(Decca)Today’s jazz leaders pay eloquent dues to the
New York label with youthful chat and elements of trip-hop
Jazz players frequently hold hands across the generations. This 16-track compilation finds today’s youthful, often London-based renaissance in dialogue with the revered New York label’s deep back catalogue. That conversation is both learned – these are strong players – and chatty. Respect for key texts by genre greats plays off against the hybrid vigour of the remix.
Varying moods and approaches make this reimagination a rollercoaster ride, but mostly in a good way. R&B
Singer Jorja Smith kicks off with a mere 20-year-old stripling, St Germain’s sampledelic Rose Rouge (2000), Smith emoting silkily up top, the band controversially taking the original’s fraught BPMs right down.