Wintertijd

Bertje, that's Jazz VII

Sometimes you hear something that you just can't believe. I've been telling anyone about a certain something that Arno put me on to, mainly to make myself believe too. Because it's a hard act to follow. He sent me a link to download some stuff from his website. A link that contained high-quality Soul, Funk, R&B, hip hop (although without that annoying rap stuff) and Jazz. All of this on two albums. And the voice...

I figured I had another Aretha Franklin on my hands. But maybe without the knack for such horrible pop songs as she did in the 80's. The singer on these albums has a good voice indeed. One that changes depending on the genre she's singing. A versatile voice. A voice black as strong coffee. And then there was the production.

All of these songs are just really very good and well produced. I can't help it. Now many of you might wonder who this wonder woman is. She's called Alice Russell. Alice Russell is not, as I would have liked to believe, a slightly corpulent black woman who started in a baptist church in Louisiana or somewhere south in the US.

We're talking about a small white chick from the UK. And she's no Joss bloody Stone either. The latter is a good singer, but the material she delivers is boring. Such is not the case for Alice Russell. Having listened to some of this stuff a lot, I actually think Alice deserves a spot on the Jazz compilation. You couldn't call her a straight jazz singer, but some of these songs hit the spot.

So I wanted to pick this song that was an immediate topic for debate. Is it jazz or not? So I figured I'd chose a lovely Bossa track instead called Sweet is the Air. That would immediately qualify as Jazz. Plus that first album is the most pleasant of the two. It's called Under The Munka Moon.

But then I got to thinking. And tapping my toes. The song High up on the Hook is just too cool for it's own good. It's off of Alice Russell's second album, My Favourite Letters. Frankly I think anyone who likes any kind of black music ought to go run off and buy both albums. And now I'll go sit in a corner and be ashamed of what I said with regards to white people and their inability to do jazz.

In the mean time, I decided to also check out a project Alice participated in called the Quantic Soul Orchestra. But more on that later.

Posted by Chris at February 7, 2006 01:54 AM