The Jazzhearts - The Way it Feels

[Phil_Meloy]

Here are some selected quotes from press reviews of London jazz band the Jazzhearts' live performances and their debut CD "The Way it Feels" you can listen to the full CD on the Internet at www.ozzyjazz.com and post your own comments.

"maintained a consistent peak throughout their two hour session, making an immediate leap towards a tightly-bonded energetic brashness" THE BIRMINGHAM POST on the Jazzhearts live at Midland Arts Centre, Birmingham.

"African inspired jazz explosion" TNT MAGAZINE on the Jazzhearts

"profoundly diverse smorgasbord of funk, blues and rock" THE GUARDIAN on the Jazzhearts

" a powerful player in the King Curtis mould" LEICESTER MERCURY on Louise Elliott performing with the Jazzhearts at the Y Theatre, Leicester

"This was no ordinary jazz concert! The blend of African township music, blues, rock, latin rhythms & minor-key themes aimed for the heart. Joy and anger, gospel sounds, harmony and dissonnance, shouts for freedom, all were discernable in the music" COVENTRY EVENING TELEGRAPH on the Jazzhearts live at Warwick University Arts Centre, Coventry

"...much of the atmospheric intelligence of Abdullah Ibrahim's though Mervyn Africa's performances have an exuberant energy not always present in the older pianist's more stately manner." THE GUARDIAN on Mervyn Africa

"Supergroup" THE TIMES on "The Way it Feels" CD

"THE WAY IT FEELS is what contemporary jazz with world influences is all about in the year 2001" JAZZREVIEW.COM on "The Way it Feels" CD

"bristles with inventive jazz" JAZZ JOURNAL on "The Way it Feels" CD

"one of the best jazz tunes to come around in a long time in the form of jazz pianist Mervyn Africa's highly creative composition, 22nd September" JAZZREVIEW.COM on "The Way it Feels" CD

"Bask in the joy of the African sound" METRO on "The Way it Feels" CD

"Impress yourself with the Afro-Latin sizzler Tiera Roja, an Elliott original, sway to the gentle flute-led Flute in Eleven and just try not dancing to Rise and Shine" THE TIMES on "The Way it Feels" CD

"proudly wears her jazzheart on her sleeve" JAZZ REVIEW on "The Way it Feels" CD

"Township warmth on a cold night" NOTTINGHAM EVENING POST on the Jazzhearts live at Bonnington Theatre, Nottingham

"set up a steaming groove over which Elliott and Deppa shoot out repeatedly heated solos. Mervyn Africa and trombonist Mark Bassey were particularly wired for passion, by turn flaying the keys into vigorous note-cascades and rasping with an agile sliding grace." THE BIRMINGHAM POST on the Jazzhearts live at Midland Arts Centre, Birmingham.

"locks into a swinging township groove, and launches Deppa into the stratosphere" JAZZ REVIEW on "The Way it Feels" CD

"Terrific and skilful blend of global influences" COVENTRY EVENING TELEGRAPH on "The Way it Feels" CD

"if somebody came up to me on a street corner and whispered, "Could you explain jazz to me in a manner which I could understand?" then I would turn and say, listen to a new CD by Louise Elliott titled THE WAY IT FEELS and you will have your answer!" JAZZ REVIEW.COM on "The Way it Feels" CD

"Great sounds, great performances, great harmony, this CD has it all." JAZZ REVIEW.COM on "The Way it Feels" CD

"she is hugely impressive on tenor sax, while her agile flute best captures the volatility and sheer joy of South African music. The bands latest album, The Way it Feels, captures the exuberance of a live show, authentically preserving the glorious Afro-jazz style." METRO on "The Way it Feels" CD

"This music gets up and moves and involves the listener in its intricate journeys! If you like trumpet, you will enjoy the performance of Claude Deppa and if you like trombone give a close listen to the graceful talent and stylings of Annie Whitehead. Louise Elliott is in top form as she shines brightly backed by the great jazz piano stylings of Mervyn Africa." JAZZREVIEW.COM on "The Way it Feels" CD

"one of the most exciting and uplifting performances I have heard in a long time" OZZYJAZZ.COM on "The Way it Feels" CD

"My feet are still tapping twenty four hours later." EUROCLUBDEJAZZ.COM on the Jazzhearts live at Warwick University Arts Centre, Coventry

"The more I listen to this CD the more sorry I am that I wasn't there to hear it live" COVENTRY EVENING TELEGRAPH on "The Way it Feels" CD

"This is a terrific band so buy the CD while you wait for a return visit" COVENTRY EVENING TELEGRAPH on the Jazzhearts live at Warwick University Arts Centre, Coventry

[mke]

Originally posted by Phil_Meloy
"My feet are still tapping twenty four hours later."
EUROCLUBDEJAZZ.COM on the Jazzhearts live at Warwick University Arts Centre, Coventry

Sounds dangerous.

