New Grooves — CDs  

The often cinematic sounds of Jaga Jazzist, given an extra orchestral sweep – working beautifully well with the Britten Sinfonia chamber orchestra! It's a match made in jazzy, proggy, soundtracky heaven. Jaga Jazzist has a sprawling sound even at their core – with soul jazz, prog and contemporary club sounds delivered in a way that's brilliantly unique to the group – so surely stands to reason that they could adapt quite brilliantly in a grander concert environment. Well, it's even greater than you'd expect! The guitar, vibes, percussion, horns, synth and piano of Jaga Jazzist is complemented beautifully by Britten Sinfonia's strings, flutes, clarinets, bassoon and additional horns and percussion. Includes the slow-building, epic 15+ minute opener "One-Armed Bandit", plus sweet symphonic takes on "Kitty Wu", "Prungen", "For All You Happy People", "Toccata", "Bananfluer Overalt", "Music! Dance! Drama!" and "Oslo Skyline". Recorded at Rockefeller Music Hall in Oslo and at the Baribican in London in fall and summer 2012.

A great solo set from Heidi Vogel – a vocalist you may know from previous work with the Cinematic Orchestra – stepping out here in a bossa-heavy set that's a perfect fit for the Far Out label! Heidi's style is deeper and more expressive than before – not a voice as part of larger instrumental backdrops, but a lyrical presence first and foremost – often supported with lighter instrumentation that echoes an older bossa era – with strong use of acoustic guitar, light percussion, piano, bass, and cello – all with very melancholy shades of sound. There's a light glow to the record that's really beautiful – mellow, yet soulful enough to have some subtle power – and the set also features guest vocals on two tracks by Cleveland Watkiss, and guest piano on two other numbers by Austin Peralta. Titles include a nice version of Joao Donato's "The Frog" – plus "Inutil Paisagem", "Chelsea Bridge", "Love Dance", "Bonita", "Juazeiro", "Black Narcissus", "Copacabana", and "Modinha". CD also fatures three remix numbers – "Black Narcissus (Cinematic Orchestra rmx)", "Black Narcissus (Emanative rmx)", and "Turn Up The Quiet (IG Culture rmx)".