Another mixtape for you, this time jazz-themed. I've meant to a jazz-themed rotation for a long time, and decided to create a two-disc mixtape instead. The first disc consists of instrumental music, and the second, vocal. Further description/review is below.

This took a long time to compile and upload, so please comment if taking.

- Haruhi



Summary: A collection of jazz songs, ranging from classics from the likes of Duke Ellington to modern bands like PE'Z. This is a highly personal mixtape - by that, I mean that this is not in any way supposed to be a comprehensive sampler of jazz music, but rather songs that I personally like and think would make a good introduction to jazz and could be enjoyed by everyone, and not just serious jazz fans.

Tracklist:

Disc 1:

01. Akatsuki - PE'Z [PV]
02. Percolator - Spyro Gyra
03. ひんやりやんひ - PE'Z
04. Old Castle, by the river, in the middle of a forest - Hiromi
05. ハヤガケ - PE'Z
06. Secret Samba - Big Band Wolfenbuettel
07. 真夜中のアメーバ - PE'Z
08. Chronic - Metalwood
09. MY FOOLISH HEART ~crazy in mind~ - SOIL&"PIMP" SESSIONS [PV]
10. Such Sweet Thunder {Cleo} - Duke Ellington
11. So What - Miles Davis
12. Pescara - Metalwood
13. Hayburner - Count Basie Orchestra
14. STORM - SOIL&"PIMP" SESSIONS
15. Hale no sola sita ～LA YELLOW SAMBA～ - PE'Z
16. Fantastic Planet - SOIL&"PIMP" SESSIONS
17. A Flat Minor - Preferred Take - Duke Ellington
18. The Star-Crossed Lovers (aka Pretty Girl) - Stereo LP Master - Duke Ellington
19. Sweet and Lovely - Thelonious Monk

Disc 2:

01. Gallop - Pe'zmoku
02. In These Shoes - Arturo O'Farrill & Claudia Acuna
03. Tikiville - Joanna Wang
04. Beyond the Sea - Matt Belsante
05. Georgia on My Mind (Originally by Ray Charles) - Khalil Fong
06. (Mr. Paganini) You'll Have to Swing It (Parts 1 and 2) - Ella Fitzgerald
07. Charmed Life - Diana Krall

Download:
Disc 1: MF [137mb]
Disc 2: MF [33mb]

Notes:
- I'm not sure how the songs are arranged in the .zip file and in what order they will copy into your iTunes (I believe it may be alphabetically by file names), but the tracklist above is the tracklist I intended, for those of you who are picky about stuff like that.

- Like I mentioned when I posted my first mixtape here, I don't create/upload .zip files often. If there are any issues, please let me know.

Comments:
I'm not going to do an in-depth review, but some quick comments about this mixtape for anyone who's interested:

PE'Z is not featured four times on this mixtape without reason (five, if you count pe'zmoku, their collaboration with vocalist suzumoku). They are a modern Japanese group who I think, unfortunately, is on an "indefinite hiatus". I would consider them more fusion, they definitely have some rock influences. Their songs are so energetic and catchy; I especially love their piano solos and their pianist has also worked with Shiina Ringo and released some solo material as well. Definitely try them out - even if you don't like jazz.

If you like PE'Z, SOIL&"PIMP" SESSIONS is quite similar in style. They're also a modern Japanese band, and while between the two I still prefer PE'Z, they're amongst my favourites as well. They have the same energy and passion. I find SOIL&"PIMP" SESSIONS brass players to be stronger. Both amazing bands that, unfortunately, don't get a lot of recognition - I rarely see their music shared or mentioned, which is why I included a substantial number of songs from both these groups in this mixtape.

Percolotor by Spyro Gyra (man that's hard to type) is more of a funk chart, I played this in my school's jazz band last year and it was basically the favourite song of the whole group, so I just had to share it. It's catchy and and has some great solos in it. My favourite is probably the sax.

Hiromi is a jazz pianist, so Old Castle, by the river, in the middle of a forest (what's with these names?) is a fast-paced composition that, duh, is focused around piano. The fluidity of this song is quite impressive, and I especially love the part at around 5:25 where it slows down and becomes more chordal, really letting the tone of the piano shine rather than just the notes. Beautiful.

