Valvulado: Blue Break Beats - "You Gotta Hear Blue Note to Dig Def Jam"

An outstanding collection of soulful, downtempo jazz. This would be perfect music for setting the mood for going out during the weekend, dinner with friends, a Sunday afternoon - just about anything. It's a well-curated set that really flows together perfectly. There's not a dud track in the bunch.

The idea of the collection was to draw peoples attention to the really excellent Blue Note tracks being sampled in the Hip Hop records everyone was listening to ('92).

Blue Break Beats, Vol. 1-4 contains Blue Note's four exceptional volumes of funky soul-jazz rarities and obscurities in one slip-cased box set. This box set may not appeal to listeners who already own all four discs, since there are no new liners or bonuses, but anyone who's about to invest in the set should consider this, since it offers all four at a savings. And if you get one, you'll probably want to get all four, so this is a good way to get 'em all at once.

The music on Blue Break Beats dates from the late '60s and early '70s, when a large portion of Blue Note's soul-jazz artists began experimenting with funk and rock, creating dense electric fusions that concentrated on rhythm, not improvisation. None of this music has ever received much critical praise from jazz purists, but in the late '80s and early '90s, scores of hip-hop and dance DJs discovered these old records and began sampling the original tracks to use in new rap and dance songs. By the early '90s, this jazz-rap-funk fusion had become hip and profitable, which led Blue Note to assemble the Blue Break Beats compilations. All of the tracks on the 4 albums are from late '60s and early '70s albums, featuring multi-layered percussion, organs, and guitars. Every song on the two discs -- which are sold separately -- is hot, with a deep funky groove, and there are no dull spots on the albums. Though it's designed to appeal to fans of contemporary funk and rap, fans of rock-influenced soul-jazz will find Blue Break Beats a necessary purchase.

Blue Break Beats Vol. 1