Artist: Various Artists
Album: Neujazz
Label: Sonar Kollektiv
Type: Compilation (compiled by JAZZANOVA)
Genre: Acid Jazz
Styles: Acid Jazz, Electro-Jazz, Broken Beat, Jazz-House
Original Release Date: January 14, 2008
Quality/Bitrate: MP3 / 320 kbit/s / 44.1 Khz / Joint Stereo
Total Time: 77:33 Min

Curated and compiled by JAZZANOVA, Neujazz has as its set purpose a tour through the global jazz community, or at least that portion of it that was nurtured by acid jazz DJs and producers of the late '80s and '90s. That territory belongs mainly to Europe and Japan (including hot spots in Tokyo, London, Munich, Berlin, Rome, and even Helsinki), and although it doesn't include a preponderance of what mainstream jazz fans may think of as jazz, it's all the more appealing and intriguing for it. Still, the JAZZANOVA collective are nothing if not traditional in their contemporary feel, and the tracks they've selected are as often as not completely unprogrammed, usually including only an occasional electric bass or guitar as evidence of the passing of time. Early in the disc, the Finnish Dalindeo and the Japanese Sleep Walker contribute fine acoustic tracks. Contemporary, programmed jazz (or sometimes simply multi-tracked) music is eventually assimilated into the whole, with highlights from Two Banks of Four, Dwight Trible's Build an Ark, and an extravaganza from JAZZANOVA themselves with help from Bembe Segue. Most of these artists' natural inspirations are fusion, modal, or '70s space jazz, but their fields of inspiration (vocal or instrumental) and prime motivators (innovation or individual instrumental prowess) reveal a variety of intriguing methods in creating their music. ~ Review by John Bush ~