COMPOSERS: New Cool Collective
LABELS: Sony
PERFORMER: New Cool Collective
CATALOGUE NO: SML 5094382
NEW COOL COLLECTIVE, a group of Dutch musicians, has taken another peculiarly European concept – acid jazz – to its logical conclusion with its debut album, Bring It On.
Acid jazz gigs usually involve obscure records played by DJs to facilitate frenetic dancing. NCC has broken that mould by writing catchy originals and rearranging other stuff. The result is an electrifying, rare groove – rare because you so seldom hear a happening big band in these straitened times – belted out with a big hook in every number.
With its catchy street themes, tongue-in-cheek material (the Bee Gees’ ‘Stayin’ Alive’) and clever charts, Bring It On should be essential listening for youth jazz orchestras all over. So much for ‘old’ Europe. Across the Atlantic, the standard repertoire continues to hold its own in the face of incursions from grunge merchants such as The Bad Plus or Medeski, Martin & Wood.