Metalwood is a Canadian fusion group, I love the way they blend rock and jazz. The growling bassline in Chronic is just fantastic. Although these guys are a fusion group, their jazz is a bit more intellectual than the two Japanese groups I mentioned above, IMO. However that certainly doesn't make their music inaccessible.

I don't think Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, or Diana Krall require any introduction. All jazz greats - I tried to pick songs that are pretty mainstream, but we're getting into "real" jazz here, and these songs are all quite a bit older as well, so they might be more of an acquired taste.

Joanna Wang's Latin-influenced Tikiville took a while to grow on me, but it did. I actually kind of hated it the first time I listened to it, but a few more listens have changed my mind. I've uploaded a lot by her in the past, so check the tag if you're interested. She's a young Taiwanese jazz singer, but IIRC she also spent some time in New York.

Matt Belsante's rendition of Beyond the Sea is sweet, and while I'm not really a huge fan of him, I really liked it. I've heard his voice compared to Michael Buble's, if that helps.

There had to be a jazz standard that pretty much everyone knows here, so we have Georgia on my Mind as sung by Khalil Fong ... I believe I've uploaded this in the past already, but oh well. Khalil Fong isn't a jazz singer at all, but I didn't want to upload a standard version of this classic.

More:
Here's some links to some straightforward biographies about some of these artists, in case you want to find out more about them.
Hiromi | PE'Z/pe'zmoku | SOIL&"PIMP" SESSIONS

Labels: Count Basie, Diana Krall, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Hiromi, Joanna Wang, Khalil Fong, Matt Belsante, Metalwood, Miles Davis, mixtape, PE'Z, SOIL+"PIMP" SESSIONS, Spyro Gyra, Thelonious Monk

Happy Valentine's Day! =) I think the theme of this rotation is pretty self-explanatory. My comments this week are kind of dead, sorry.

Everyday Valentine - Winter Garden
language Korean
genre rock
rating
comments Like most Korean rock, this isn't really "heavy" rock. But I liked it - their vocalist has a mature, rich voice and the chorus is memorable.

Valentine STEP - Aira Mitsuki
language Japanese
genre pop
rating
comments A cute, poppy, happy song. The vocals are a little too chipmunk-y and synthesized for my taste, but I like the melody and summer-y acoustic guitar chords. Overall, a pretty good song.

Love will live forever - A-lin
language Mandarin
genre rock
rating
comments I really like her voice - strong, powerful, but not overwhelming. A fairly straightforward rock track - it's a bit generic in form and execution, but decent female rock in Mandarin is just so hard to find.

爱我 (Love Me) - Danson Tang
language Mandarin
genre pop
rating
comments I love the acoustic feel that this song starts off on. A rock-influenced song with a great acoustic guitar accompaniment and catchy melody. It feels dark in sections, then much lighter in others, providing a nice contrast.

So Fall In Love - DNT
language Korean
genre pop/dance
rating
comments Fun, light-hearted and bright. The little trumpet/brass riffs are a nice touch. I like the harmonizing.

Sea of Love - Fly to the Sky
language Korean
genre R&B/pop
rating
comments I love Fly to the Sky. This is one of their older releases, I believe it was the title track of their third album. As always, their voices are just in perfect contrast. It's a fairly simple track, but I love it.

Love Song - Khalil Fong
language Mandarin
genre R&B
rating
comments I've uploaded a couple songs by him before, this is a slightly older but very popular song of his. His voice is just so pretty, laid back but emotional at the same time. The accompaniment is stripped down except in the chorus, giving the song a bare, stark feel.

L O V E - JiSun
language Korean
genre soft rock
rating
comments Former vocalist of Loveholic, JiSun has recently released her solo album! While I was disappointed to see her leave the group, I also really liked this album. L O V E is hopeful and powerful.

We love you~世界は君を愛してる~ - Miyavi
language Japanese
genre rock
rating
comments Miyavi was the first Japanese artist I ever listened to. His voice is soft, almost a whisper, but intense. As expected, the guitar work is great. One of my favourite songs by him.

I Love You - 8eight ft. Jessica (SNSD)
language Korean
genre pop
rating
comments A fairly typical pop song. I love 8eight, their vocalists are quite good, which brings this song to another level. The chorus is really catchy - a fun, light-hearted listen.

