Search - Break N' Bossa :: Vol. 7-Break N' Bossa

Quality over Quantity

bordersj2 | Boston | 04/28/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"For a while I thought the Break & Bossa Franchise was done. What a loss that would have been since it's a series that has introduced me to some stellar new tunes. Thank goodness I was wrong and volume 7 of this franchise (10 if you include the two American chapters and Japan release) proved to be worth the wait. This one was mixed by Massimo Napoli and is an almost throwback to editions 1-4 in that it's one disc of tunes, un-mixed. However this one does have a theme to it - Funk! And in typical Schema fashion there's a few unreleased cuts included.



The music's pretty good too, but I don't know just how much of it I would label as "Breaks" or especially "Bossa". It's more like a nu-jazz set with funk and some soul. It starts out with Koom.h's "Mr. Cool", an exclusive release that has a nice atmosphere dropping vibe for the cd beore picking up with gentle piano keys and a consistent beat. It's followed up by Milano's "Polibalaga", a song with just that split timing in the clap-beat that'll hook you into it. Very nice. Quantic's "Sound of Everything", taken off of the great album "Mishaps Happening" adds a healthy dosage of that funk in the tune - feel the soul in Alice Russell's voice! On down the road you have a cool cut by The Dining Rooms cut remixed titled "No Problems". Big nu-jazz feel although the cut seemed to favor Milano's "Polibalaga" to me. The cut though that was the highlight to me was easily Cai's "Tears in Her Eyes". Gentle vocals by Miss Malone that'll remind you of a certain old school jazz singer preceed a dope beat that drops and carries the song. Bliss! Another killer track is Rosalia De Souza's "Samba Novo" given a remix by Gianluca Petrella. Great beat and effects.



However this album wasn't without fault. I'm a big Conte and Nathan Haines fan but "Take Off" just felt a bit over-used to me... maybe because I recognized the song. And again, there wasn't an overly healthy dosage of the bossa or breaks that you might've heard in Volumes 5 or the older original B&B's. Paul Murphy/Mar Woolford Projects' "Jazz Room" was okay, almost a throwback to the older days of B&B so that helped my fix. And I would've liked ot have seen a bit more about what S-Tone Inc's up to, Soulstance too, etc. - there's a lot of new music being released by Schema in coming months and over the past few months.



I certainly recommend this, along with the rest of the franchise. There were several other cuts that I enjoyed as well. I think this cd is like a good evolution of the B&B sound and franchise and showcases the direction that much of Schema's been moving in (Nicola Conte's newest, general feel of Rosalia's remix album, Soulstance, Gerardo F, etc.). Still, none of that takes away from the quality tunes. And if you enjoyed CD2 of volume 6, there's a good chance you'll enjoy this chapter as well. Also keep a look out for a few other Schema Comps that have hit the market."