I might have gone to that concert... were I still studying at Warwick.

[blawless]

Phil, could you post a few more reviews? The commercial space here is free, so why hold back?

[Phil_Meloy]

Yes I could as this is after all the "Record Reviews" section of the forum. All the reviews posted are from some of the most respected jazz magazines and critics in the UK plus a few abroad. The band has also received a good deal of response from numerous radio stations around the planet and it would be a simple matter to post some of the comments from the emails received from various jazz DJs but it probably would be a much better idea for you to actually listen to the CD at www.ozzyjazz.com as suggested (don't worry it's free!) and then you might understand why so many critics have responded so positively and enthusiastically to the music being produced by this particular band. Who knows you may then even be in a position to be able to actually make a valid comment about the music itself.

[Phil_Meloy]

Mke - I'm not sure when you were at Warwick but the Coventry reviews are from three performances by the band at the Studio Theatre, Warwick University Arts Centre between 1998 and 2003. By the way the band's CD is actually a live recording of a performance at Ronnie Scott's Club.

[Phil_Meloy]

If anyone is wondering what www.ozzyjazz.com is, it's a site based in South Australia which features live jazz concerts. It is not restricted to Australian jazz musicians so if you are a jazz musician and have a good quality recording of one of your performances you might consider sending it to them for possible inclusion. They have listeners from just about every country imaginable, but predominantly the USA, followed by Australia, UK, Canada, Germany, Japan etc Although people can listen to the music they cannot download it. This combined with the fact that the audio is radio quality rather than CD quality means that if they really like it there is a good chance they will want to buy it if it is available on CD. Links are provided to a site of your choice such as Amazon or CD Baby where listeners can purchase the CD. The web presentation also includes background on the band and repertoire, musician bio's, some info on the venue where the recording took place and the circumstances surrounding the recording, playlist, credits, and links to the band's website, the venue's website and any other links you would like to include. The audio will stream in 28.8kbps and 56kbps in Windows Media format. THERE IS NO CHARGE FOR THIS SERVICE - in fact, they pay APRA/AMCOS a webcasting licence fee and submit quarterly returns. APRA in turn distribute this fee to the owners of copyright on the music and recordings, as they do with radio stations although by the time APRA take their fee these amounts are pretty small.

[Phil_Meloy]

For anyone in Australia, the Jazzhearts "The Way it Feels" CD will be featured on Barry O'Sullivan's program "A Jazz Hour" throughout the coming month and from then on. "A Jazz Hour" goes out nationally to 120 stations around Australia each Wednesday via the CBAA satellite. It will also be broadcast on another program "Jazz on Sunday "which goes out locally on a Sunday to the outer Western Sydney region via Blu FM 89.1. Any one interested in hearing the band should tune in.

[Nathaniel Catchpole]

"All the reviews posted are from some of the most respected jazz magazines and critics in the UK plus a few abroad."

The Coventry Evening Telegraph must have slipped under my radar. Who's the writer?

[Phil_Meloy]

Hi Nathaniel - The jazz critic for the Coventry Evening Telegraph is Bob Caldwell. The paper is one of the few regional papers in the UK that devotes a significant amount of space to jazz. Bob's been writing for the Evening Telegraph since at least 1998 - probably a lot longer. He covers both live and album reviews as well as previews bands due to appear in Coventry, usually as part of Jazz Coventry's program. I'm afraid I don't have a home contact number for him but material addressed to him care of the newspaper will reach him.

[Hans Blix]

What's the "King Curtis mould[sic]"?


Is it the same thing as the Curtis Ousley mold?




HB

[Mike Schwartz]

We ought to cut this guy some slack...JC a tough crowd and PR & sales pitches are commonly shot down, but brother Phil has simply posted comments made by people who have experienced this music, and has given a website where you listen to the entire CD and "post your own comments."

