Welcome to a sound which I think will become increasingly popular to all the modern jazz and funk fans out there, and this is the jazz trio, Soulive. I first heard of this group when I was in the North Sea Jazz Festival in Holland, and this group (plus guests) was one of the many performing, and after hearing great things about them (and missing their performance ahem!) I went and purchased their album, self titled 'Soulive (Live)'. This released in 2003, to accompany the band's amazing success and popularity throughout Japan and Europe.
The band consists of brothers Alan and Neal Evans and Eric Krasno all from New York, and between them they play guitar, drums, keyboard, bass keys, and clavinet. For anyone who's not sure, the clavinet is a kind of funky electric organ. OK, so back to the CD itself! This cost me €9.99 from a large CD stall and its actual retail price when released was £14.99, but I'm sure it can be found a lot cheaper from amazon.co.uk. It's easily recognizable by its very red cover insert.
Like I said, this band's genre is jazz funk, and a main and significant feature of jazz is improvisation. This can often be used in the form of what's called jam sessions which is basically tasking
turns between players and doing lots of improv! This means that a big part of these pieces is improv, so I'm not going to go into major details about the tunes themselves, because let's face it- I would be here a while!
Kicking off is a very funky piece called Alladin. It starts off with some low, electric funk riffs, and then goes into a moderately upbeat feel with funk guitar. It sounds very unusual to listen to, because the sounds you hear from the instruments aren't natural (except for the drum kit), so it takes a bit of getting used to. The piece does eventually settle down into a soothing funk feel with the typical 'wow wow' sounds from the guitar.
A piece I particularly like is track 3, 'First Street'. It has a brisk tempo, with slightly more normal sounding sounds from the instruments, and you start to really notice the clavinet. This piece would be good for jazz guitar fans to listen to, because the guitar features prominently in this piece, and Eric (the soloist) makes this incredibly fast improv sound so easy and effortless, it's great to listen to! The drum kit keeps the upbeat tempo going, keeping a very funky rhythm on the cymbals. Track 5, 'Dig It' has a similar feel to track 3, only a bit slower, in terms of the feel. There is a feeling generated throughout the album of feeling so casual and laid back, and I think it's very easy to spot in this track.
A contrast can be observed in track 7, 'Turn It Out'. The track starts off similar to the rest of the pieces- laid back, yet funky with an intense rhythm courtesy of the drums. All the instruments take turns at taking a solo, and the clavinet especially features here, with some damn cool sounds! Then, you start to hear how this most definitely a live track, because one of the band members starts working up and audience, posing them the question, "DO YA FEEL GOOD!?" and their calm response, "HELL YEH!!" It was good to hear in a track, because it proved how the band is just as good live, and the band really does know how to work the audience up, and it shows how popular they are. All too often the sad thing happens that bands which sounds amazing when recorded in a studio somewhere and as soon as they perform live there is a big let down. This is not the case for Soulive, which they strongly prove here. They also mess around with the tempos for the end of the piece, again showing how they can play to the crowd. At nearly 13 minutes though, this is a bit of a tough piece to get through, it is very repetitious.
But being repetitious doesn't have to be a bad thing, because to me, this is a style which one can easily listen to as background music. You don't have to give it your full attention the whole time, but when you choose to listen in, you're treated with a little section of improv, and when it goes on for a long time, it falls into a very cool trance-type feel.
Track 8, 'Solid' starts out with the drum kit, with a nifty little introduction which oozes cool, and through out the piece, really complex drum fills can be heard, and again, it is the sign of a good musician when they make it sound so easy and effortless. The featuring drummer is accompanied with a funky organ sound, with a tune which is repeated a few times, and then the guitar comes in with the tune, and then takes over with some very unusual, but funky sounds.
Track 9, 'El Ron' is my favourite because it starts off intensely, and to me, sounds like the way I would define funk in my head, if that makes sense. It's hard to describe. The riff pretty much stays on one note, but it's the driving rhythm and articulation of the notes which show off the band's style. The piece settles down to some cool improv, with a really good solo from the electric guitar. Again, the electric guitar sound is my preferred sound in this track, with much less effects and distortion- on the solos anyway.
Unfortunately, the CD only has 9 tracks on! This was the let down for me. There is no way I would have paid £15 for just 9 tracks; either reduce the price or put more tracks on!
I cannot fault the music itself, but obviously it will not suit everyone's tastes. If you like modern jazz and funk, then I really recommend giving this a try, I think it would definitely suit your tastes. If you are a modern music follower in whatever genre, then you should try this CD, because it would let you keep up to date with another modern genre- one which I think will become increasingly popular. Come on, give it a listen!
Thanks for reading :o)
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
This is a greatreview which tells me firmly that this is not an album for me. The phrase "But being repetitious doesn't have to be a bad thing, because to me, this is a style which one can easily listen to as background music" put me in mind of lift-music and jazz improv does my head in (5 years as working as a barmaid in one of the busiest venues during the Cork jazz festival - nuff said) :) E.
JohnGroom 24.02.2006 14:21
Really well written review. I'll give it a listen.
very helpful by (100%):
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