Left My Hearts - Yiruma
language none
genre instrumental (piano)
rating
comments I love Yiruma. <3 This song is quite downtempo, I guess it suits the title. Although it seems fairly sad, there are notes of hope in it. Beautiful and expressive.

This Time - John Legend
language English
genre r&b
rating
comments I put R&B as the genre simply because that's John Legend's typical fare, but this song is far from his typical upbeat tracks - a gorgeous slow song. The lyrics are beautiful, as is the accompaniment. John Legend's voice is flawless - emotional and unique. Simply a beautiful song.

愛與希望 (Love and Hope) - JJ Lin
language Mandarin
genre pop/ballad
rating
comments I really like the piano in this song. JJ Lin's voice is lovely - soft and expressive, but still steady, suiting this ballad perfectly. Those two things, the rich, full piano accompaniment and JJ Lin's voice, really made this otherwise bland ballad stand out.

Longing for Romance - Joanna Wang
language English
genre jazz
rating
comments I've uploaded quite a lot of her songs - her entire debut album and one track from her second album. She's been hailed as "Taiwan's Norah Jones", if that gives you any insight as to her style and voice. This song isn't one of my favourites by her - it has a kind of weird, lurching feel to it that I can't explain. But definitely try her out.

Sarang sarang sarang - Park Hyo Shin
langauge Korean
genre pop
rating
comments Until this song, all the songs I'd heard from him were ballads. Not that that's a bad thing, because his ballads are gorgeous. I love his voice - deep and slightly husky. Who knew he would be just as good as upbeat tracks? This song has a faint rock/jazz vibe to it. I think it's actually a cover, but I don't know who the original was by. Recommended. <3

Labels: 8eight, A-Lin, Aira Mitsuki, Danson Tang, DNT, Fly to the Sky, Jisun, JJ Lin, Joanna Wang, John Legend, Khalil Fong, miyavi, Park Hyo Shin, Winter Garden, Yiruma

Another mixtape for you, this time jazz-themed. I've meant to a jazz-themed rotation for a long time, and decided to create a two-disc mixtape instead. The first disc consists of instrumental music, and the second, vocal. Further description/review is below.

This took a long time to compile and upload, so please comment if taking.

- Haruhi



Summary: A collection of jazz songs, ranging from classics from the likes of Duke Ellington to modern bands like PE'Z. This is a highly personal mixtape - by that, I mean that this is not in any way supposed to be a comprehensive sampler of jazz music, but rather songs that I personally like and think would make a good introduction to jazz and could be enjoyed by everyone, and not just serious jazz fans.

Tracklist:

Disc 1:

01. Akatsuki - PE'Z [PV]
02. Percolator - Spyro Gyra
03. ひんやりやんひ - PE'Z
04. Old Castle, by the river, in the middle of a forest - Hiromi
05. ハヤガケ - PE'Z
06. Secret Samba - Big Band Wolfenbuettel
07. 真夜中のアメーバ - PE'Z
08. Chronic - Metalwood
09. MY FOOLISH HEART ~crazy in mind~ - SOIL&"PIMP" SESSIONS [PV]
10. Such Sweet Thunder {Cleo} - Duke Ellington
11. So What - Miles Davis
12. Pescara - Metalwood
13. Hayburner - Count Basie Orchestra
14. STORM - SOIL&"PIMP" SESSIONS
15. Hale no sola sita ～LA YELLOW SAMBA～ - PE'Z
16. Fantastic Planet - SOIL&"PIMP" SESSIONS
17. A Flat Minor - Preferred Take - Duke Ellington
18. The Star-Crossed Lovers (aka Pretty Girl) - Stereo LP Master - Duke Ellington
19. Sweet and Lovely - Thelonious Monk

Disc 2:

01. Gallop - Pe'zmoku
02. In These Shoes - Arturo O'Farrill & Claudia Acuna
03. Tikiville - Joanna Wang
04. Beyond the Sea - Matt Belsante
05. Georgia on My Mind (Originally by Ray Charles) - Khalil Fong
06. (Mr. Paganini) You'll Have to Swing It (Parts 1 and 2) - Ella Fitzgerald
07. Charmed Life - Diana Krall

Download:
Disc 1: MF [137mb]
Disc 2: MF [33mb]

Notes:
- I'm not sure how the songs are arranged in the .zip file and in what order they will copy into your iTunes (I believe it may be alphabetically by file names), but the tracklist above is the tracklist I intended, for those of you who are picky about stuff like that.

