FULL-LENGTH LABEL DEBUT NO BEGINNING NO END SET FOR JAN. 22 RELEASE IT’S ALL OVER YOUR BODY EP

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EMI Blue Note Records, Emily King, Hindi Zahra, Jose James, Pino Palladino, Robert Glasper, Vocalists

FULL-LENGTH LABEL DEBUT NO BEGINNING NO END SET FOR JAN. 22 RELEASE IT’S ALL OVER YOUR BODY EP

José James

Singer-songwriter José James has signed to EMI’s Blue Note Records and is set to release his full-length label debut No Beginning No End on January 22. However, fans need not wait until then to get a taste of James’ intoxicating blend of jazz, hip-hop, and R&B. The vocalist has released the four-track It’s All Over Your Body EP today exclusively through iTunes. “It’s All Over Your Body” is also available now as a single through all other digital retailers and streaming services. iTunes is also currently featuring James’ song “Trouble” as their free Single of the Week.

New Releases [Jazz] for the Week of 5/10/2010

Tags

Arturo Sandoval, Gregory Porter, Jazz, Jose James

Greetings’ once again fellow jazz enthusiasts, May continues in week two with more distinctive and insinuating sounds, melodies, rhythms & dexterous flavors of jazz to quench your ongoing thirst for quality music. I’m humbled to have the opportunity to compile for your viewing pleasure an extraordinarily complex yet diverse mix of New Music [Jazz] Releases this and every week. In fact, the featured album of week was very difficult to choose because of the variety of new stuff coming out. Actually, there’s two choices beginning with vocal sensation José James and his debut on Verve Records titled “For All We Know” features pianist Jef Neve on this inescapable duo offering. Being that there are virtually tons of great music waiting to be heard it was fitting to include guitarist/vocalist Jonathan Butler’s, “So Strong” arrives just in time. Trumpeter Arturo Sandoval puts his touch to sweet melodies of “Time for Love,” guitarist Al Di Meola scores One Night in Montreal,” bassist Joseph Patrick Moore takes us on a music safari with “To Africa With Love.” To my surprise, I stumbled into also another nu-voice this week the Stephen Anderson Trio and his latest “Nation Degeneration” and then we have a remarkable new saxophonist on the horizon named Sarah Manning to shake things up with her fabulous new record “Dandelion Clock,” and to round things out is jazz guitarist Andreas Öberg’s “Six String Evolution” is on hand and lots more.

Featured Album of the Week

José James (and Jef Neve) - For All We Know

José James & Jef Neve ::|:: For All We Know – [Verve Records, 2010]

“A labor of love” is how José James describes his May 11, 2010, release For All We Know, his first American release and his first for the Impulse! label. A collaboration between James and noted Belgian pianist Jef Neve, the album finds the charismatic young singer applying his warm, rich baritone to a sterling assortment of jazz standards, including “Tenderly,” “Body and Soul” and George and Ira Gershwin’s “Embraceable You.” All but one of For All We Know’s songs was recorded in one informal six-hour session at Galaxy Studios in Mol, Belgium, with no producer, no overdubs and no retakes.

José James and Jef Neve | For All We Know

Tags

Jazz, Jef Neve, Jose James, Male Vocalist, Piano

José James (and Jef Neve) - For All We Know

José James and Jef Neve | For All We Know – [Impluse!, 2010]

For All We Know is the title of the first American album from José James (and Jef Neve). Now that the cover art is in hand, it can truly be said that this is solidly in the Impulse! tradition, both inside and out. In fact, it’s the first album of newly recorded music to be issued on the label in six years.

José has been working out of London for the past few years and has released two albums, The Dreamer and Blackmagic on Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood label. He’s built an international following with collaborations with a wide assortment of jazz, club and hip-hop acts, including Basement Jaxx, Nicola Conte, Toshio Matsuura, Jazzanova, Flying Lotus, Christian McBride, Elan Mehler, the Heritage Orchestra, Robert Mitchell, Jazzy Sport and Simbad.

José James | Black Magic

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African American, Jazz, Jose James, Male Vocals

José James | Black Magic – [Brownswood Recordings, 2010]

José James - Blackmagic

I have been living with “Black Magic” for the last two weeks and for me the challenge was letting go of my attachment to “The Dreamer” and letting “Black Magic” introduce itself to me on its own terms. In many ways “The Dreamer” is a hard act to follow – it is a nearly flawless debut carefully crafted to be a timeless classic. The challenge with “Black Magic” is that it is concerned with the “now’ enlisting cutting edge producers and collaborators from the global dance underground like Moodymann, Flying Lotus, DJ Mitsu the Beats, and Benga to give an identity to the project. Such a strategy begs the question of whether or not it will hold up in the coming years or become dated. IMHO I don’t see this happening because underpinning the project is a dedication to high aesthetics and a reinforcement of the qualities that initially attracted me to Mr. James’ music – there’s quality writing, musicianship and production all on offer here.

José James | The Dreamer

Tags

Hip-hop, Jazz, Jose James, Soul, Vocalist

José James | The Dreamer – [Brownswood Recordings, 2008]

José James, The Dreamer

Brooklyn based, half-Irish and half-Panamanian José James sounds like a soulful cross between Gil Scott Heron, Terry Callier and Kurt Elling. He’s definitely a jazz singer and we don’t seem to have enough of those, especially younger ones to take the form forward. He sings here as part of a basic quartet made up of him, Nori Ochiai on piano, Alexi David on bass and Steve Lyman on drums – though Luke Damrosch plays drums on “The Dreamer” and “blackeyedsusan” and Junior Mance plays piano on “Spirits Up Above“.

There’s another slight variation to the line-up (and general vibe of the album) on “Park Bench People“, where Ryan Blum takes up keyboards and Gal Ben Haim plays guitar. Blum also plays keys on the album closer, the drum & bass-inspired “Love“. Omar Abdukarim also plays trumpet albeit, on the title track only.

Nicola Conte | Rituals

Tags

Bossa Nova, Emarcy Records, Guitar, Jazz, Jose James

Nicola Conte | Rituals – [Emarcy, 2009]

The follow-up to the classic “Other Directions” takes a more vocal route. Featuring mostly live instruments, Nicola Conte is joined by a multitude of players that include Timo Lassy on sax and flute, Fabrizio Bosso and Till Brönner on trumpets, Pietro Lussu on piano. Vocals are by Alice Ricciardi, José James, Chiara Civello, and Kim Sanders. The whole thing is just so classy.

The style (though not the vocal) resembles Mario Biondi’s wonderful Handful of Soul from a couple years back especially on Ellington’s “Caravan” and the Eastern vibe of “The Nubian Queens“, the latter featuring José James and standout solos by Timo Lassy. Nicola Conte knows “his” jazz and he has written or co-written all the tracks here except two and in an outstanding fashion.