Track Listing

1. Introduction
2. Slim's Return
3. Distant Land: Hip Hop Drum Mix
4. Mystic Bounce
5. Stormy
6. Blue Note Interlude
7. Please Set Me At Ease
8. Funky Blue Note
9. Alfred Lion Interlude
10. Steppin' Into Tomorrow
11. Andrew Hill Break
12. Montara
13. Song For My Father
14. Footprints
15. Peace/ Dolphin Dance
16. Outro

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #26929 in Music
• Released on: 2003-06-23
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
In Shades of Blue Madlib, hip-hop producer extraordinaire, tackles Blue Note's soul-jazz catalogue, enjoying free rein in the fabled label's vaults. On one level, the project makes perfect sense given Madlib's Yesterday's New Quintet work: he clearly has an ear for the Blue Note jazz aesthetic. The remixes and reinventions here are mostly pleasant and even surprising at times--get down with "Mystic Bounce", a flip on Ronnie Foster's "Mystic Brew". Yet some of these tracks seem a little too casual and undercooked, making Shades of Blue feel a bit too much like just another Madlib side project. In fact, Blue Note had already done a better job with this very same concept on their largely forgotten 1996 New Groove compilation, where artists such as Large Professor and the Roots took their stabs at the label's catalogue. --Oliver Wang, Amazon.com

Customer Reviews

Who needs purists?
Jazz purists will hate this, as a couple of reviews have already demonstrated on this page. But jazz purists are the same people who deny that Miles ever experimented with fusion or released any albums during his last twenty years on the planet.

There are many other bland remix strolls through not just the Blue Note but also Verve back catalogues. If you want to enjoy jazz, but can't find it in your soul to do so (or need a tepid House beat accompaniment so that it doesn't seem too "different" from modern music), you can turn to those. If you think jazz is an antique collectable produced only prior to 1970 and reproduced imperfectly since, well... guess you can always dust off a few cherished records from your mausoleum.

Madlib is a much finer exponent of the spirits of jazz than most modern jazzists, and this album is a further testament to that fact. Those who like should also check his remix of Bobbi Humphrey's 'Young Warrior' on the Blue Note Revisited album - possibly better than anything on 'Shades of Blue'.

But it's all relative, and Madlib is a true modern genius. Whether he's hip-hoppin', be-boppin' or just straight doin' his do.

This album actually set me off on certain artists I hadn't listened to before. Bobby Hutcherson and Horace Silver, in particular. And it gots to be good news that young heads can expand their jazz vocabulary beyond 'Kind of Blue', knowing how much it informs the hip-hop and soul that gets us going.

Killer Combo
Before you even start listening to this album there are a few things that should be bourne in mind.
1. Madlib is a renowned Hip hop producer.
2. Blue Note is a fantastic label for jazz.
3. The album was produced by Eli and Peanut Butter Wolf.

With these sort of credentials it is hardly surprising that a fantastic album has been produced. It combines some wonderful jazz (I don't pretend to be knowledgeable at all, though I have a few Miles Davis and Coltrane Albums, so I have dipped my toe in the water) with a hip hop flavour, which generally means a bit of lyrics in the background, with the melody of the song remaining intact. The beats are chilled, with some cool bass guitar, double bass, piano and trumpet playing around with the music in a way that only jazz musicians can.

I like albums which I see as progression for music in general, and this is definitely one of them, as is Bobbito Earthtones which I would also advise. This sort of music just gives you a good feeling, firstly because you found it but also because of the tempo of the music itself - just makes you wanna smirk and get down in a modern day James Brown stylee. That's right!

Gimme some more, a groovy masterpiece!!
In recent years there have been many remix projects Verve remixed, Detroit and Philadelphia experiments as well as many others by Buscemi and Sven Van Hees. However, I have to say that this is definitely a cut above them. It immediately grabs the attention of the listener and holds it throughout. That is not to say that any of these other projects were not good but here a fine attention to detail is paid and in a sense the faitfullness of the original tracks is kept.

Madlib was given free reign on the Blue Note catalog and he certainly has made excellent use of it. He has remixed and re-interpreted many of the tracks with great aplomb. I can't speak highly enough of this and the versions of Horace Silver's Song For my Father, Donald Byrd's Distant Land and Wayne Shorter's Footprints are real gems to behold, but it doesn't stop there. There are some nice interludes which include many ex-Blue Note recording artists who tell a story about the recordings. Then you can get stuck into Horace Silver's Peace blended with Herbie Hancok's Dolphin Dance. This is a modern take on the original but something to please anyone that liked these tunes or just curious about how a good remix/re-interpretation can be done.