Electronic Breakbeat Jazz

This album could have been so much more. It could have been a picking-up where The New Standard (1995) left off, a launching point for spontaneous improvisation. It could have been an opportunity for some of the greatest modern jazz players to improvise without the confines of over-complex chord progressions, the simplicity of the harmonic content allowing the musicians freedom to explore and go wherever the music takes them. Instead, it is a flat, dry, unashamedly commercial affair that has a cast of characters including Christina Aguilera (!), Sting and Santana.

Whereas The New Standard followed the time-honored tradition of jazz music to re-interpret and even re-invent songs from the pop idiom, Possibilities is, simply, pop. This album fails to satisfy even the most basic pre-requisites for maintaining my interest, so I give 1 out of 5 stars.

# posted by Jonah Dempcy @ 4:09 PM