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Lasting impressions
CD of the week:
Various: Jazz Impressions Volume 1

This is certainly a laid-back compilation, suited to soft, peach-coloured sunsets and sea breezes. This is not an edgy, knock-your-socks-off display of the flashy talents of green jazz cats. It’s a beautiful, balanced, accomplished album, writes Michelle Matthews, reviewing our choice of the week, Jazz Impressions Volume 1.

avin Minter loves jazz. He even contributes percussion and vocals to the new Jazz Impressions Volume 1 (Real Wired), although he’s better known in the Cape as the music coordinator at the V&A Waterfront’s jazz venue, the Green Dolphin.

It was there, four years ago, that Minter initiated the Jazz Impressions series to give talented but venueless young jazz musicians a leg up. The concept worked brilliantly and the series has recently started its first run in Johannesburg (at the Blues Room on Sunday evenings). But, as Minter says in the liner notes, “this recording reveals that the soul of jazz in South Africa lives in Cape Town”.

This is certainly a laid-back compilation, suited to soft, peach-coloured sunsets and sea breezes. This is not an edgy, knock-your-socks-off display of the flashy talents of green jazz cats. It’s a beautiful, balanced, accomplished album, with a lovely warm feeling provided by Cape Town’s other “jazz musician’s friend”, Beach Road Studios.

A tighter Tribe feature. Pianist Mark Fransman was apparently one of the “hooligans in hip-hop clothing” that helped inspire Jazz Impressions — hear how he’s matured on tracks such as Nommo Blues “Blues for Moses” (drummer Kesivan Naidoo provides some flash factor on this track).

Fransman’s other project, Straight and Narrow, inject a fabulous slab of funk into the album, as do JAK (James Scholfield, Andrew Lilley and Kevin Gibson — the standard Jazz Impressions backing band for young soloists). Vocalist Natasha Roth shows off her songwriting skills on two wonderfully loungy tracks. I’m definitely looking forward to volume two.

Dave Matthews: Some Devil (BMG)
After five studio albums and many live releases, Dave Matthews has finally committed his singular musical vision to disc. His debut solo album is 14 tracks strong (including an acoustic version of the single Gravedigger) and all are, not surprisingly, lyrically and musically vicarious. The voice is unmistakable, but Matthews pushes the boundaries of his vocal ability, pitching way above the typical monotone, mumbled murmur to which we have become accustomed over the past decade. He delivers songs that were written with his band in mind, but somehow shirked the mould. Occasional saxophone and a rhythm section as smooth as silk glide below Dodo, and Up and Away borders on a Jamaican slow jam. Produced by Stephen Harris, the man responsible for the Dave Matthews Band’s Busted Stuff, the album delivers definition, complemented by the host of guest stars, including Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio and Tim Reynolds, who spreads his six-string acoustic magic throughout. Eclectic at times, yet downright addictive — this is Matthews as accessible as you are ever likely to find him. — Jason Curtis

Finley Quaye: Much More Than Much Love (Sony)
This is a polished, confident return for Quaye. But it’s lightweight, restaurant-music stuff. And boring, despite the big production. His first album, Maverick A Strike, sounded really fresh, and became one of the soundtracks to the summer of ’97 (or was it ’98?). Much was made of his “return” in the British press lately and how he had thrown off his bad boy image. I liked him better as a bad boy — at least his music was more interesting, and lyrical. Sure, there are a few pretty songs here, like the catchy Face to Face or the simple love song This Is How I Feel, but come Christmas, you’ll have forgotten them. — Matthew Burbidge