I’ve hinted you last week that there was an exceptional new Metropolitan Jazz Affair CD released on Infracom the label that gave us acts like Marschmellows, Aromabar, [Re:Jazz]. I had heard praises for their eponymous debut yet haven’t been able to listen to it, so I didn’t miss the second chance. The quartet featuring Benjamin Devigne’s rhodes, Stephane Ronget’s trumpet, Bruno Hovert’s bass & programming talent and the sweet vocals of Mr Day without question belongs to the “modern living” series of jazz with hip, soulful and accessible compositions, that will make you want to hop on your invisible Vespa and drive around your quality Italian furnishings (am I going slightly mad?).

To understand MJA’s affinity with summer and sunny scapes you should be at ease with some geography. These 4 musicians are from Lyon where the summers are hot and the spring is plentiful, that’s why this album is the natural soundtrackt for your spring barbeque endevaours on rooftops or your trips to the sea. There are songs like “Roaming” which is convenient lounge club material with laidback hiphop beats and MCing, there’s the uptempo 70s spaghetti jazz of “Escapism“, soulful R&B beats of “Drifting” and bossanova on “Everybody Knows“, all in all creating a panorama of “future jazz” where every house has marble floors and air-conditioning. (I’m uttering my meager fantasies here , because a 40C summer and water shortages are coming soon to Istanbul, but you should check out Paleo-Future the blog which checks back old flicks and magazines to see how the future was portrayed back then, for better fantasies.) The deal with “Bird of Spring” is the quality of the compositions. I’ve yet to see a nujazz album with this much versatility and maturity in years, most of the songs are perfect and the entire album is such a mood enhancer I don’t think you’d grow tired of it easily.

Metropolitan Jazz Affair - Fourmi Rouge
Metropolitan Jazz Affair - Escapism