Various : Blue Note revisited (Blue Note)

On paper, it's a battle of the titans. The two most famous jazz labels of all time in a head-to-head duel, battling for the coveted spot of best back-catalogue dig-out and remix album. Blue Note Revisited lines up Jazzanova, Osunlade and 4 Hero to compete with Verve Remixed defenders King Britt, UFO and Thievery Corporation. But to judge this clash, it is necessary to look at the track record of both labels.

Verve's first Remixed album got a pretty bum rap upon its release, but time has done it a lot of good. It was accused of being somewhat superficial and over-polished, not managing to innovate the Verve classic with enough pizazz. But Masters At Work's excellent rendition of Nina Simone's See line woman, Rae & Christians nasty funk-up of Dinah Washington's Is you is or is you ain't my baby? and Joe Clausell's smooth roller dub of Nina Simone's Feelin' good are just some of the tracks that have revealed themselves to be more than just pleasant (although we prefer the upbeat house rendition of Feelin' good that was around a while back). Criticism of the second Verve segment was au contraire absolutely justified, as it fell into the same trappings that critics had accused the first volume of succumbing to. Blue Note ran into exactly the same problems with Blue Note Revisted's ill-fated predecessors, the DJ Smash remix compilations. So let's disregard these releases and pit Verve Remixed vol. 1 against this new Blue Note Remixed compilation.

It is to an extent a tale of two genres. Verve Remixed chose to focus on more polished sounds, creating what comes closest to a downbeat compilation, with the occasional off-shoots of 2-step, hip hop or broken flavours. Blue Note Revisited picks its remixers squarely from the nujazz, future funk and soulful hip hop fold, with slight deviations to pick up the ever-eclectic Matthew Herbert and the deep house rhythms of Osunlade. Both albums pick up on a trend and this is why the Verve albumgot such an unfortunate reception. The downbeat genre was on the verge of going very mainstream, of becoming uncool and Verve laid itself open to accusations of jumping on the bandwagon -and not doing it very well either. The broken and eclectic jazz and hip hop scene is having a much better shelf-life, to the point where we may allow ourselves to rejoice at its immortality. This benefits the image of the Blue Note comp immensely and puts it ahead in the fight.

So to the music and some of the Verve criticism still sticks. Although there were many fine songs on the album, only few managed to create something special and none were absolutely breathtaking. The Blue Note Remixes fare much better and most songs are absolute gems.

MAW man Kenny Dope whips up an exstatic latin-infused remix of Bobby Hutcherson's La Manga. Kyoto Jazz Massive bounce back from a disappointing period with an electrifying and very Bugz-esque broken remix of Eddie Henderson's Kudu. DJ Spinna does a wonderful funky theme mix on Donald Byrd's Lansanna's Priestess, which becomes a contemporary testament to the greatest days of soul in the 70s -Roy Ayers, Curtis Mayfield or Stevie Wonder would have been proud of this instant classic. 4Hero show themselves as bona-fide jazzmen, entirely re-recording Horace Silver's Won't you open up your senses with just the right refreshing shuffle and polish and sublime vocals by Vanessa Freeman, who reaches amazing new heights with this magnificent performance. Bugz In The Attic go surprisingly slow on Gene Harris' Los alamitos latinfunklovesong, maintaining the original an bettering it with a fat bounce and sunny tweaked rhodes augmented by smooth female vocals. Madlib cheekily starts of with a sample snippet from his Shades of Blue album and goes into a great fusionistic take on Bobbi Humphrey's Young warrior. Mercurial hip hop producer DJ Cam is flanked by fellow countryman and trumpet innovator Erik Truffaz for a airy pounding remix of Donald Byrd's The emperor, a fat hip hop beat and scratches securing the base and letting the Truffaz trumpet float majestically above. DJ Medhi serves up a deep driving beat with twirling rhodes and synths on his gorgeous rework of Wayne Shorter's classic Footprints -the vocal samples say "hit it" and this he certainly does. The ever-mercurial Jazzanova crew take on Eddie Gale's Song of will with utter aplomb, raising the pulse with a broken beauty of crisp melody and the tighest of beats.

What is striking throughout Blue Note Remixed is the clear evidence that the musicianship and production skills of the future jazz, hip hop and broken beat artists is on a much higher level than the traditional downbeat genre's artists. Not relying on a standard sound or base to carry fragmented elements of the originals, the Blue Note remixers cut up, re-sequence and manipulate the originals to create entirely new tracks with both firms roost and the ability to capture fresh new moods and emotions. This is the holy grail of remixing classics... and Blue Note Revisited has the grail overflowing.

My local jazz club where I used to live was full of swing-fans who would crucify anyone who dared speak of a convergence of jazz and electronic music. Even the argument that Miles Davis' Bitches brew was essentially an electronic album, but was turned mostly to strict jazz by the producer, fell on deaf ears. In this respect, the Blue Note Remixes is a new watershed. The Verve remixes was the result of downbeat and related genres flirting with jazz. Blue Note remixes sees the new jazz artists flirt with the old and attain recognition on a par with the old-time masters of the genre, as the cornerstone label gives them the popular credibility that us fans always knew they had.

Verdict : Blue Note Revisted beats Verve's Remixed by several margins. It's a superb album, building immaculate and solid bridges between the jazz of the past and the innovation of present and future. A wonderful voyage and a key album in any jazzman's collection. Absolutely magnificent and hands-down best compilation ever. Blue Note - 'The finest jazz since 1939' -damn straight!

Review by Nicolai Hartvig

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