If you subscribe to the mindset that Sting, Rod Stewart and to a lesser extent Elvis Costello\u2019s adult-contemporary, jazzy albums are the musical equivalent of processed corn catered to the Starbucks crowd, Josh Weinstein may be a hard sell. His funky experimentations bring to mind Jamiroquai and his more somber piano-heavy ballads bring to mind Billy Joel \u2013 two very uncool comparisons. <\/p>\n
However, listen to Brooklyn is Sinking<\/em> and it becomes quickly apparent that Weinstein isn\u2019t interested in courting the \u201ccool\u201d sound of today. Though the album has a contemporary feel, thanks to a sardonic writing style and occasional excursions into funk, the album is the sound of an artist who has absorbed his influences not simply by listening to a bunch of recordings by jazz standards, but by paying his dues the old-fashioned way. <\/p>\n During graduate school, Weinstein worked as a bartender, absorbing the stories of bar patrons and also worked as a cocktail jazz pianist. For the most part, Brooklyn is Sinking<\/em> is a soundtrack fit for lonely nights spent in hotel bars with a liberal helping of wine and clove cigarettes. <\/p>\n Weinstein\u2019s piano goes well with Marco Oppedisano\u2019s guitar, creating a clean, uncluttered sound. Weinstein wisely mixes the musical orientation up by bringing in strings and organ along with creating catchy choruses, such as \u201cSonny\u201d and the opening track \u201cStones.\u201d Only when Weinstein tries experimenting with less conventional sounds, such as the background noise of bar patrons on \u201cA Minor Cool (Palimpsest),\u201d does he overextend his reach. <\/p>\n His\u00a0lyrics prevent Brooklyn is Sinking<\/em> from sinking into background music. \u201cThey turned off the telephone, they television and the news \/ They turned off my TV and the news \/ And now I think you\u2019ve turned off on me too,\u201d Weinstein sings in \u201cTrouble.\u201d In \u201cScared White Men,\u201d Weinstein addresses the high-profile racial tensions in the northeast during the late \u201880s (specifically Boston, but it\u2019s hard not to bring up images of Bensonhurst) before touching on the dragging death of James Byrd in Jasper, Texas. <\/p>\n Brooklyn is Sinking<\/em> will no doubt land on several \u201cRecommended if you like Norah Jones\u201d lists on Amazon and Pandora radio. Weinstein\u2019s voice may not be as distinctive as some of his jazz contemporary peers, but the unpolished style of his voice works well with the cool, disciplined style of his bandmates. Polished, but unpretentious, Brookyn is Sinking<\/em> is an album that\u2019s fun enough to win over more than a few non-jazz fans while winning the approval of most jazz purists.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":28547,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7841],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-40013","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-josh-weinstein","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40013\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=40013"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=40013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}