Music from Aromabar, Taxi, Cleveland Watkiss, DJ Matt, BeatClub 21, Kabuki Featuring Cleveland Watkiss, Soulpatrol, Phoneheads, [re:jazz], and Hacienda. CD

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Wonderful work from a group who really live up to their name – and who manage to come up with a sound that's unlike any of the other jazzy club acts on the market! Metropolitan Jazz Affair is a great collaboration between Patchworks, keyboardist Benjamin Devigne, and a few other artists – working here in a mode that's got echoes of 70s funk, soul, and jazz – and possibly a slight undercurrent of contemporary club – but one that's relatively subtle overall. Most tunes have a fair bit of keyboards, mixed with trumpet, bass, and percussion – as well as vocals from Eric Duperray that often hit a sweetly soulful style – crackling a little like some lost soul vocalist from years back, but with a slight European inflection too. Some numbers hit a bit of the pulsating groove of other club jazz artists – but there's still a more song-based approach going on overall too – one that gives the album a tremendous amount of depth! The tracks are about 50/50 vocal and instrumental – and titles include "Fourmi Rouge", "Bird Of Spring", "Roaming", "Swagger", "Turned To Clay", "You Can Dig", "Sigh Of Dawn", "Day Dreaming", and "Find A Way". CD

A really great live set from Re:Jazz – one that's got an even more soulful feel than some of their previous studio work! The performance features a small core group – acoustic piano from group leader Matthias Vogt, mixed with guitar, bass, and drums – plus a range of saxes and flute from Oliver Leicht, whose contributions here really deepen the sound! The lovely Inga Luhning sings on a number of tracks – with a warmly soulful feel that's great, and much more unified than the mix of singers you might have heard on the earliest projects from the group – continuing the great sound she brought forth on the Expansion record. Re:Jazz have moved way past their initial gimmick by this point – and the album has them working as a really tight ensemble who mix together jazz and soul for a contemporary audience – recorded here with a beautifully crisp feel. Titles include "Cupid & Orlando", "Style", "Keep On Movin", "All Over", "Written In The Stars", "Can You Live", "Torch Of Freedom", and "People Hold On". Also features a bonus DVD, in PAL format – with a 90 minute documentary "Re:Jazz In Japan" – plus 30 minutes of bonus material that show the group recording with Alice Russell! CD

A really beautiful little record from keyboardist Matthias Vogt – the key force behind the well-known Re:Jazz albums, stepping out here in a straighter jazz set of his own! The instrumentation here is quite spare – just keyboards from Vogt, plus bass and acoustic drums – but as with the Re:Jazz project, Matthias has a strongly modern approach to the groove – a decidedly rhythmic sensibility that makes these tunes slide up nicely with contemporary work from the global underground, even though they're in a much older jazz mode! Given that instrumentation mostly just features Fender Rhodes, grand piano, and Roland next to the bass and drums, the overall groove is less in the club jazz mode than you might expect – but the tunes themselves have a warmly rolling sound that's often filled with soul, especially on the few numbers that include vocals. Titles include "The Look Into Your Eyes", "The Watermethod Man", "Changing Colors", "Down The Wind", "Pilot", "With A Smile", "Expecting Repercussions", "Circle Of Friends", and "Scarlett". CD

A spare trio set from keyboardist Matthias Vogt – working here with the bassist and drummer that are part of his larger Re:Jazz combo! This setting shows a much more sensitive side of Vogt's talents – tunes that aren't just directed at the dancefloor, but which mix up modal moments with more lyrical styles – an approach that's much gentler overall than the Re:Jazz groove, but which can certainly be appreciated by any fan of the group! Vogt plays acoustic piano throughout, alongside the bass of Andreas Manns and drums of Volker Schmidt – and the album features guest vocals on two tracks – sung by Jutta Guckel on "The Rainy Season" and Liza Da Costa on "Meu Amor". Other titles include "Inhale", "Shelter", "Stop & Go", "Such A Shame", "Voyager", "The Fifth Day", and "There She Goes". CD