This is the song that made me realize I liked jazz.
I never disliked it, I just never paid any attention. Jazz was just an aisle in the record store between the music I liked and the cashier where I paid for it. The only jazz I knew growing up was the Brubeck album Time Out, because my parents had played it a lot when I was a kid.
Then St. Germain came along.
The year was 2000. The world had just endured the worst year in the history of music, and was now getting over the non-pocalypse that was Y2K.
Meanwhile, a plucky yours truly was at university, eating poorly, enjoying the plentiful free time that comes with an Arts degree, and playing as much Windows Pinball as that free time would allow.
When not wasting time with video games or essays, my primary quest was to find new music. This was becoming easier, thanks to Limewire, Napster, and parties where my roommate loaded his entire music collection into Winamp. But I was starting to feel like I had explored my favourite genres pretty much all the way to their outer limits. I worried that I was never going to find another Endtroducing, and that Weezer’s best days were well behind them.
Then someone put on St. Germain’s Tourist, and everything changed. This was jazz? Yes. But it had samples and danceable beats. This was dance music? Yes. But it had live instruments, and flute solos that made your arm hairs prickle.
From St. Germain, it was a quick jump to Herbie Hancock, MMW, and all the other jazz wizards that had been waiting for me. It was as if a whole section of taste buds had been added to my tongue.
16 years later, St. Germain (aka Ludovic Navarre) has finally released a follow-up to Tourist, and I’d love to post a track from it…but I can’t get away from this one. The first one I heard, and which opened up a whole genre for me.
What makes this a beautiful song:
1. The opening loop. It’s a cut-up and sped-up sample of “Take Five,” from the same Brubeck album I’d heard so many times as a child. But it’s so different from the original that I didn’t make the connection until years later. Such a groovy loop. It makes me want to dance while leaning casually against a dimly-lit lamppost, if that’s even possible.
2. The vocal sample. From Marlena Shaw. I love that while the rest of the song builds up around her, she remains calm, relaxed and insistent. She just wants you to get together, and she’s not going to yell about it.
3. The song has the perfect build. The progression of solos runs from the high-frequency squeak of the muted trumpet, to the mid-range tenor sax, to the deep baritone sax. And while all this is happening, the electronic beat fades in, but you don’t even notice, because you’re too busy putting your hands together one time.
Recommended listening activity:
Playing little drum solos on the steering wheel.