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Laurell & Sun Dog — Mingling With...
(Eclipse Music no#, 2023, CD / LP / DL)

by Jon Davis, Published 2024-10-20

Mingling With... Cover art

“Chill-out jazz,” eh? This is a dangerous realm we’re venturing into here. If you Google the phrase, you’re likely to find some overlap with “smooth jazz,” and that is somewhere I never want to be. I’ve been listening to jazz since I was a teenager, and some of my favorite music in the world is jazz, but “smooth jazz” is something I detest more than about any other style. “Chill-out” at its best is a grooving blend of funk and electronic music that can be a lot of fun, but if the funk is toned down and the rhythms get too predictable, it becomes intolerable. For my money, the most successful band in the style is The Heliocentrics, whose quirky humor and offbeat collaborations are always fun. The Laurell in Laurell & Sun Dog is composer / arranger Valtteri Laurell Pöyhönen, who is involved in a number of other projects on the Finnish jazz scene. The Sun Dog part is an ensemble led by drummer Eeti Nieminen, who’s also in a band called Mopo and used to be in Njet Njet 9. Mingling With… is mostly successful, only occasionally losing its groove, and winning tracks like “Lester the Jester,” “Hazelnuts,” “Carnivale,” and “Alien Girlfriends” bring just the right balance of catchy beats, good melodies, and electronic atmosphere. The instrumentation features Pöyhönen on keyboards and guitar, Nieminen on drums and vibraphone, Eero Tikkanen on bass, Rasmus Pailos on percussion, and a horn section consisting of Mikko Innanen (saxophone), Janne Toivonen (trumpet), and Heikki Tuhkanen (trombone). While the music isn’t built around flashy solos, all of the players contribute to the album’s success. In the background, there are some spaced-out synthesizer sounds, but they’re not overdone or corny sounding, just present enough to add a touch of the old Space Age Bachelor Pad vibe. So fix yourself a martini or other cocktail of choice, settle back into your Ball Chair, and groove with Laurell and Sun Dog.

Filed under: New releases, 2023 releases

Related artist(s): Laurell & Sun Dog

More info
http://laurell-sundog.bandcamp.com/album/mingling-with

 

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