Let's be fair and not cruel around here... based by this post there's a ton of room to explore if you wish to or not.

[Phil_Meloy]

Hi Mike - It might be worth mentioning that there should be a copy of the CD in San Jose at KSJS 90.5 FM. A copy of the CD was sent to Brad Stone the Jazz Music Director towards the end of last year. I don't know if it ever received any air play - KSJS isn't one of the stations that emailed me back but with any luck there may still be a copy of the CD lurking in the music library. Other stations in the area that should have a copy of the CD are KCSM (San Mateo), KKUP (Cupertino), KALX (Berkeley), KZSU (Stanford) and KRCB (Rohnert Park). I think Afrikahn Dayvs at KKUP may have given the CD some air play.

[Phil_Meloy]

In fact if any of you guys in the States would prefer to listen to material from the CD on your local NPR station rather than the www.ozzyjazz.com web site as suggested - well - if you happen to have a good local jazz station or even one that just has a couple of hours of locally produced jazz programming each week (I don't mean smooth jazz stations!), then there's a good chance your local station will have a copy of the CD. The CD's been sent to nearly 200 NPR stations right across the States. Let me know what town you're in and I'll let you know if there's a station near you that should have a copy of the CD in their music library.

[Mike Schwartz]

Phil;

I'm one of the on-air hosts at KSJS and have been associated with Dr. Stone for close to 8 years.

Brad had a 3-4 year stint as music director at KKUP....we all know Afrikahn and one another...small world.

My weekly program is aired 6-10AM Pacific time every Sunday.

Beginning next week, we will once again be streaming on the WWW at www.ksjs.org

I'll keep an eye [and 2 ears] out for the recording!

[Phil_Meloy]

Thanks Mike - if for some reason you can't locate the CD at KSJS let me know and I'll send another copy addressed to you at "Straight NO Chaser" I'm a big fan of the NPR and college radio network - not just with regard to jazz but for the support stations such as yourselves give to all genres of alternative music.

If anyone is interested they can access a pretty comprehensive listing of jazz radio in the USA (no smooth jazz stations are listed) which is included in the Database/Media section of the Jazz Services web site at www.jazzservices.org.uk Jazz Services is the national support and information agency for jazz in the UK. It's a free service.

Stations listed range from those broadcasting 100% jazz such as WBGO (Newark) to those which include a few hours of specialist jazz programming in a varied broadcast schedule such as KSJS (San Jose). Networked programs such as "Jazz with Bob Parlocha" are also listed. Links are provided to the individual stations own web sites. If you know of a good jazz station anywhere in the world that's not on the list let me know and I'll get it added.

By the way, still waiting for someone out there to listen to and have a go at posting a their own comment on "The Way it Feels" CD. One would have thought the press quotes posted above might have been enough to arouse someone's curiousity enough even though they've not actually heard of the band before.

Remember you can listen to the whole CD for free at www.ozzyjazz.com

[Phil_Meloy]

Here's what Chad Mitchell of KGOU/KROU Radio (Norman, OK) had to say about the CD:

"I like the release - it's a bit raw in places, but live jazz is often like that. And it *is* jazz, unlike a lot of the "smooth" crap that passes for jazz around here these days.

[Nate Dorward]

Originally posted by Phil_Meloy
By the way, still waiting for someone out there to listen to and have a go at posting a their own comment on "The Way it Feels" CD. One would have thought the press quotes posted above might have been enough to arouse someone's curiousity enough even though they've not actually heard of the band before.

Phil--well, it's been pretty busy here (blackout, computer worm, &c). I'll try to set aside enough time to read all the quotes in the next week or so.

[Phil_Meloy]

Thanks Nate - Look forward to hearing your comments. If you would like to look at a bit of background information about the band you could check out www.jazzhearts.com

[Phil_Meloy]

You can read the full jazzreview.com review of "The Way it Feels" by Lee Prosser at

www.jazzreview.com/cdreview.cfm?ID=1478

[Phil_Meloy]

Here's what Barry O'Sullivan of Blu FM 89.1 (Sydney, Australia) said about the CD:

"There is so much music out there in the jungle - its a pleasure to recieve something that you really like and of such superb quality."

