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Us3: Broadway & 52nd

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: Capitol Records
Released: 1997
Time:
 61:30
Category: Jazz / Rap
Producer(s): Geoff Wilkinson, Jim Hawkins
Rating: *******... (7/10)
Media type: CD
Web address: www.us3.com
Appears with:
Purchase date: 2001.01.25
Price in €: 9,99



 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] Intro (G.Wilkinson/J.Hawkins/B.Powell/V.de Moreas) - 1:14
[2] Come on Everybody (Get Down) (B.Armstead/J.McLean/G.Wilkinson) - 5:48
[3] Caught up in a Struggle (G.Wilkinson/J.Hawkins/M.Vialva) - 3:42
[4] True to the Game (G.Wilkinson/J.Hawkins/B.Armstead) - 3:33
[5] Snakes (G.Wilkinson/J.Hawkins/B.Armstead) - 4:06
[6] I'm Thinking About Your Body (J.Hawkins/B.McFerrin/M.Vialva/G.Wilkinson) - 5:20
[7] Grand Groove (G.Wilkinson/J.Hawkins/B.Armstead) - 5:23
[8] Nowadays (G.Wilkinson/J.Hawkins/B.Armstead) - 3:35
[9] Sheep (G.Wilkinson/J.Hawkins/M.Vialva) - 4:45
[10] Doin' a Crime (G.Wilkinson/J.Hawkins/M.Vialva) - 4:23
[11] Recognise and Realise (G.Wilkinson/J.Hawkins/B.Armstead) - 5:40
[12] Time and Space (G.Wilkinson/J.Hawkins/M.Vialva) - 4:44
[13] Soul Brother (G.Wilkinson/J.Hawkins/B.Armstead) - 3:58
[14] Hymn for Her (G.Wilkinson/J.Hawkins) - 4:53

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


KCB - Rap
Shabaam Shadeeq - Rap
Gareth Williams - Piano, Electric Piano
Alexander Pope Norris - Trumpet
Dominic Glover - Trumpet
Ed Jones - Soprano Saxophone
Tim Vine - Electric Piano
Dennis Rollins - Trombone
Tony Rémy - Guitar
Steve Williamson - Tenor Saxophone
Mike Smith - Tenor Saxophone
Mike Williams - Alto Saxophone
Jonathan Gee - Melodica

JC Concato - Mixing Engineer
Mark Aubrey - Ass. mixing engineer
Graham Hogg - Ass. mixing engineer
Geoff Wilkinson -Mixing, Executive Producer
Jim Hawkins - Mixing
Bill Diggins - Management

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


Though Us3's second album Broadway & 52nd lacks a single song as infectious as "Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)," it holds up better as an album. Geoff Wilkinson is better able to fuse his samples and hip-hop rhythms with jazz sensibilities, and while the rappers weigh the record down with inane rhymes, the production is quite intoxicating.

Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All-Music Guide



The word that comes to mind when speaking of this jazz- cum- hip- hop production trio is untrustworthy. Never mind that their debut album achieved pop success with the notoriously familiar "Cantaloop," or that the group have been hailed as the shepherds of hip- bop fusion. The reality is any amateur could use the historic Blue Note catalog to reshape catchy jazz hits from the '60s into just- as- catchy tunes for today. This follow- up deserves some credit for revealing some developmental maturity, but predictably the rapping is mediocre, mired in one clich - after another ("...keeping it real..."). Moments like letting U.K. saxaphonist Steve Williamson go off during the closing seconds of "Doin' A Crime" are laudable; the pleonastic chorus on "Caught Up in a Struggle," over Horace Silver's "Sayanora Blues" (blasphemy!) are not. And, unfortunately, there's much too much of the latter. If your interest is simply background music, then no problem. But anybody searching for something more than diluted creativity should just move on.

Jazzbo
Copyright © 1994-1999 CDNow, Inc. All rights reserved.



The term "great party album" isn't always a compliment. Your favorite party albums aren't often the most musically adventurous; they're guaranteed to please if the crowd is paying attention, and guaranteed not to distract them if they're not. On that score, US3's debut Hand On The Torch was a darn good party album - a mix of classic jazz samples designed to jam the most, surprise the least. US3's second album is something of a half-loaf: more adventurous musically and a bit smarter, but aiming to be more transcendent than it is. The US3 MCs endured some flack three years ago for raiding the Blue Note jazz archives and coming out with something that leaned heavily on samples of Herbie Hancock et al. and not enough on themselves. That's kind of unfair, since both US3 albums feature live brass and rhythms; and they certainly aren't any more offensive than lauded jazz-rap experiments by Digable Planets and Guru. But US3 are neither a great hip-hop group nor great jazz historians; they will always be jam-meisters, and the less their lyrics aim for gangsta-style social commentary ("Caught Up In A Struggle") the better. If anything, Broadway And 52nd is a more consistent affair musically than Torch, with the peppy "Come On Everybody (Get Down)" and the sexy "Thinking About Your Body" picking up where the hit "Cantaloop" left off.

