on top it. It's hard to gauge how much cross fertilisation back and forth between America and the UK their would have been but it's hard to imagine that this wasn't informed by the Velvet Underground.

What a magnificent performance. This album has long been considered the greatest live jazz album of all time, for a number of reasons. 1. The Lineup: Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Charles Mingus, Bud Powell & Max Roach, each of whom was at their peak of mastery of their instruments. 2: It was recorded in Canada, so Parker's usual endorsement deal for a particular brand of saxophone was void, meaning he was able to play a special Grafton plastic sax that had been given him. 3. Parker had a clear head, since he was, for the time being, clean & sober. Any track on this album could have been my selection, but I've chosen this. The band bashes it's way through Gillespie's hit, and Bird tears everything to shreds in reaction to Dizzy's goofy vocal. A thoroughly sublime recording from start to finish. If you only own one bop album, it may as well be this.

This 1968 LP out on CTI/A&M records was a big leap fpr the group formerly known as Tamba Trio. It spawned big bossa hits like the title track Samba Blim, my absolute favorite for hip acid jazz(nu-jazz/ Rare Groove)dancefloors from London to Tokyo to even Phoenix,AZ. It's fusion of traditional Bossa Nova, Samba, and 60's Jazz melodies are delectibale to the ears. Nice songs that will get you groovin' are "Samba Blim", Reza", "Tristeza de no dois", and "Baiano". A big LP in my DJ box. A pretty heavy cost for a mint copy, but mine is only VG condition full of pops and crackles. I STILL LOVE IT!!!

my favourite tune on the newest issue of dusty fingers. the dusty fingers series is a compilation of rare and obscure tunes mostly from the 60s and 70s. the styles cover funk, jazz, krautrock and tunes like this one. it's a bombastic pop song with strings and a huge brasssection, which i come to admire more and more in the last time.
the intro is sooo cool. bitter spoken words by nancy about love and pain.
well, take a listen yourself.
last words: check out the dusty fingers series, there are a lot of true gems on them...like this one!