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- Nicci Cheeks Presents... Hip Hop Love Jazz
(Kwerk)
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| Jazz and hip hop have always shared strong musical, cultural and artistic bases. Perhaps the most interesting feature of both forms is the centrality of improvisation, which contributes a pulsing vitality to each. Improvisation obviously forms an important part of many other music genres, but jazz and hip hop in particular have founded and made themselves contingent upon it. The freestylers on the street corner, and the quartet in the local smokey club share a true bond. |
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So what relevance does this have to the entertainingly-monikered Nicci Cheeks collection? The concept pioneered here by Cheeks is an attempt to bring together a selection of hip hop tracks that qualify as particularly 'jazz-influenced'. Is this a bad, narrow idea doomed to failure? Yes and no.
The collection varies wildly in quality, from the most successful track by ed/ge to the interesting but lyrically awkward 'Hot Nights, Cold Days', to the bottom end of dull expeditions like the repetitive 'Remember When' and the predictable 'Nutshell.' Cheeks's cut-glass accent also interjects on irritating phoned-in conversations with the emcees and producers featured on the album. If you 'squint' enough with your ears you might be able to aurally even these interruptions out. Alternatively, hit the skip button.
The jazz influence of most tracks appears to be the occasional solo, sampled or live. Unfortunately the jazz content of these is typically compromised by the demands of hip hop, and the hip hop content is thus also compromised by the demands of jazz. As such the coupling is largely unsuccessful and inevitably results in only a cursory use of jazz rather than a real synthesis of the two. Oddly enough, 'Quasimodo' by ed/ge succeeds where the others fail, with its more measured and thoughtful use of jazz horn lines driven against a skipping rhythm. It is strangely reminiscent of the moments during El-P and co's High Water jazz-fusion album when Things Went Right.
Nicci Cheeks knocks together an uneven compilation that is quite unsatisfying when listened to with a careful ear. Perhaps it is instead meant to be placed in that infamous 'background music' category? |
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| Stuart Reeves - 5/10 |
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