Licence to thrill cinematic soundtrack Jazz inspired by the genius of movie jazz composers Enio Morricone, Lalo schiffrin, John Barry and Henry Mancini mixed with the more modern club, hip hop and blues influences of David Holmes, Groove Armada, Mark Rons

20 MP3 Songs
JAZZ: Experimental Big Band, HIP-HOP/RAP: Instrumental Hip-Hop

Details:
Here producer Chris Gordon explains the concept behind CEIJazz's second volume: "To continue experimenting with the passion of licence to thrill cinematic soundtrack jazz inspired by the genius of movie jazz composers Enio Morricone, Lalo schiffrin, John Barry and Henry Mancini mixed with the more modern club and hip-hop influences of David Holmes, Groove Armada and Mark Ronson."

He continues: "The concept throughout this second outing has been to flesh out the fun and excitement of the Heist movie and spin-off genres like the high octane spy movie and its more thoughtful noir predecessors, through various imaginary scenarios played out by shadowy underworld types. To capture the danger and sexuality of that life in groove filled music. As a consequence this album differs from Volume 1 by moving away from epic jazz intellectual soundscapes and instead through a process of stripping away elements to reveal the core of each song; adopting an approach that has produced songs which are shorter, sharper, more in focus. To compare the two volumes would be firstly to notice Volume 2 contains no vocal performances. This was a conscious decision from the start, when i realised I wanted to evoke the high energy dymanic of a Heist movie, leaving no room for the traditional vocal/lyric arrangements of verse/bridge/chorus structures."

The album begins with the first and only remix on offer, that of the signature tune Cinematic experimentation in jazz, an electric street bass groove driven furiously paced instrumental anthem of dazzling big-band brass hooks full of daring spins and turns and evoking the great car chase scenes of the golden age of 1960's/70s cinema. With the addition of a few subtle electro-pop flourishes for that modern twist to your classic cocktail experience. A pedal to the metal exhilerating joy ride throwing you back into your seat. Here Chris explains why CEIJazz decided to remix this song:

"With volume 1 it was evident from the beginning that a certain jazz-funk fusion was working quite well together, most notably in the first song 'Cinematic Experimentation in Jazz', but the album moved quickly away from this avenue of possibilities, preferring instead a more intellectual jazz direction. But I decided for this new volume to revisit the jazz-funk world and explore a more playful and sexier side to jazz. So it seemed logical to start again with the volume 1 title tune. And here as with each song on Volume 2 to go for a more organic groove. It helps maintain a higher energy level than that experienced on Volume 1. The drums and bass in particular take a much more central stage position than in the first album. The whole groove concept has totally taken over, and everything else, elements of melody etc, exist only to compliment the groove rather than dominate it as was found with the volume 1 experience. This means Volume 2 as a listening experience is less demanding of the casual listener and with more natural spaces, more room to breath, it will hopefully seem more inviting and more indicative of the atmospheres and storylines."

There are a staggering number of original songs, 20 in all, spanning more than 80 minutes of music. Chris explains the reason behind this:

"There was a natural organic process to the song selection, partly dictated by the story line evident in the song titles, and partly from a need to evoke some light and shade with various jazz elements, but always careful not to over crowd the stage. To maintain plenty of space for each song to breath.The songs appear on the album in the order they were written and recorded. Right through to the espionage thriller of BlowBack Cowboy. It just seemed the right balance of light and shade, many of the songs are quite playful, sexy in a dangerous way but with few lingering dark passages and because most of the songs are very short, 20 became the number."

There are quite a few mix of styles on Vol.2. Chris explains: "It is inevitable these days when introducing club and hip-hip elements to jazz or blues that suddenly all the barriers between musical styles are subverted. This is as it should be. Afterall, the Cinematic Experimenation in jazz philosophy is to explore our musical heritage to find new direction. But at the same time as a producer it then becomes encumbant upon me to maintain a healthy balance between these competing musical styles. To keep them in separate corners of the boxing ring until required. The easiest way to maintain some cohesion particualrly when a sparring match between jazz elements begins to threaten more like a WWF tag team match, is to lay down a philosophy whereby the groove is in charge, the groove is the referee if you like. What the groove wants, the groove gets, and in that way everything settles down. In a mostly harmless way. And bearing in mind the danger of various elements mixing it up together, the process produces at times some remarkably chilled pieces of easy listening club and hip-hop groove driven jazz blues."

There are some interesting, provocative song titles on the album, begging the question, which came first? The song or the title ? Chris explains:
"It was a bit of both. Sometimes when experimenting with a passage of music, it has a very strong identity and when seeing if it will fit within the concept of the album, it would be very easy to sum up a piece. But mostly the process was to make music that evoked a certain storyline or atmosphere in as unobstrusive way as possible. To answer questions musically. For example: what would a slow motion murder sound like? Or if a guy was casing a joint with a girl on one arm, what would be his theme. Or as with the title of volume 2, if someone had a body in the back of their car and decided to jump the lights, how would that scene play out musically. There is a lot of car chase music on the album and fun was had evoking the twists to those themes."

And finally what are your personal favourites from Volume 2?

"The fast car chase numbers are great fun, such as 'Catch me if you can', 'Risky business', 'She's the getaway driver', 'Jump the lights with a body in the trunk' and of course the 'Last great car chase'. Those songs evoke a more or less immediate sense of being wrecklessly behind the wheel at high speed, albeit in a heavily stylised groove way. Possibly my favourite is saved to last, and thats 'BlowBack Cowboy'. Its has that new edgy espionage take on global politics, and organised crime; an atmospheric sense of 'worlds collide'. The idea that serious unintended consequences of covert missions are always bubbling under the surface of normality. The music portrays the glamourous, super rich drug fuelled ,carefree, lifestyle of ill-gotten gains as the theme for the protagonist, the Blowback cowboy."
Prepare to be thrilled by the cinematic ride of your life.

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