Various Artists - Soul Heaven pres. Jazzy Jeff 'In The House'

(Defected/Shock)

Going into this review with mixed emotions and thoughts I was quickly silenced by the genius of Jazzy Jeff, his track selection, and ability to bring together classic artists like The Temptations, Booker T, Barry White and Soul Central in a classic house setting without it sounding cheesy or clichéd.

CD 1

The first disc kicks off with a classic number from the Temptations ‘Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone’ and bounces off from there into classic house tracks like ‘On My Way’ and ‘Abstract Truth’ from We Had A Thing.  The bass moves slowly between tracks with mild scratching here and there from ‘The Magnificent’ Jazzy Jeff the beats are hard hitting, like all house beats should, and the snare and hat mash up at the start of ‘Useless’ is brilliant with the mashed beat creating a prefect base for Kerri Chandler’s vocals with the very laid back strings setting the mood early.

The first disc is full of classic 80s and 90s synth and electric strings like in the classic dance floor hit ‘Strings of Life’ from Soul Central that has been given a revved up beat hitting hard on the bpm scale.  This track is insane, Jazzy Jeff has given it a kick in the butt that it needed and fits perfectly in the mix of crazy mixing. 

Jazzy’s style of mixing and selection goes from classic house to classic hip hop with the line ‘3 turn tables and one microphone’ from KRS 1 on ‘Gangsta House’, a little bit of consistency wouldn’t be too hard right?! But Jazzy literally pulls it together with ‘I Got Rhythm’ from Soul Fusion that’s harmonic and slower to lead onto Erro’s ‘Rock Wit U’ that has all the symptoms of classic house: a bouncey bassline, slower beat and beautiful vocals.  The following tracks from Viktor Duplaix, Soldiers of Twilight and Jazzatronik are all generic classic house tracks with bouncey keyboards, strong beat and awesome vocals with the conclusion being a familiar number from one DJ Gregory, ‘Tropical Soundclash’ hits hard to conclude the disc with Jazzy’s remix being a little faster and more bouncey with a deeper beat.  All up the first disc is full of classics, there is no highlight cause every track is brilliantly mixed and put in just the right place.  However, the inclusion of DJ Gregory at the end is somewhat questionable.

Again the disc kicks off with an old classic with Booker T’s ‘Melting Pot’ from years ago and follows onto the groove classic ‘Open Sesame’ from Kool and The Gang.  The second disc is all about groove and funk with big Barry White making an appearance with ‘Sweetness Is My Weakness’ that keeps much of the original work there but is just given a slight kick with a new beat, however I’m hard pressed to  see that there was no Herbie Hancock on this disc if your gonna do funk you’ve gotta have Herbie.

After the sleazy cheesiness of Barry White, Nina Simone mixed up with MAW follows the theme with soul, jazz and funk bouncing through the release into the soul classic ‘Morena’ which is probably the highlight of the second disc with its slow beat and chilled vocals combined with the horns later in the track make for a awesome mix that sets the mood for the back half of the disc that’s very sensual, soulful and very laid back.  Tracks like ‘I Found Love’, ‘Somebody Knew’ and ‘Deep Water’ see the disc through in a slow dance kind of way with the beat relentlessly keeping the release in time and the vocals being the main focus in the back half.  Topic of choice being love and devotion, but its soul so it fits!  The house finally kicks in again in John Beltran’s ‘Kissed by the Sun’ slowly before it kicks in for the finale ‘Home’ by Julie McKnight that’s big, bassey and full of strings.

Jazzy Jeff’s inclusion to the In The House series is one of classics, a release dotted with soul and occasional deep house, is awesome!  He’s filled it with classics and soulful deep house that only a master could have provided!  Give this one a look if you haven’t got any of the In The House series it will provide you with a perfect starting point to delve deeper into the brilliance of both ITH and Jazzy Jeff!