[MRS]

There are other forums in here. Contribute.

[Phil_Meloy]

"There are other forums here. Contribute."

Why? Most of them just talk about stuff that's been talked about thousands of times before with most people just rehashing something they've read or heard somewhere else so they can remain in an area where they feel nice and secure with what they've written. Even if it's a new release if anyone makes a comment its usually been recorded by someone whose music they're at least fairly familiar with . Here we have a band that's virtually unheard of across the planet but even though all these journalists and DJs have responded so positively on first hearing their music, not one of the 829 members of this forum is prepared to risk making a comment about something that they're unfamiliar with and don't have any other reference point to rely on other than the music itself! Wonder who's going to be the first person brave enough to step into the dark and actually listen to something completely new and unfamiliar and make a comment? Doesn't look like it's going to be Mr. Schaumann does it folks

[Nate Dorward]

So if I understand you, you're saying: "I don't care about your fucking website and your stupid discussions, but pretty please buy my discs and add to my hoard of promotional blurbs." Thanks for the clarification, Phil.

[Phil_Meloy]

I'm afraid that really doesn't answer the question that's been posed Nate. In fact you were one of the ones that I thought might make the leap into the unknown. As for buying the CD I don't actually worry too much about that. Remember you were merely invited to listen to the CD at www.ozzyjazz.com and make a comment. The main thing is to get people to listen to the music. After that other things tend to take care of themselves. What all this does demonstrate is just how difficult it really is for the new generation of jazz artists to acheive any recognition these days. By the way I don't think you really do yourself any justice by resorting to swearing.

[Nate Dorward]

I wasn't actually trying to do myself justice.

[mke]

Originally posted by Phil_Meloy
"There are other forums here. Contribute."

Why? Most of them just talk about stuff that's been talked about thousands of times before with most people just rehashing something they've read or heard somewhere else so they can remain in an area where they feel nice and secure with what the'yve written. Even if it's a new release if anyone makes a comment its usually been recorded by someone whose music they're at least fairly familiar with . Here we have a band that's virtually unheard of across the planet but even though all these journalists and DJs have responded so positively on first hearing their music, not one of the 829 members of this forum is prepared to risk making a comment about something that they're unfamiliar with and don't have any other reference point to rely on other than the music itself! Wonder who's going to be the first person brave enough to step into the dark and actually listen to something completely new and unfamiliar and make a comment? Doesn't look like it's going to be Mr. Schaumann does it folks

I opened this thread, which reminded me that I needed to listen to the stream. This post almost dissuaded me from doing that.

"not one of the 829 members of this forum is prepared to risk making a comment about something that they're unfamiliar with and don't have any other reference point to rely on other than the music itself!"

That's pretty pompous. Firstly, most of the 829 members don't post at all. Secondly, most of the people who visit the board probably aren't even members. Thirdly, many of the members who may or may not have listened probably have points of reference for this music, if they've listened to, say, Abdullah Ibrahim. Fourthly, they might well know some of the musicians involved. Personally, I saw Annie Whitehead with the Jazz Jamaica All-Stars at the Warwick University Arts Centre.

Anyway, I'm listening at the moment and quite enjoying it, apart from an issue I'll discuss below. Generally, the advertising from hitherto unknown posters we get here is for smooth jazz, but this is definitely not the case here.

I've never heard Mervyn Africa before: he's great! Globally, the Jazz Hearts are playing festive, mid-size band jazz with a South African sound I enjoy a lot. The recording is live and I can easily imagine people dancing in the aisles at the concert. Or putting the CD on at home during a party. My only personal dislike is the ear-piercing high note trumpet, not really my cup of tea. Apart from that, the melodies are nice and the soloing very good (esp. Africa). I wouldn't call it "something completely new and unfamiliar", but I would call it a good, fun CD.

Is the available stream the CD itself? If not, would it be possible to put the concert up as an mp3? Maybe my computer is lacking RAM, but the stream is always interrupted for buffering (I have a high-bandwidth connection). I'd rather download an mp3 and listen to it at leisure, without constant interruptions.

