Verve Remixed

The manipulation of classic jazz tracks has been part of DJ club culture since the '80s, as artists have continually scratched, looped, and sampled beats and phrases. Verve Remixed has been in the planning stages for years, with in-house producers inviting an international cast of remix artists to select songs from the label's vaults. The results are often tremendously successful, as the remix artists have picked up and expanded upon elements already present in the original. The funky Latin beat of Willie Bobo's "Spanish Grease" gets new life from Richard Dorfmeister, along with a prominent new bass line. Similarly, King Britt pumps up the Indian elements of Tony Scott's "Hare Krishna." dZihan and Kamien's trance remix (with tabla drums) of Billie Holiday's "Don't Explain" is among the most arresting tracks, creating psychodrama between Holiday's original vocal and the new environment. Nina Simone's voice seems tailor-made for this approach, as if it has always cried out for the layered rhythmic emphasis. Masters at Work's take on her "See-Line Woman" is electric in its intensity--cool flute sonorities and metallic percussion embrace and catapult the original vocal into a new presence. --Stuart Broomer