(Wagram/Creative Vibes)

Electro Jazz Crooners dives into the sensuality, funk and soul of the male voice with this first release in this series. Providing us with an eclectic array of nu-jazz, soul and beats there is a little something for everyone in this disk.

Jamie Lidell’ s ‘What is it This Time’ glides us through a slow, classic sounding jazz love song. A simple, elegant and heartfelt song that incorporates just drum, piano and vocals, it is a track that is associated with a Harry Connick Jnr. type of sound. Earl Zinger provides us a left field, upbeat type of track with his ‘Who Killed Saturday night’. The organ, being the catalyst for a slightly psychedelic sounding piece, with the man’s talking vocals layer over the top creating an interesting. This cd can be taken anywhere. It’s perfect for a rainy autumn day, for taking a country drive through inland Australia, for passing sadness or for extending joy. For example the daunting vocals of Jason Rebello in ‘Let it go is’ apt for a candle light dinner, as is the deeply classy, beautiful, and seductive vocals of Nathan Haines’s ‘Impossible Beauty’.

The disk also offers slightly newer styles and materials such as the opening track by Grand Tourism, ‘les Courants d’air’. Incorporating the drivingly robust voice of Terry Callier, we notice a slightly more electronic sound which veers slightly away from the organic sounds of jazz, but regardless is still enjoyed from the heart. The vocals of Christoffer Berg which feature on Hird’s ‘Getting Closer’ is another perfect example of this electronica that incorporates nu-school jazz elements in a sunny elixir of moodiness and fun. There are beautiful keys are a platform for a smiling track and the swaying, light sounds of the piece.

What perhaps I enjoyed most about the compilation is the variety of sound that it holds. Not being purely an electronica cd, or purely a jazz cd, there is a vast space which is filled by the variety of producers and the differing expressions in their art. Tash’s hip-hop rhyming verses on the last track; ‘Chronic Break’ is a testament to this variety. It is unexpected, fresh and new. Beautiful piano and drum jazz beat with a fusion of raw hip-hop.Electro Jazz Crooners has matched the release of the Electro Jazz Divas compilation, extending further than just an original and straight forward release. Mixing and mashing a melting pot of voices and styles in a 16 track jazz box this cd is worth a listen.