Jeremy Leaming
just getting into this, but enjoying more with each listen. like reading, i repeat or re-read sentences, paragraphs and whole books.
does a creator have a masterplan for all? i'm an atheist.
Conde Nast's Pitchfork (uses contributors to ensure a small staff can't unionize) loves it, raving Kassa is taking jazz to strange new places or something like that:
SHADES OF FLU 2: IN THESE ODD TIMES is the second COVID-themed collection of remixes from jazz drummer, rapper and producer Kassa Overall. The first SHADES OF FLU: Healthy Remixes for an Ill Moment was released on Kassa’s half-serious pandemic imprint FLU NOTE on Bandcamp last spring at the height of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The name SHADES OF FLU riffs on Madlib’s 2003 jazz remix album SHADES OF BLUE. The subtitle “In These Odd Times” is, on the surface, a play on pandemic parlance, a gesture at the ubiquitous self-aware pronouncements of the oddness of our present day existence. The title also signals Kassa’s push into the odd-time rhythmic vocabulary he developed playing as a sideman with jazz legends like Steve Coleman, Vijay Iyer, and Geri Allen.
As SHADES OF FLU 2 reimagines the jazz tradition with new voices and production methods, it also gives voice to the past, paying homage to jazz elders who have recently passed, from Stanley Cowell and Jimmy Heath to Milford Graves, whose voice is heard on interludes.
credits
released April 2, 2021
All Remixes by Kassa Overall
1. She Had an Odd Look on Her Face
2. Diatom Ribbons (Kris Davis)
3. I'm a King feat. Eric Wyatt, Stas THEE Boss and Nappy Nina
Stephan Crump, bass; Sullivan Fortner, Rhodes piano; Mike King, clavinet
4. Afro Blue (Dee Dee Bridgewater)
Anthony Ware, tenor sax, alto sax, flute, bass clarinet; Keith Witty, bass
5. Smilin' Billy Suite Part 1 (The Heath Brothers feat. Stanley Cowell)
6. Trio Improvisation Part 2 (Chick Corea)
7. Warm Valley (The Heath Brothers feat. Stanley Cowell)
Morgan Guerin, bass, Cisco Swank, vocals
11. The Creator Has a Master Plan (Dezron Douglas & Brandee Younger)
Tomoki Sanders, tenor sax
12. Never Let Me Go (Roy Hargrove)
Eric Wheeler, bass; Julius Rodriguez, Rhodes piano
13. Goddess Of The Hunt (ARTEMIS)
14. Passion Dance (Kenny Barron)
Additional vocals and instrumentation by Kassa Overall unless otherwise listed
Mixed and mastered by Paul Wilson
Artistic direction by Lauren Du Graf
Cover art by Jesse Brown
supported by 103 fans who also own “SHADES OF FLU 2”
The sound of movement enlightening the difference between loneliness and solitude…
“Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.” -or something to that effect…
azucena’s ghost
supported by 97 fans who also own “SHADES OF FLU 2”
Like so many others, this came like a bolt out of the blue and, even though it's well before payday, I had to have this astonishing album on vinyl to prove it exists. The feel of the tunes makes me feel like the Impressions do, Curtis Mayfield, the big spaces and instinctive horns and stuff drifting in and out. Great grooves and I can see lots of ghosts nodding along to this with big smiles on their faces. At last! Anthony Cottrell