- Like I mentioned when I posted my first mixtape here, I don't create/upload .zip files often. If there are any issues, please let me know.

Comments:
I'm not going to do an in-depth review, but some quick comments about this mixtape for anyone who's interested:

PE'Z is not featured four times on this mixtape without reason (five, if you count pe'zmoku, their collaboration with vocalist suzumoku). They are a modern Japanese group who I think, unfortunately, is on an "indefinite hiatus". I would consider them more fusion, they definitely have some rock influences. Their songs are so energetic and catchy; I especially love their piano solos and their pianist has also worked with Shiina Ringo and released some solo material as well. Definitely try them out - even if you don't like jazz.

If you like PE'Z, SOIL&"PIMP" SESSIONS is quite similar in style. They're also a modern Japanese band, and while between the two I still prefer PE'Z, they're amongst my favourites as well. They have the same energy and passion. I find SOIL&"PIMP" SESSIONS brass players to be stronger. Both amazing bands that, unfortunately, don't get a lot of recognition - I rarely see their music shared or mentioned, which is why I included a substantial number of songs from both these groups in this mixtape.

Percolotor by Spyro Gyra (man that's hard to type) is more of a funk chart, I played this in my school's jazz band last year and it was basically the favourite song of the whole group, so I just had to share it. It's catchy and and has some great solos in it. My favourite is probably the sax.

Hiromi is a jazz pianist, so Old Castle, by the river, in the middle of a forest (what's with these names?) is a fast-paced composition that, duh, is focused around piano. The fluidity of this song is quite impressive, and I especially love the part at around 5:25 where it slows down and becomes more chordal, really letting the tone of the piano shine rather than just the notes. Beautiful.

Metalwood is a Canadian fusion group, I love the way they blend rock and jazz. The growling bassline in Chronic is just fantastic. Although these guys are a fusion group, their jazz is a bit more intellectual than the two Japanese groups I mentioned above, IMO. However that certainly doesn't make their music inaccessible.

I don't think Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, or Diana Krall require any introduction. All jazz greats - I tried to pick songs that are pretty mainstream, but we're getting into "real" jazz here, and these songs are all quite a bit older as well, so they might be more of an acquired taste.

Joanna Wang's Latin-influenced Tikiville took a while to grow on me, but it did. I actually kind of hated it the first time I listened to it, but a few more listens have changed my mind. I've uploaded a lot by her in the past, so check the tag if you're interested. She's a young Taiwanese jazz singer, but IIRC she also spent some time in New York.

Matt Belsante's rendition of Beyond the Sea is sweet, and while I'm not really a huge fan of him, I really liked it. I've heard his voice compared to Michael Buble's, if that helps.

There had to be a jazz standard that pretty much everyone knows here, so we have Georgia on my Mind as sung by Khalil Fong ... I believe I've uploaded this in the past already, but oh well. Khalil Fong isn't a jazz singer at all, but I didn't want to upload a standard version of this classic.

More:
Here's some links to some straightforward biographies about some of these artists, in case you want to find out more about them.
Hiromi | PE'Z/pe'zmoku | SOIL&"PIMP" SESSIONS

Labels: Count Basie, Diana Krall, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Hiromi, Joanna Wang, Khalil Fong, Matt Belsante, Metalwood, Miles Davis, mixtape, PE'Z, SOIL+"PIMP" SESSIONS, Spyro Gyra, Thelonious Monk

Happy Valentine's Day! =) I think the theme of this rotation is pretty self-explanatory. My comments this week are kind of dead, sorry.

Everyday Valentine - Winter Garden
language Korean
genre rock
rating
comments Like most Korean rock, this isn't really "heavy" rock. But I liked it - their vocalist has a mature, rich voice and the chorus is memorable.

Valentine STEP - Aira Mitsuki
language Japanese
genre pop
rating
comments A cute, poppy, happy song. The vocals are a little too chipmunk-y and synthesized for my taste, but I like the melody and summer-y acoustic guitar chords. Overall, a pretty good song.

Love will live forever - A-lin
language Mandarin
genre rock
rating
comments I really like her voice - strong, powerful, but not overwhelming. A fairly straightforward rock track - it's a bit generic in form and execution, but decent female rock in Mandarin is just so hard to find.

