4 out of 5

Label: DIscos Mascarpone

Produced by: The Blassics

Finnish jazzsters specializing in “afrobeat-funk-jazz” and here crafting some admittedly cool-ass sounds that embraced “improvisation based freedom and communication;” there’s something further about Blassics founders Juha Sarkkola and Tuure Tammi running this set more as producers – bandcamp credits it to “Odd Jazz” – but they’re players on the thing, so… hm, perhaps we’re looking at the two gathering other Finn folks in the scene, and putting the pieces in place for a key jam session.

I’m down with improv jazz to an extent, but I admittedly lean into the spazzy stuff. “Afrobeat-funk-jazz” is not that, but it’s also avoidant of a lot of trappings of how those genres can interact (especially when applied to the aforementioned jam session atmosphere), and that meant that my first few listens – which weren’t informed with the little background I’ve since read – actually had me thinking this was more composed than improvised, and I would’ve described it firstly as cinematic over the other hyphenated descriptors.

“Odd Jazz” is kind of overstating it, of course: the tracks here definitely incorporate a bit of small-town mystery (think Twin Peaks, filtered through a more international flavor), told through an extensive instrument list, but it’s quite tamped down, allowing a strong beat – and fine, a funky one – to walk the walk of each track. But this element isn’t exactly overstated either, nor are the wind instruments bebopping along to give it its jazz vibe. At the same time, our collective is confident in their approach, maintain the momentum of a slick swagger, but also not too chill about it; an approachable strut.

It’s admittedly a rather synonymous sound throughout, which is part of the cinematic tag, as it’s easy to hear this playing as the rolling score to an artsy 70s flick. That said, the group lets instruments come and go, relying on the aforementioned beat (which does vary its strut) to take us from moment to moment, meaning that there are “movements” to this experience, though calling them songs just happens to be when things fade in or out. That does mean I’d wish for some more punctuation at points, but the balance between being consistently engaging and not disruptive is nice as well.

Poking at other Blassics works, the afrobeat part really is a thing, and though other albums are presumably (at least in part) composed, there’s more of a jam vibe. Not always my speed, but regardless, I wholly approve of the Odd Jazz experiment: the different approach paid off in getting a new listener to pay attention, and be quite impressed.