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Rating: Glendale, Los Angeles, CA.
A hand (with a questionably tasteful ring on the pinky) pulls out three buds from a transparent bag, placing them on the lined paper on which the setlist is written.
The music starts. A smooth groove begins, and the three happily bounce on a rhythm that seems to come from another era.
Lounge music for refined tastes. Nu-jazz with a soul spirit. The vibraphone adds a touch of class.
At the Bomb Shelter Studio, the Yesterday New Quintet is transformed into a quartet for the occasion: there are Ahmad, Joe, Monk, and finally Otis. But it's a fictitious ensemble: behind these alter-egos is a single conductor who plays everything and is Otis Jackson Jr. aka Madlib.
6 tracks x 25 minutes of positive vibes. Chillin' out as they say across the pond.
It opens with "Arroyo" which breaks the canons of classic jazz by replacing brass with a moog; "Little Angel" and "Traffic Zone" are episodes with funk potential deftly contained within the ranks of lounge; "Windy C" approaches the jazz-instrumental rap territories of "Shades of Blue"; closing with "Now Or Later" with a cosmic synth to disorient the listener.
Say Ah!
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