{"id":40659,"date":"2016-12-11T22:46:25","date_gmt":"2016-12-12T02:46:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/?p=40659"},"modified":"2016-12-11T22:51:45","modified_gmt":"2016-12-12T02:51:45","slug":"jq-magazine-music-review-time-to-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/2016\/12\/11\/jq-magazine-music-review-time-to-play\/","title":{"rendered":"JQ Magazine: Music Review \u2014 \u2018Time to Play\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\""Time<\/a>

“Time to Play<\/em> is a well-produced colletion\u00a0of covers that delights in mixing together several genres.” (J-MUSIC Ensemble)<\/p><\/div>\n

By\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Rashaad Jorden<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(<\/em><\/strong>Yamagata-ken<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, 2008-10) for\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>JQ<\/strong><\/em> magazine<\/strong><\/em><\/a>. A former head of the JETAA Philadelphia Sub-Chapter, Rashaad is a graduate of Leeds Beckett University with a master\u2019s degree in responsible tourism management. For more on his life abroad and enthusiasm for taiko drumming, visit his blog at <\/em><\/strong>www.gettingpounded.wordpress.com<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cJ-pop meets jazz.\u201d What does that really mean?<\/p>\n

These words appear on the J-MUSIC Ensemble\u2019s official website<\/a>, the J-MUSIC Ensemble being a New York-based jazz-influenced instrumental band that mixes various genres. The group\u2019s Grammy-nominated founder Patrick Bartley<\/a> once told me, \u201cWe\u2019re not just playing jazz songs; we\u2019re taking the jazz mentality.\u201d<\/p>\n

So what do they serve up with Time to Play<\/em>, their full-length recording debut? Befitting the group\u2019s name, Time to Play<\/em> features eight covers of songs by popular Japanese musical acts (including Hikaru Utada<\/a>\u2019s \u201cSimple and Clean\u201d) executed in a cohesive mix of jazz, funk, rock and pop. Sure enough, the album\u2019s first track (and Perfume cover) \u201cGame\u201d 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 \u201cThe Real Folk Blues\u201d also features a significant helping of the two above-mentioned instruments (but oddly enough, the song doesn\u2019t sound in any way like a folk or blues tune).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

It\u2019s quite appropriate that Time to Play <\/em>finishes with a cover of a song featured in the anime series Cowboy Bebop.<\/em> 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\u2014\u201cPatchwork Eden\u201d and \u201cMacaroni\u201d\u2014feature keyboard-generated sounds that wouldn\u2019t sound out of place in video games.<\/p>\n

Having seen the J-MUSIC Ensemble perform live earlier this year, my expectation of Time to Play<\/em> is that the album would feature largely untempo songs. That was largely the case but a couple of tunes\u2014the above-mentioned \u201cMacaroni\u201d and \u201cMarie\u2019s World\u201d\u2014seem relatively mellow and the latter piece reveals the album\u2019s smooth jazz feel.<\/p>\n

Bartley was correct when he said the J-MUSIC Ensemble doesn\u2019t play jazz songs. Each of the tunes on Time to Play <\/em>mixes a cool variety of sounds and instruments that create an album that\u2019s easy to return to. At first listen, there doesn\u2019t seem to be a standout track in Time to Play<\/em>, especially for those unfamiliar with the original version of its songs, but that doesn\u2019t detract from the album at all. Time to Play<\/em> is a well-produced collection\u00a0of covers that delights in mixing together several genres.<\/p>\n

For more from J-MUSIC Ensemble, follow them on Facebook<\/a>. Listen to samples and get <\/em>Time to Play on the iTunes Store<\/a> and Bandcamp<\/a>. Read <\/em>JQ<\/strong>\u2019s 2016 interview with Patrick Bartley here<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Rashaad Jorden\u00a0(Yamagata-ken, 2008-10) for\u00a0JQ magazine. A former head of the JETAA Philadelphia Sub-Chapter, Rashaad is a graduate of Leeds Beckett University with a master\u2019s degree in responsible tourism management. For more on his life abroad and enthusiasm for taiko drumming, visit his blog at www.gettingpounded.wordpress.com. \u201cJ-pop meets jazz.\u201d What does that really mean? These words […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,291,21,58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articlejournalism","category-jq-magazine","category-music","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t