爱我 (Love Me) - Danson Tang
language Mandarin
genre pop
rating
comments I love the acoustic feel that this song starts off on. A rock-influenced song with a great acoustic guitar accompaniment and catchy melody. It feels dark in sections, then much lighter in others, providing a nice contrast.

So Fall In Love - DNT
language Korean
genre pop/dance
rating
comments Fun, light-hearted and bright. The little trumpet/brass riffs are a nice touch. I like the harmonizing.

Sea of Love - Fly to the Sky
language Korean
genre R&B/pop
rating
comments I love Fly to the Sky. This is one of their older releases, I believe it was the title track of their third album. As always, their voices are just in perfect contrast. It's a fairly simple track, but I love it.

Love Song - Khalil Fong
language Mandarin
genre R&B
rating
comments I've uploaded a couple songs by him before, this is a slightly older but very popular song of his. His voice is just so pretty, laid back but emotional at the same time. The accompaniment is stripped down except in the chorus, giving the song a bare, stark feel.

L O V E - JiSun
language Korean
genre soft rock
rating
comments Former vocalist of Loveholic, JiSun has recently released her solo album! While I was disappointed to see her leave the group, I also really liked this album. L O V E is hopeful and powerful.

We love you~世界は君を愛してる~ - Miyavi
language Japanese
genre rock
rating
comments Miyavi was the first Japanese artist I ever listened to. His voice is soft, almost a whisper, but intense. As expected, the guitar work is great. One of my favourite songs by him.

I Love You - 8eight ft. Jessica (SNSD)
language Korean
genre pop
rating
comments A fairly typical pop song. I love 8eight, their vocalists are quite good, which brings this song to another level. The chorus is really catchy - a fun, light-hearted listen.

Left My Hearts - Yiruma
language none
genre instrumental (piano)
rating
comments I love Yiruma. <3 This song is quite downtempo, I guess it suits the title. Although it seems fairly sad, there are notes of hope in it. Beautiful and expressive.

This Time - John Legend
language English
genre r&b
rating
comments I put R&B as the genre simply because that's John Legend's typical fare, but this song is far from his typical upbeat tracks - a gorgeous slow song. The lyrics are beautiful, as is the accompaniment. John Legend's voice is flawless - emotional and unique. Simply a beautiful song.

愛與希望 (Love and Hope) - JJ Lin
language Mandarin
genre pop/ballad
rating
comments I really like the piano in this song. JJ Lin's voice is lovely - soft and expressive, but still steady, suiting this ballad perfectly. Those two things, the rich, full piano accompaniment and JJ Lin's voice, really made this otherwise bland ballad stand out.

Longing for Romance - Joanna Wang
language English
genre jazz
rating
comments I've uploaded quite a lot of her songs - her entire debut album and one track from her second album. She's been hailed as "Taiwan's Norah Jones", if that gives you any insight as to her style and voice. This song isn't one of my favourites by her - it has a kind of weird, lurching feel to it that I can't explain. But definitely try her out.

Sarang sarang sarang - Park Hyo Shin
langauge Korean
genre pop
rating
comments Until this song, all the songs I'd heard from him were ballads. Not that that's a bad thing, because his ballads are gorgeous. I love his voice - deep and slightly husky. Who knew he would be just as good as upbeat tracks? This song has a faint rock/jazz vibe to it. I think it's actually a cover, but I don't know who the original was by. Recommended. <3

Labels: 8eight, A-Lin, Aira Mitsuki, Danson Tang, DNT, Fly to the Sky, Jisun, JJ Lin, Joanna Wang, John Legend, Khalil Fong, miyavi, Park Hyo Shin, Winter Garden, Yiruma

Welcome to Fashion Scans, an mp3 rotation that features Korean, Japanese, and Chinese music as well as the occasional English song. Fashion Scans was created in October 2007 and is run by Haruhi with contributions from Carmi.

Please send all affiliate requests to Haruhi. Carmi is currently open to requests.

Files are for sampling purposes only, I am not responsible if you keep them for longer than the 24-48 hours permitted. Please support the artists by purchasing their CDs.

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If you would like to be affiliates, send me an e-mail at ungathering@hotmail.com.

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