Browsing Tag

Lounge Jazz

Desarae Dee and Donyea Goodman Kept Cinematic Lounge-Jazz Anticipation in ‘Telephone…Wait’

Lounge music finds its soul through Telephone…Wait, the standout collaborative piece forged between Canadian fusion artist Desarae Dee and U.S. producer, composer and multi-instrumentalist Donyea Goodman. Taken as the breakout lead single from their forthcoming EP, Outta Left Field, the track turns the act of waiting on the other end of the line into something almost devotional, where anticipation hangs in the air, and connection feels close enough to bruise.

Every contour of the laidback instrumental score is mesmerised to the nth degree, exhibiting the synergy between the two collaborators as they create the epitome of harmony. With timeless nuances of jazz nestled into the cinematically rich production, Desarae Dee and Donyea Goodman succeed in creating the kind of anticipation that flits through you as you’re locked in the stasis of waiting, placed in a liminal space, aching for connection.

Their cross-border partnership began after Goodman found Dee through her viral #4ChordWorship series, before spontaneous Instagram collaborations grew into a deeper creative alliance. Released without a marketing budget, Telephone…Wait has already become Desarae’s fastest-growing single, gaining radio support across the U.S., Canada and Europe. Its success feels earned; the track carries the warmth of real musical conversation, where patience, soul and intuitive musicianship gather into a glowing lounge-jazz statement.

Telephone…Wait is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Maryama teased her listeners through the time signatures in her jazz fusion reimagining of Britney Spears’ Toxic

Though covers often pale in comparison to their originals, Maryama’s rendition of Britney Spears’ Toxic stands as a seductive exception. This renaissance of a pop classic, draped in the finery of loungey jazz fusion, is fittingly intoxicating.

Maryam Mirbagheri, known artistically as Maryama, infused her multicultural musical prowess into this track, creating a soundscape that’s as rich in texture as it is in history. Her Iranian-American heritage, coupled with a profound grounding in jazz, soul, Persian, and classical music, sets the stage for a rendition of Toxic that’s almost inconceivably intimate.

The track begins with a seductive ease with complex time signatures weaving a hypnotic tapestry that’s both intricate and inviting. It’s a bold move, transforming a well-known pop anthem into something that feels more at home in a smoky jazz club than on a dance floor, but Maryama executes it with nothing short of remarkable finesse.

Her rich, airy, and velvety vocals glide over the music to breathe new life into the lyrics while the song retains its catchy core, despite the adornments of decadent instrumentals. For those who have yet to experience her music, this track is the perfect gateway into the lush, diverse world of Maryama.

Stream Toxic on Soundcloud. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Marlon Bianco Dials Major Tom in His Psychy Jazz-Funk Feat of Sonic Dystopia, Planet Coronet

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With a tonal palette spacey enough it wouldn’t be out of place spinning on a turntable in the TARDIS in a vintage Dr Who episode, Marlon Bianco’s take on psychedelic jazz-funk in his latest release, Planet Coronet, will have you transcending into outer space from the first synthy oscillating note.

Bianco took care of every instrumental, bar the reverently jazzy sax lines laid down by Jonny Chung, who well and truly embodies the spirit of jazz to bring you back down from the astral plane the synthetics have transported you to.

Unlike many of the lockdown-born projects, the solo endeavour from the North London-based songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, which started by laying a few chords down on a Roland keyboard, Bianco is an artist the airwaves would cry out for if silence should fall around his ingenuity.

His dystopia-encompassing sounds are reminiscent of the alien times we find ourselves insulated within, but it’s hard to shed a tear when the end sounds so euphonically sweet.

Planet Coronet will officially release via Other Planet Records on March 17th. Catch it on Soundcloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

 

Slip into the sonorous soul of Jamie Toomey’s latest single, My Love is Real, featuring Syauqi Destanika

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Taken from the sophomore album, Second Sunlight, from the eclectic Irish musician Jamie Toomey, the ambient jazzy RnB single, which comes laced with loungey folky instrumentation, My Love is Real, featuring Syauqi Destanika is a mesmeric offering of sincerity.

The tenderness to the uniquely uplifting melodies amplifies the luxe Gospel-Esque vocal timbre of the Indonesian vocalist, Syauqi Destanika, to the nth degree in the stripped-back soundscape which makes minimal demands on your attention but tugs on your heartstrings all the more viscerally for it.

You can delve into My Love is Real for yourselves from September 23rd by heading over to SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Nick Tello brings his stunning, ambitious signature with ‘The Artist’

‘The Artist’ is six minutes fifty-two seconds of jazzy, (initially) lounge-bar piano-led (mostly-) instrumental composition, part musical movement, part art piece, rotating its way through guitars, samples, and orchestral instrumentation and percussion, always with the same repeating melody-line. It’s freeform, experimental, and hugely ambitious, with multiple layered tracks compounding that repetitive ostinato phrase; apparently three years in the making and a month to mix, with ambient background-chatter samples, reverb-soaked drums, strings, and that constant piano, programmed TR-808 patterns and electronic instrumentation, and even the smash of a glass. There’s twists and turns, rests and pauses, pitch-shifts and tempo and timbre-changes, classical finger-picked guitar mixing with engineered notes and sampled speech, but always a return to the familiar, beautiful piano refrain. It’s an absolute work of art, delicate, potent, and powerful, and a definite labour of love. A stunning, sublime achievement.

You can hear ‘The Artist’ on Spotify. Follow Nick Tello on Facebook and Instagram.

Review by Alex Holmes

Sav Izzi – Mad Chill: avant-garde jazz funk-fusion

Modern avant-garde jazz funk-fusion probably isn’t a formal genre, but it certainly needs to be on the basis of Sav Izzi’s ‘Mad Chill’, the title track from his debut album ‘Mad Chill Sessions’.

A graduate of the famed Musicians Institute in California but hailing from Chicago, Illinois – the home of Chess Records and that perfect blend of blues, funk, and Motown known as Chicago Soul – and playing with the funk band BabyBrutha, Izzi presents us with a multi-instrumentalists delight, gorgeous mellow piano melding with jazzy guitar, snappy rim-shotted drums, and a smouldering collection of brass and woodwind, to create a mind-bending soundscape, part Louisiana parade, part smoky soul club. There’s a collective of some of Chicago’s finest young musicians here with some serious groove and chops. Overall ‘Mad Chill’ is a delicious, compelling look into the full ‘Mad Chill Sessions’ album itself.

You can hear ‘Mad Chill’ on YouTube, and check out Sav Izzy here or on Facebook.

Review by Alex Holmes