© 1978-1999 College Media Inc. All rights reserved.



...Jazz comes up from the basement with sensuous sampled loops from the Blue Note archives, and in through the side door with heated solos between the raps...

Entertainment Weekly (4/18/97)



...the rapping will undoubtedly draw criticism from serious hip-hip heads--but the music provides a pleasing and catchy, albeit light-hearted backdrop...

Option (7-8/97)



The groove is nonstop....Once again producer/mixer Geoff Wilkinson dips into the Blue Note vault to borrow beat samples, rappers KCB and Shabaam Sahdeeq wax eloquent with news from the street and a rotating crew of musicians fills the gaps with strong improvisational flights...

Down Beat (1/97)



...This time around, producer Geoff Wilkinson digs deeper into the Blue Note catalog to come up with some obscure jazz samples combined with live musicians and the poetic lyrics of newcomers KCB and Shabaam Shadeeq...

Rap Pages (8/97)



Grand groove... This album takes a bit more listening in than their previous album, but once you've done that you will find that it pays off! US3 go deeper and dare experiment more on Broadway & 52nd - both in lyrics and music, and I think this is to the benefit of us all. There are less Jamaican influences on this album and more simplistic jazz grooves. This album is one of my absolute favourites and I dare you all to keep still while listening to it. Just listen to the wonderful groove of "Caught up in a Struggle" and "Grand Groove" and the great simplicity of "Snakes", and you will know what I mean.

Gerda Enberg from Karlskrona, Sweden



Ki ne hallotta volna Herbie Hancock 60-as évekbol származó Cantaloup Island Blue Note felvételének "rapesített" változatát. Ez az 1994-ben készített felvétel az eredeti zene bizonyos elemeit a 90-es évek ritmusgroove-jaival és rapénekkel vegyítette. Nagy siker lett, és egyben megosztotta a hallgatóságot. Míg az egyik fél blaszfémiát kiáltott, a másik rész örömmel üdvözölte, hogy a 60-as évek funky Blue Note zenéit, Hancockot, Silvert, Jimmy Smitht sikeres popfelvételeken hallhatta újra. A harmadik tábor lehetett a sikert hozó többség, akik nem tudták, ezek a fülbemászó dallamocskák milyen eredetuek.

Az 1991-ben alakított együttes Geoff Wilkinson koncertpromoter és jazzkritikus, valamint a komponista-zongorista Mel Simpson agytröszt szüleménye, ok szerzodtették késobb a rappereket és a többi zenészt is. 1992-es daluk, a The Band That Played The Boogie annyira megnyerte a Capitol lemeztársaság tetszését, hogy megengedték Simpsonnak és Wilkinsonnak, hogy bármit szabadon felhasználhassanak mintavétel (sampling) céljából a birtokukban lévo Blue Note-anyagból. A mintavételezés azt jelenti, hogy az eredeti zenei anyag hosszabb-rövidebb részleteit digitalizált formátumra változtatva, mintegy szintetizátor-hangszínként lehet alkalmazni. Az elso albumot (Hands on the Torch) a jazzsajtó az együttes pozitív montreux-i fogadtatása dacára negligálta, a japán Swing Journal viszont az év lemezének kiáltotta ki. Második, Broadway & 52-nd címu albumuk nem tudott slágert felmutatni, viszont a kritika értékelte pozitívan.

Az effajta "zenei beavatkozás" nyilvánvalóan ízlés kérdése, akit a 90-es évek ritmusai vagy a rap idegesítenek, mereven elzárkózik ettol. Jómagam nem ebbe a csoportba tartozom, és egyben örülök, hogy ifjúkorom zenéit a mai fiatalság is megismerheti. Az, hogy ezek a 30-40 évvel ezelotti felvételek a mai köntösbe öltöztetést ilyen jól bírják, sot ma is hordoznak üzenetet, önmagáért beszél.

Grammofon Budapest Music Center, Friedrich Károly
 

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