HEY HEY JOSE

jose

Earlier this year Minneapolis-born, London-based jazz vocalist JOSE JAMES released his second solo album, ‘Black Magic’ – a left-field collection of jazz workouts , nu-soul grooves and one delightful old school soul swayer – ‘Promise In Love’, which is still proving one of the year’s best cuts. Now Mr. J is set to release his third album – as different to ‘Black Magic’ as that one was to his debut set, ‘The Dreamer’. The new LP is a collaboration with Belgian pianist JEF NEVE and is a nine track collection of songs from what is now always referred to as “The Great American Songbook”. The tunes include ‘Autumn In New York’, ‘Body And Soul’, ‘When I Fall In Love’, ‘Lush Life’ and ‘For All We Know’ – the song which furnishes the album with its title.

The project came together spontaneously after JAMES and NEVE performed together on a Belgian TV show. They decided it would be good to record together – so a studio was booked and they cut the whole thing in just six hours – with no producer, no other musicians and no overdubs. The result is a hugely honest and pure album on which the silence is an important component. Equally the simplicity allows the beauty of the songs, the warmth of JAMES’S voice and the clarity of NEVE’S playing to shine through

JOSE JAMES and JEF NEVE’S ‘For All We Know” is released in September on Verve/Impulse.