Published by admin
at 8:44 pm under Jazz
This CD opens with the sound of waves, cluing the listener in
(should they need it) to the fact that this is very much a southern, warm
weather kind of jazz music.
The guys in Chasm are very much old school, having first formed the group in
1987. You wonder what they’ve done in between releases; perhaps surfing
and knocking back beers in
What do you get for your money? You will be treated to
coolly bouncy lounge jazz that never takes itself very seriously. This is
good music for driving on a sunny day or chilling out on the patio.
The promo material calls this music “a twist of jazz in a world
music cocktail”. I was reminded more of borderline new age music saved
from mediocrity by energy and clever inventiveness. One cut has the
driving energy and groove of the old Peter Gunn theme (and sounds a lot like it,
too). There are occasional flashbacks to that 60s sensibility that I’ll
always miss and some very melodic flute work that seems to have gone out of
fashion in jazz.
The production is great…all the instruments fit well together;
nothing jarring or surprising here. All the musicians do great work and
the solos are not overlong or tedious.
My only quibble is that there’s nothing very much here to get
excited about. Only one song has lyrics and perhaps the boys should have
found words for a few more of the songs. The music is just so darn
inoffensive that there’s nothing to distinguish it from a lot of the other
musical candy out there.
Summary: Very ear-friendly sound. Laid back music
with rounded edges.
Bullfrogmusic.com