Now this is certainly interesting. I’m listening to the relatively new (3-month old) self-titled record by LA’s The Bird and the Bee for the third time to day, sixth time since my acquisition and it is proving to be much, much more than the sum of its parts. Oddly released on a label that released almost exclusively jazz music (Blue Note), B&B have done something very special, something that not even my beloved Norah Jones could do. Before you burn this humble writer at the stake for loving the adorable Norah Jones, hear me out.
B&B have managed to make a record with jazz overtones (read: explicit, discernable influence) that is wonderfully catchy (as well as downright dancy). Is NJ catchy? Certainly. I’m not interested in comparing the two at length (mostly because each are doing exceedingly different things with their music) but their shared label is of interest. Does B&B sound like jazz music? Well, yes. But not as much as it sounds like pop music and for the record, the two are almost always, ALWAYS antithetical. My roommate and great friend Adam would disagree with my view and certainly my aversion to jazz music in general (and I’m not entirely sure he would agree with my antithetical remark, though I hope he would, because I’m right and therefore, he would be wrong) but The Bird and the Bee have made jazz / pop music that is not only remarkably accessible, but remarkably interesting. The key and mood changes are as unpredictable as they are in jazz music, but these sudden changes are much more interesting as a result of their preconceived nature. In the realm of free-form jazz, nothing is predictable, which is not necessarily bad. There’s just a certain (read: HUGE) amount of garbage that someone must go through to the fruit of jazz music. With B&B, it’s all of the good, none of the bad, and a great deal more as a direct result of the pop influence.
However, you don’t really need to take my word for it. The residents at Headphones On have uploaded a few mp3s for your sampling enjoyment. Talk amongst yourselves…
First off, nice post. Makes me proud to share a basement with someone so cultured.
Second off, Blue Note’s signing of The Bird and the Bee is not without precedent. Consider a favorite band of mine, Us3, and their fantastic early 90’s hip-hop album, Hand On the Torch. Aside from the sampling, though, there’s nothing particularly jazzy about that album (just like there wasn’t much jazzy in Jazzy Jeff).
Third off, I do not disagree with you assertion that jazz music sans Brubeck is not catchy. Of course it’s not jazzy – that’s the point. It takes investment in order to be able to appreciate jazz, and when it is good, the concept of the whole only emerges after repeated listenings. Surely Thelonius Monk isn’t far from Joan of Arc? It’s simply the case that in the case of JoA, you begin with a determination to dig it.