Madlib
Shades of Blue

Madlib Invades Blue Note

This is the explanatory subtitle of "Shades of Blue", an album where the good Otis Jackson Jr., aka Madlib, is engaged in revisiting pieces from the glorious Blue Note catalog.

"Shades of Blue" is an album that is difficult to define and/or categorize: to have some basic coordinates, imagine taking one of the best producers around and giving him access to a musical archive that any respectable beatmaker should know by heart, similar to what Blue Note had already done with "Hand on the Torch" by Us3. It is the ending of "Slim's Return" that further clarifies any possible doubts: "It's Madlib reprocesses some old Blue Note recordings".

By retracing the biography of the Californian producer, it becomes evident how family roots have had a fundamental relevance in what is his artistic vision. Indeed, Otis was born to soul musician parents and his maternal uncle, Joe Faddis, was a trumpeter for (among others) Gillespie and Mingus.

But Mr. Otis Jackson Jr. does not limit himself to remixing tracks from jazz history; he also engages with instruments, both with standards (like "Song For My Father" by Horace Silver) and with lesser-known pieces ("Mystic Brew" by Ronnie Foster); as if that wasn't enough, he signs under his own name "Funky Blue Note".

In a sort of authorized mixtape Madlib once again proves that he has been chewing on jazz since adolescence (or perhaps even earlier) and that he feels at ease in a territory he has explored in all its facets: as a "beat kondukta" on the sampling side, as a composer (see the various projects under pseudonyms, most notably Yesterday New Quintet) and as a musician.

Ultimately "Shades of Blue" is a successful attempt to give new life to a timeless genre, without ever denaturing or corrupting the originality of the tracks, as well as a precious sonic documentary on the history of the most important jazz record label (alongside Impulse! Records).