Jazz
[MP3] BADBADNOTGOOD – Velvet
Truth be told I’m not a huge fan of these Toronto-based young, hip-hop jazzers, I think they’re a tad overrated, frankly. But this is pretty nice!
[MP3] Nicholas Payton – Two (from “Numbers” ft. Butcher Brown)
Great mellow jazzy vibes on this one. Might have been better as a late night post?
[MP3] Beat Du Jour: Batsauce – Don’t Stop
Nice jazzy instrumental beat for your Sunday listening pleasure from German producer, Batsauce.
[MP3] Nikki Yanofsky – Necessary Evil
Barely out of her teens Canadian jazz-pop star, Nikki Yanofsky has long been a staple of local Toronto station, JAZZ-FM but she is swinging for the crossover fences with her latest album, that just dropped.
If I had to make a comparison, her big voice over jazzy pop with hip-hop beats sound on this new album is reminiscent of Christina Aguilera‘s Back to Basics album that featured production by Gangstarr’s DJ Premier. It starts with opening track, “Something News” (hit the jump to hear it) which kind of actually isn’t, except maybe in the context of her using the sample of “Soul Bossa Nova” which is already well known from its use as the Austin Powers movie theme music and as the main sample powering 90s Canadian hip-hop act, Dream Warriors‘ hit single, “My Definition Of A Boombastic Jazz Style”.
But I guess it kind of makes sense for her to use it as she has apparently become a protege of sorts of the legendary Quincy Jones, who wrote and performed the original “Soul Bossa Nova”, in his Global Gumbo All-Stars collective as I learned at his amazing Q&A Panel with JAZ-FM’s Russ Porter at CMW a couple weekends ago.
But my mind was really blown when she sampled Dr. Dre‘s “What’s The Difference” on the album’s title track second single, “Necessary Evil.” (note: the album is actually called Little Secret, not sure why I thought it was Necessary Evil??) I’m pretty sure no Canadian A&R made that creative decision, unless he was this kind of Canadian A&R guy! (I bet Blu Cantrell is probably kind of tight too though, huh?) Overall though, while not a bad effort, I might have liked this album better when Melanie Fiona made it five years ago!