Jazz Sessions
Jazz Sessions
Publisher - Loopmasters
Price - £80
Contact - Time + Space 01837 55200
Web - www.loopmasters.com
You can’t always judge a book by its cover. This maxim, it seems, also applies to sample collections. Cool looking covers evoking ‘fifties jazz’ sometimes turn out to contain frenetic electric jazz-fusion performances. Not so with Jazz Sessions, which captures perfectly the sounds and moods you might expect to experience at an intimate jazz venue.
It’s a mighty collection - 3GB of drums, percussion, bass (acoustic and fretless) trumpets, trombones, saxophones, flutes, guitars (acoustic and electric) and keys (Hammond, Rhodes and acoustic piano) – all played by seasoned jazz musicians.
The content is presented as Acid Wav and Rex2. But in the case of the double bass, old jazz piano, Rhodes and the three drum kits, you also get ready-to-play patches for NNXT, HALion, Kontakt, EXS24 and SFZ. Tempos are widely varied (60-270 bpm).
The horns have been recorded both individually – performing short solo licks – and as a section, playing chords and riffs. However, although most of the sampled sections include a fruity baritone sax, for some reason it’s been left out of the solo folders, which seems a shame.
Technically, everything here is well recorded but performance-wise; much of the horn section work is very loose. Presumably that’s intentional, for stylistic reasons. However, several saxophone squeaks and the odd brass fluff have escaped through the net, spoiling what is otherwise, a fine sample collection.
Overall, though, this is a unique collection, very cool, very authentic and perfect for injecting some jazz attitude into your music.
Verdict – An authentic, mainly acoustic jazz sample collection that’s ideal material for jazz influenced producers.
