José James
Blackmagic
(Brownswood
Recordings) 2010
The Jazz voice
of a generation, José James returns with a moodier, edgier and more sensual sound, drawing inspiration from the worldwide
underground. His debut LP The Dreamer (released in 2007 on Brownswood Recordings) was crammed with smoky, low-slung jazz grooves blessed with Jose’s rich baritone vocals.
Magnificent self-penned works nestled alongside uniquely crafted cover versions of John Coltrane, Rashaan Roland Kirk
and even West Coast Hip Hop Institution Freestyle Fellowship. Pursuing the same deeply soulful vocal jazz tradition
exemplified by Babs Gonzales, Billie Holiday, Joe Williams and Leon Thomas, The Dreamer quickly cemented Jose's stature
and raw talent within the worldwide jazz community.
Since The Dreamer José
has performed in 30 countries, worked with some of the best, wisest and finest artists in the world such as Chico Hamilton
and Junior Mance and he has built a community of friends and fellow music lovers all over the globe. The distance
from New York to Tokyo is quickly bridged by music, as the track "Promise In Love" with DJ Mitsu The Beats
of Jazzy Sport aptly demonstrates. José is keen to stress the way
that this global community has shaped Blackmagic:
“There
is community on this record and my community has grown –Minneapolis gave way to New York, while New York in turn gave
way to London, Paris, Madrid, Amsterdam, Tokyo, Sao Paolo, Berlin, LA, Rotterdam, Detroit, Barcelona, Brussels... I've been
living and working in these cities – digitally, long-term, short-term, paying rent or whatever, for 2 years or so and
it's all there.”
José started the process with LA’s beat conductor supreme Flying
Lotus (Warp/Brainfeeder) In April 2008:
In a phone call he changed the entire scope of my musical direction and focus.”
Tossing ideas back and
forth between the East Coast and West Coast, the pair crafted a handful of delightfully dusty, slightly dishevelled hip hop
soul joints. Anchoring the album in hip hop’s boom-clap foundation, José is perfectly at ease riding FlyLo’s
bumpy sketches, just as he is contributing good-time vibes to DJ Mitsu’s sunshine soundtrack Promise In Love,
blessing Moodyman's retro jazz-funk groove Detroit Loveletter, or indeed morphing Benga's dubstep anthem Emotions
into a killer live jazz workout.
