(Compost/Creative Vibes)

Since receiving this CD, it’s been added to high rotation on my home and car stereos and I’m wondering why I haven’t checked out the series sooner. Compiled by Compost Michael Reinboth (head of Compost) and Beanfield (Michael Mettke and Jan Krause), this CD includes 12 outstanding tracks. Rather than being what you’d expect from the onslaught of sickly sweet nu-jazz that comes out of Europe every year, in addition, this compilation has everything from tasty electro jazz to sauntering break beat and electro infused grooves and emotional spacey sounds. The blue jewel CD case and high gloss black and white spotted optically challenging graphic on the cover is also a nice touch.

Opening with house legend Fred Everything’s track Elevate featuring The New Mastersounds and broken beat and electro maestro Maurice Faulton on remix duties, originally released on 2020 Vision Recordings in 2004, also the home to many of his FE’s releases, this track features tasty live bass and drums, and should appeal to fans of Pork Recordings and similar labels. More percussive, Latin and trumpet infused beats follow courtesy of Uam Uam by Povo The Copenhagen-based jazzers, continuing in the theme of smooth and groovy sounds, before Fools Garden (Black Congo) by respected Playhouse/Perlon artist Ricardo Villalobos introduces a more experimental collection of sounds featuring contrasting warm congas, a slightly irritating repetitive vocal loop, and a cool, majestic space sound. This leads marvelously into Japanese duo Hot Chips with Playboy, a quirky, minimal, melancholy filtered electro vocal number in a minor key featuring a bizarre lyric about driving a Peugeot. In contrast, Per Cussion’s funk-laden Manhatten Jungle is more upbeat. Classic early ‘80s synth funk and xylophones meets live instruments like sax, brass, horns, congas and cowbells to make a menagerie of fun. This is actually an old Swedish track which was released in the ‘80s on Fog in Frankfurt.

Syclops a.k.a. New York house producer Maurice Fulton’s track Fairlight Sunrise, curiously recorded in Melbourne, continues in the spirit of tasty electro space funk and percussion. It’s the sort of track you can see Circ Du Soleil using in their acrobactics shows. Similarly, Gabriel Ananda’s Sussholz is given the remix treatment courtesy of Compost’s Ben Mono, and drives into the techno realm with cascading sounds married with beautifully low slung grooves, still perfect for dance floor action despite being slowed down from the original release. Having peaked, Metaboman drops you off the edge with Role For Kale and marches on with minimal, rolling, bouncing beats fused with smooth jazzy keys reminiscent of something Sydney artist Meem might produce.

Italian duo Origami’s previously unreleased First Note continues with jazzy keys and brass, before Cal Tjader’s re-introduces classic nu jazz and Latin lounge with Los Bandidos and gets the remix treatment courtesy of Compost boss Reinboth. This skips delightfully into RV (Hervé Salters) a.k.a. General Electrics’ Entity Remix of Term & Conditions Apply, a moodier, sexier, sound, before finally transcending back into emotive keys and strings thanks to Sebastien Tellier’s loving La Ritournelle.

Having taken you up, down and sideways with sounds, tempos and emotions, with a selection both new and more familiar jazz themes, the little sonic rollercoaster of Future Sounds of Jazz 10 almost guarantees to leaves you with a sense of satisfaction.