I don't like jazz much, as a rule. And the jazz that I do like tends to fall into two distinct categories.
The first category includes reocrds that go "Bomp BOMP Zing WHIZZZZZZ HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOnKKKKKKKkkKkKkkK! Shhhuuuuuuuuufffflelele SSSSSSsssSSShuuuuufflffflffle...Crack Crack Crack BANG!" You know, the kind of thing you listen to once and then file away in the iTunes only to have it either #1. pop up unexpectedly; scaring the crap out of you while you are trying to read or #2. pop up unexpectedly while you are doing the dishes and mix really well with the sounds of the wet dishes clinking together.
The other category is what I like to call "Charlie Brown" jazz. Basically light jazz that wouldn't sound out of place in an animated film about 1950's Paris.
So why in the world I own this piece of rare 1960's German jazz? Quite simply, it comes down to one factor: Jonny Trunk.
Jonny Trunk operates a small cult record label in London called, appropriately enough, Trunk Records. I adore this label and feverishly gobble up everything it releases, from horror film soundtracks to BBC Radiophonics to airy folk. But my most treasured records from the label tend to be these odd bits of British Jazz that toe the line right in between my two favored schools of jazz. Sort of like if Pig Pen played the piano in the Peanuts band instead of Schroeder.
This album was featured on Trunk's "Recommended" page in April with the following praise: "There is no way on earth I am ever going to get a real one of these Lps, so when I heard the Japanese had issued it on compact disc I went and got one. And very pleased I am too. Not only does it have one of the great, iconic jazz sleeves but it has to be one of the great, faultless sessions ever recorded. It's the unexpected rhythms that get me here."
And, as it was the only one of his recommendations that month that I could easily find, I bought it. And here it is.
RE-UPPED HERE: Download Joki Freund Yogi Jazz
