Jazzam - It's About Time CD
$12.00
It's About Time everyone heard this fantastic new band from Pennsylvania! Jazzam creates a remarkably unique groove that ventures into soul, rock, R&B, jazz, and world music. Their latest album, It's About Time, was recorded live and brings you a taste of the band's super-tight show. Equally impressive vocally or musically, Jazzam has something for everyone in their splendid sound. Rollicking bass lines, spirited guitar, keyboard, and horn solos, and intense vocals are just some of the building blocks of their texturally diverse music. Guests include Liz Berlin (vocals, Rusted Root), George Krasidis, and more.
1- Early This Morning mp3
2- Radio CLS mp3
3- Dreams mp3
4- Crawdaddy mp3
5- Librium mp3
6- High Times mp3
7- Funk #2 mp3
8- Money Skit mp3
9- New Love mp3
10- Mine mp3
11- 2 Minutes With Marc mp3
12- Time Flies mp3
13- The Note mp3
14- Five Nine mp3
15- Homesick Holiday mp3
Released 2006
Review From http://www.jammedonline.com by Mark Burnell:
Jazzam are a Pittsburgh based funk outfit, this is their debut album and it's pretty darned good. Most debut platters display the band's influences a little too much to the fore , and in general groups have a tendency to rush into the studio a little too quickly - I guess it's easier to sell a professional looking studio album on the merch table than a 'home made' live disc - but Jazzam have been playing in and around the lively Pittsburgh scene for a couple of years now, and the many hours spent onstage have apparently paid dividends. Anyone who has experienced a Jazzam live show will not be disappointed, and purely on its own merits, this disc should definitely garner new fans.
Opener Early This Morning sets the tone well : a funky drumbeat, some skittering percussion, an elastic bassline, a crunchy rhythm guitar line and finally some soulful vocals. Some sweet and delicate jazzy guitar licks on the break followed by some full on wah-wah pedal madness at the close, and you have a perfect introduction to Jazzam. After a quick fake radio skit (there are several 'tweener' snippets scattered across the album in between songs - some work, some don't) comes Dreams, which sounds a little like something Stevie Wonder might have made around 1974, all high falsetto vocals and clavier riffs, and then brief moody instrumental Librium leads straight to High Times, a slow burner of a song that features some excellent sax playing from guest George Krasidis. Funk #2 , despite the title, is actually the smoothest song here, but the sweet tones of guest vocalist Liz Berlin mix really well with the lead vocals of Clinton Clegg and the result never veers into bland territory. New Love has a late period Funkadelic edge to it, while Mine probably has the catchiest chorus on the record , a really fine lead vocal and an unexpected but effective clarinet solo.
Next up is the song that really sold me these guys, an instrumental called Time Flies. Most bands find a style they're comfortable with and work within that framework, but here Jazzam step outside the box and prove that there's more in their future than just high quality funk workouts : it starts sounding somewhat like New Order circa 1980 - all chiming guitars and a driving new wave backbeat - then switches to a break that wouldn't be out of place in a Starsky and Hutch episode from 1975 before switching again to a tight neo prog segment complete with a soaring fake choir in the background and finally finishing with a brief but ear-popping Eddie Hazel-esque guitar wigout finish. I know it sounds like an all-over-the-place mess on paper, but trust me it's simply brilliant ; it's the sound of a band really stretching to see what theyre capable of, a rare thing for such a young band. Finishing out the album are The Note (a slinky Latin number with some great piano and clarinet), and Homesick Holiday (an earnest soul ballad that doesn't quite work and really is a little anticlimactic after what has come before).
Clegg's vocals are really excellent throughout - never underestimate the value of a lead singer who can actually sing - and his is tone reminds me of a more gravelly Jamiroquai ; guitarist Glenn Strother proves equally adept at delicate jazz runs and funkier leads ; and the rhythm section of Marc Sterling (bass) and John Riley (drums), abetted by Jake Miller on percussion, provide a very solid base (though Sterling really shines on the slightly misnamed 2 Minutes With Marc, a three minute bass vamp). All in all an excellent debut disc that promises even better things in the future. Highly recommended.
1- Early This Morning mp3
2- Radio CLS mp3
3- Dreams mp3
4- Crawdaddy mp3
5- Librium mp3
6- High Times mp3
7- Funk #2 mp3
8- Money Skit mp3
9- New Love mp3
10- Mine mp3
11- 2 Minutes With Marc mp3
12- Time Flies mp3
13- The Note mp3
14- Five Nine mp3
15- Homesick Holiday mp3
Released 2006
Review From http://www.jammedonline.com by Mark Burnell:
Jazzam are a Pittsburgh based funk outfit, this is their debut album and it's pretty darned good. Most debut platters display the band's influences a little too much to the fore , and in general groups have a tendency to rush into the studio a little too quickly - I guess it's easier to sell a professional looking studio album on the merch table than a 'home made' live disc - but Jazzam have been playing in and around the lively Pittsburgh scene for a couple of years now, and the many hours spent onstage have apparently paid dividends. Anyone who has experienced a Jazzam live show will not be disappointed, and purely on its own merits, this disc should definitely garner new fans.
Opener Early This Morning sets the tone well : a funky drumbeat, some skittering percussion, an elastic bassline, a crunchy rhythm guitar line and finally some soulful vocals. Some sweet and delicate jazzy guitar licks on the break followed by some full on wah-wah pedal madness at the close, and you have a perfect introduction to Jazzam. After a quick fake radio skit (there are several 'tweener' snippets scattered across the album in between songs - some work, some don't) comes Dreams, which sounds a little like something Stevie Wonder might have made around 1974, all high falsetto vocals and clavier riffs, and then brief moody instrumental Librium leads straight to High Times, a slow burner of a song that features some excellent sax playing from guest George Krasidis. Funk #2 , despite the title, is actually the smoothest song here, but the sweet tones of guest vocalist Liz Berlin mix really well with the lead vocals of Clinton Clegg and the result never veers into bland territory. New Love has a late period Funkadelic edge to it, while Mine probably has the catchiest chorus on the record , a really fine lead vocal and an unexpected but effective clarinet solo.
Next up is the song that really sold me these guys, an instrumental called Time Flies. Most bands find a style they're comfortable with and work within that framework, but here Jazzam step outside the box and prove that there's more in their future than just high quality funk workouts : it starts sounding somewhat like New Order circa 1980 - all chiming guitars and a driving new wave backbeat - then switches to a break that wouldn't be out of place in a Starsky and Hutch episode from 1975 before switching again to a tight neo prog segment complete with a soaring fake choir in the background and finally finishing with a brief but ear-popping Eddie Hazel-esque guitar wigout finish. I know it sounds like an all-over-the-place mess on paper, but trust me it's simply brilliant ; it's the sound of a band really stretching to see what theyre capable of, a rare thing for such a young band. Finishing out the album are The Note (a slinky Latin number with some great piano and clarinet), and Homesick Holiday (an earnest soul ballad that doesn't quite work and really is a little anticlimactic after what has come before).
Clegg's vocals are really excellent throughout - never underestimate the value of a lead singer who can actually sing - and his is tone reminds me of a more gravelly Jamiroquai ; guitarist Glenn Strother proves equally adept at delicate jazz runs and funkier leads ; and the rhythm section of Marc Sterling (bass) and John Riley (drums), abetted by Jake Miller on percussion, provide a very solid base (though Sterling really shines on the slightly misnamed 2 Minutes With Marc, a three minute bass vamp). All in all an excellent debut disc that promises even better things in the future. Highly recommended.