Dec 11

JQ Magazine: Music Review — ‘Time to Play’

"Time to Play is very much a well-produced compilation of covers that delights in mixing together several genres." (J-MUSIC Ensemble)

Time to Play is a well-produced colletion of covers that delights in mixing together several genres.” (J-MUSIC Ensemble)

By Rashaad Jorden (Yamagata-ken, 2008-10) for JQ magazine. A former head of the JETAA Philadelphia Sub-Chapter, Rashaad is a graduate of Leeds Beckett University with a master’s degree in responsible tourism management. For more on his life abroad and enthusiasm for taiko drumming, visit his blog at www.gettingpounded.wordpress.com.

“J-pop meets jazz.” What does that really mean?

These words appear on the J-MUSIC Ensemble’s official website, the J-MUSIC Ensemble being a New York-based jazz-influenced instrumental band that mixes various genres. The group’s Grammy-nominated founder Patrick Bartley once told me, “We’re not just playing jazz songs; we’re taking the jazz mentality.”

So what do they serve up with Time to Play, their full-length recording debut? Befitting the group’s name, Time to Play features eight covers of songs by popular Japanese musical acts (including Hikaru Utada’s “Simple and Clean”) executed in a cohesive mix of jazz, funk, rock and pop. Sure enough, the album’s first track (and Perfume cover) “Game” features a significant rock influence with a heavy dose of bass and guitar. The album closes with another substantial touch of rock as the Yoko Kanno cover “The Real Folk Blues” also features a significant helping of the two above-mentioned instruments (but oddly enough, the song doesn’t sound in any way like a folk or blues tune).

It’s quite appropriate that Time to Play finishes with a cover of a song featured in the anime series Cowboy Bebop. Bartley once mentioned to me that video game scores have been a major influence on his music and sure enough, a couple of other songs—“Patchwork Eden” and “Macaroni”—feature keyboard-generated sounds that wouldn’t sound out of place in video games.

Having seen the J-MUSIC Ensemble perform live earlier this year, my expectation of Time to Play is that the album would feature largely untempo songs. That was largely the case but a couple of tunes—the above-mentioned “Macaroni” and “Marie’s World”—seem relatively mellow and the latter piece reveals the album’s smooth jazz feel.

Bartley was correct when he said the J-MUSIC Ensemble doesn’t play jazz songs. Each of the tunes on Time to Play mixes a cool variety of sounds and instruments that create an album that’s easy to return to. At first listen, there doesn’t seem to be a standout track in Time to Play, especially for those unfamiliar with the original version of its songs, but that doesn’t detract from the album at all. Time to Play is a well-produced collection of covers that delights in mixing together several genres.

For more from J-MUSIC Ensemble, follow them on Facebook. Listen to samples and get Time to Play on the iTunes Store and Bandcamp. Read JQ’s 2016 interview with Patrick Bartley here.


Comments are closed.

Page Rank