Lunes 24 Oct 2005, 14:38

When one of my favourite artists (Berlin's nu jazz kings Jazzanova) chooses their favourite songs from one of my favourite labels(the classic and progressive Blue Note), the result is bound to be great. Even better, these are records they owned themselves, so they are spinning their own vinyl, not select discs supplied by the label.

What I hadn't been prepared for was that the majority of the pieces on here weren't ones I had in my collection (which is sizeable). Herbie Hancock's classic Maiden Voyage is present, but otherwise Jazzanova have selected under-appreciated gems. I expected that I already owned half the songs on here already, which is why I took so long to pick this up.

Well-represented are the great vibes of Bobby Hutcherson (literally; he plays the vibraphone), Bobbi Humphrey's prototypical smooth jazz and Horace Silver, with good reason. Each supplies some of the great moments on the collection - especially Hello To The Wind and I've Had A Little Talk.

A few other stand-out tracks include Sam Rivers' gorgeous tenor soloing on Beatrice, Lee Morgan's great latin combo jazz on Afreaka, Tina Brooks' emotional performance onTheme For Doris, and the Brazillian-tinted Xibaba by Duke Pearson.

The album is more jazz than acid, live not loopy. Yet it works suprisingly well as a DJ set, even without a constant beat or bone-rattling bass. A lovely introduction to Blue Note, with plenty of rare material even for the Blue Note collector. Best of all, the mixes are not obtrusive; there are no mash-ups here. You can enjoy each song on its own without needing to listen to its neighbours.

Four and a half stars!