Customer Reviews

Def Jazz

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

If you grew up in the times of old school hip hop onward, you will recognize all the tracks on this album. The best cut by far is Slick Rick's "Hey Young World," but every song is good. I gave it four stars because while it's very good, it's not perfect.

I say not perfect because with all the big jazz names on the album(Roy Hargrove, Gerald Albright, Hubert Laws and Rick Braun to name a few), their appearances in the album alone sets the expectation bar pretty high. Although they all did a great job, it wasn't the absolute best work they could put, therefore it was perhaps two or three steps away from being perfect.

The horn arrangement on Jay-Z's "Can I Get A..." struggled to match the energy that the original track is known for. On Method Man's "Bring The Pain," I was looking forward hearing the original beat, but they changed it up some to the point where I couldn't audibly recognize it until the vocals came in. Also, since Rick Braun was on there it would have been good to have Kirk Whalum somewhere on the album too. But that's really the only major flaws I found in the album. "Hey Young World" was perfectly done, even had a go-go/reggae feel to it. "All I Need" was excellent, and they go WAAAAAAYYY back with Oran Juice Jones' "The Rain. It's a really good album. Not perfection, but definitely not a waste of money.

This is a very nice cd with a good mixture of jazz fusion. Those who wrote bad reviews on this obviously are not musically inclined. Yes, I highly recommend this cd and asure you, you will not be disappointed. And no one had to pay me to recognize good music.

I had heard the Hey Young World song on a jazz station and absolutely loved it. I never imagined that the entire CD would be as good. I could listen to this CD over and over again. If you are in to hip hop, rap and all that, THIS IS NOT the CD for you. But if you like old school songs with a twist of jazz acoustics, you will love this. I recommend it to anyone, it just depends on your taste in music.

An excellent, feel good album with a varied mix of smooth jazz artists with the Def jam/rap flavour. I particularly liked the great playing of Jeff Lorber on the vibes on "Can I get A..", the best I have heard him play in a long time. I had not heard of Dwight Stills but he plays a mean guitar and on the track "Doin' it" his playing blends in really well with the vocal arrangements. The arrangements are fresh and different e.g.in smooth jazz you rarely hear the flute but it works well on the track "Bring back the pain". The organ playing of Joey DeFrancesco is exihilrating. A highlight of the album is "The Rain" with powerful vocals by Ledisi and driving drums/percussion and an interesting rap, a strange mixture but it really works. So go out and buy it and have a blast.

I'm a music lover and I'm always looking for a new artist or some new twist on the gengres of music thats already out there. I wouldn't say this is the best Jazz album that I've heard but it is definately something different. It's smooth, up beat and it's very neat how they have taken hip-hop and fused it with the jazz element. It's worth listening to if you love music as much as I do or even more, you'll have a profound appreciation for what is offered on this album. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I have....Cheers!

I don't know why people are not getting Wid this cd. All the tracks are smooth jazz the way you like it. From the opening track: All I need, which is a smooth cover of Marvin Gaye& Tamy Terrill if I got it right, is so smooth. Hey Young world is a clever jam that is well produced. "Can I Get a" is one of my favorite tracks along with "Bring the Pain", "Ghetto Jam, and "Back Seat". The disc is smooth and hot at the same time. Oran "Juice Jones" is back on a track called "the Rain" a fresh little ditty from the old school sound. The artists on this disc include: Gerald albright, Dwight Sills, Roy Hardgrove,and Kevin Toney of the Blackbyrds just to drop some names on you. THIS IS A GREAT WINTER PIECE to listen to. I can't wait for the next disc to come out Buy it you'll like it !!!

good for the summer being in the sun and all that stuff

I truly think that this is the best jazz album I ever heard.I just could not believe that it was ever possible that you could turn rap into jazz. I defantly recommend this cd 100%.

It doesn't get any worse than this. If you have any doubts as to whether Def Jazz is "worth" the trouble-- don't bother. To even call this repulsive mess Jazz is a slap in the face to a genre that has stood fine on it's own without the help of so called fusion Rap/Jazz albums. To the reviewer who named this the best Jazz album ever:



SHAME ON YOU!!!!!!!