Jazzanova: Blue Note Trip

by Various Artists

Berlin's Jazzanova collective formed in 1995 after DJing with one another at a club called Delicious Doughnuts. Alexander Barck, Class Brieler, Roskow Kretschmann, Stefan Leisering, Axel Reinemer, and Jurgen von Knoblauch shared a common goal of blending their collected inspirations together to create a new, sophisticated sound with debts owed to nearly every form of dance-oriented music from the past several decades. Like a lot of upstart producers and underexposed jazz-funk ghosts of the past, Jazzanova got their first major break from BBC disc jockey Gilles Peterson, who played the group's first production, "Fedime's Flight," on his program in 1997. This helped set off a series of remix projects and the Jazzanova name became known for inspired DJ sets as well.

The collective has now compiled an album for Blue Note Records based totally on its catalogue. In this particular Blue Note "DJ set" comprised of vintage tracks, Jazzanova created distinctly different moods on the two discs. Generating energetic moments with melodies and arrangements, Jazzanova displays that Blue Note has released all kinds of different styles of music, avoiding the jazz stereotype.