[Phil_Meloy]

Thanks mke. Sorry about the post but after over seventeen days of waiting for someone to listen to the stream and make a comment and then to receive Mr Schaumann's post I thought it was time to throw the gauntlet down a bit. I'm afraid the music's not available on MP3. The CD's released on Ronnie Scott's Jazz House label and none of their catalogue is available on MP3. As for Claude Deppa's trumpet your not the first person I've heard say that but other people seem to go for it so who know? Iave also had the same problem with the stream - now that you've mentioned it I'll email Bob at ozzyjazz.com and see if he can throw any light on the situation. I've got Broadband in the office and plenty of RAM but put it down to the fact that I often have a lot of stuff open at once. Gotta go away now for a couple of days but be interesting to see what else gets posted over the next couple of days. Thanks again for listening mke. Thanks for listening

PS. Nevermind Nate - I,m sure you'll feel better in the morning.

[Brian Olewnick]

Dipped in just now. As Mwanji said, the first impression one has is of Abdullah Ibrahim, particularly those things he issued on Chiaroscuro in the late 70s, recordings like "Black Lightning" or "Capetown Fringe". A little too smooth for my taste; imho, this area was far more fruitfully explored by the Blue Notes, the Brotherhood of Breath and various bands of Dudu Pukwana, Johnny Dyani and Mongezi Feza as well as Ibrahim himself. It sounds fine for what it is, but "completely new and unfamiliar" it's not.

[Nathaniel Catchpole]

Phil, there are a large number of people who come here, post several times in different sections of the BBS about a recording (normally canned posts, very similar to those found by the same or different people on other BBSs), then never come back, nor do they participate in any discussions. Some of these are people promoting their own CDs (and Mwanji correctly points out that it's normally smooth jazz), some are shills for labels. Either way it's annoying, and the only release from that kind of spam is to poke fun at it - the people don't come back either way, but if they ever bother to check the (usually multiple) threads they started, hopefully it might persuade them that that form of advertising isn't effective, and may even, lo and behold, turn customers against them and the products they're trying to sell. Since it has nothing to do with the discussion of music, merely shifting units.

This section of the BBS is more for people to review albums they've discovered, than for people to post reviews of their own CDs - although threads do get started about the discs of musicians who post here, who then contribute, so it's not unheard of. Hence, you have to expect ambivalence, disinterest, or hostility to people who use the service entirely as free advertising. Ellery Eskelin and Dennis Gonzalez regularly contribute to other discussions - including topics completely unrelated to music in addition to their own "Ask" threads - probably the reason why those threads are two of the busiest on the board, with the most longevity.

A large reason why many of the people who post here use this board is due to the information that can be gained from maybe 200 regular posters with both similar and wildly divergent tastes. If you'd checked some of the threads about critics, you'd notice that 1) there are plenty of people here who write for a large number of publications between them, in addition to mouthing off, and fuck-me-sideways, swearing, here 2) the recommendations from friends are higher regarded than self-selected quotes from reviews, especially when many of them are from one source, and one is from the website also listed as the source for the mp3.

I appreciate that you've stuck around for a month to wear people down, but there's better ways to introduce yourself to an already established community, especially one which buys a vast amount of music, much of it from younger generation jazz artists and those who are completely unrepresented in the jazz or any other media, than to berate them for not listening to your music, and listening to stuff that's been discussed time and time again. (Claude Deppa and Mervyn Africa not falling into the "new generation" category, IMO - seem to remember seeing Deppa on TV about 12 years ago, and he didn't look incredibly young then, I was ten at the time, so I may have had a skewed idea of how old he was, but still, to describe him as unestablished). Unless "new generation" just means "alive" - careers spanning more than 20 years don't seem to merit that particular categorisation.

Anyway, I'll have a listen when I plug my speakers in. A web search on my name will take you to places you can buy my own CD if you want to listen to something unfamiliar for a change.

[MRS]

Originally posted by Phil_Meloy
[B]Wonder who's going to be the first person brave enough to step into the dark and actually listen to something completely new and unfamiliar and make a comment? Doesn't look like it's going to be Mr. Schaumann does it folks

I am infuriated by this. So many genuine blokes in here (including some involved in this thread) have offered suggestions which have:

A--changed the way I listen to music

B--changed the way I approach music

C--changed the way I play music

I find your lack of respect to those who lend their time, free of any tangible reward, to those who merely would like to try something different, frankly deplorable.

Contribute, then backlash from valuable contributors such as Nate, Nathaniel, Mwanji and Brian won't arise.