Paris under a groove - remastered by various

At first this CD could be confused as a Groove Armada project, mixed with a little french flair courtesy of Stephane P from Hotel Costes fame, as it happens it an eclectic mix of Groove armada, a hint of st germain and hotel costes.A blend of jazz background , house/garage beats and a touch of soul here and there. the already well played and very well liked Mantis by VERSUS is one of the best tunes even iif its slightly hypnotic and makes ou dizzy with the constant whirrr whirrr wickedy wicked soound , The Bottle has a similar effect, great throbbing tune with excellent horn work up front and background and even a set of peruvian pipes make an appearance like a nu yorican soul cd.
the crazily titled SPLEEN left me slightly holding said body organ as it was no better then a toyota car ad! very robotic with strains of my neighbours rock band....nice? The cd would nt be paris under a groove without mention of the great city and in paris vibes we are getting a great song, full of changing melodies , its never one to bore you like a john malkovich movie ...

WOMAD Gigs in Singapore

A week long festival of great music began here in Sultry Singapore and my pocket was full of tickets, well two anyway. Having already seen a certain Mr George Benson and followed up by John Legend, i was eager to add Carleen Andersen and Terry Callier to my list.
Having heard a few cds of Mr Callier I was eager to see if his live act came over as god as his cds....yes, i was not dissapointed in the least, when this cheeky old man came on stage my firstthought was get that stagehand off with his baggy jeans, wrinkled tee shirt and wrinkled face, then He spoke in a jazz club smokey voice and introduced His band to us all. Full of energy and coolness personified He took us thru' a set of classics and new arrangements, His band are superb and it was a great show.
Two days later and it was all systems go, Ms Anderesen took to the stage, Her minute frame hardly a match for Her awesome voice, from Her early days to today She still puts out an amazing array of songs, gospel inspired followed by the brit funk days of yesterday , a great show, a great personality and worth seeing! funksoulsister.

G.PETERSON , BBC SESSIONS

Anything with the name GILLES or PETERSON just gets me buzzing, let alone the two being one after the other and like most of his worldwide collabs this one fails to dissapoint and promises to deliver , with a line up including PHARELL, CODY CHESNUTT , AMP FIDDLER to name but a few A-listers my rug is already whimpering in the corner at the mere thought. Now as eclectic as i can be with my music the harrowing voice of BECK never really feels my shoes with an itchy burning sensation, but the cd really hits me hard with that crazy icelandic chic, BJERK !!! once I have FF those two and quielty despatched the HERITAGE ORCHESTRA my room is ful of down right funky stuff, FIDDLER, CHESTNUTT, MR CULLUM AGAIN ,ROOTS AND COMMON, PHARRELL, the amazing BETH GIBBONS( PORTISHEAD) begin to feel me with good feelings allround ,other notable tracks include GRACE UNDER PRESSURE, UNBELIEVABLE & the classic GABRIELLE.
The chi-lites for me here are frontin'by JAMIE CULLUM , IMPROV by NERD and the WHY'D YA CALL ME(3am) . magic stuff all round , Recorded in W9 , maida vale, I used to live nr the studios! GOD BLESS GP!

Nu Jazz Anthology 3 & 4

With my feet still itching from all the cutting of my ikea rug , the needle hits cd3 with a JAMIE CULLUM track( aint necessarily so) love Jamie for his ever changing moods( we use to be neighbours you know) he didnt know, but i did. anyway i digress - the covers and remix cd bring along summer smooching memeories with cantaloop, THE LOOK OF LOVEand HIT THE ROAD JACK(Pe Na Estrada, wasnt he in chips?) and in between these gems are a pleasant trip of artists such as RE:JAZZ , DJ Cam(again)and the very cool JAZZANOVA.
CD4 - new school , possibly the best of the 4 with a karma sutra of dance moves in every beat, KOOP make a steady appearance as do fertlie ground,still not sure while NORAH JONES gets in but if JAMIE CULLUM does then i guess she must pass some cool test.
Overall - 60 songs, 30 or 40 keepers, the rest could end up on the tv as adverts -great stuff though, well worth checking out.Not for the purists but still pretty funky.

Well, here we are at the beginning of the adventure , while searching in My local emporium of soul cds I came across Nu Jazz Anthology a four disc pot pourri of old & new, covered & remixed soul funk and all that good stuff - reading the cover over a frothy coffee I saw some some what bewildering but exciting collabs, JAMIE CULLUM doin'this to that song, and the name CLARA HILL gets more than one mention - CD one ( the godfathers) yet no JAMES BROWN or CLINTON, George not Bill or his wife ! other names like JAZZANOVA , GRAN TOURISM, the awesome 4HERO to name but a few, the cd starts with the fantastic DJ Cam & Summer in Paris, not to be confused with another track( The summer of Paris) although both are equally as good, and can be found on many parisian playboys turntables or mp3 player. the CD continues to excel through its 15 tracks, up beat and down tempo, old style new style but all gettin' the air force ones tapping.
CD2 - The Classics , having left off where cd1 began we are given a little reminder of the who and what soe classics are, however a few versions are no better than a Moby cd in tesco or asda, some slighty cheesy old tunes given a airing and a make over, but as the CD spins it proggresively gets better, HIRD & MICA STONE gives the cd a lift as does a classic mix of CHAKA & HERBIE(not the car ) giving us some ESSENCE!