Blue Note US Vinilo y CD

Review: The accomplished and influential US jazz cat Robert Glasper has been involved with several of the genre's most essential projects over the last 15 or so years. His Black Radio albums are legendary and his work with Dinner Party is ever more celebrated. In My Element is one of his early works and now courtesy of Blue Note it gets its first-ever release on vinyl. It was a 2007 follow-up to his 2005 debut and marked him out as a rising star with bassist Vicente Archer and drummer Damion Reid alongside him and helping him to expand jazz's horizons. It also shows off his mad compositional skills and unique knack for harmony. A true modern classic.

Review: Madlib's back catalogue is one of the most revered in hip-hop and it would be quite interesting to hear a load of jazz cats rework it in their own style. But this essential album from Blue Note is sort of the opposite - the legendary US producer gets access to the vast Blue Note vaults and from that culls his own library and sound and samples and cooks up fresh takes on plenty of classics. As such you will recognise his beats under melodies from the likes of Donald Byrd and Bobbi Humphrey, Ronnie Foster and Bobby Hutcherson. The whole thing has been remastered as part of the Classic Vinyl Edition series so has never sounded better.