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As far as contemporary jazz goes--meaning jazz made with a pop audience in mind--Fourplay are about as accessible as any combo out there. Their jazz melodies are best suited for dinner parties: hip but not too intrusive. Their fourth venture veers little from that formula, except that the exceptional Lee Ritenour has been replaced by the very capable Larry Carleton on guitar. Adding spice to this middle-of-the-road jazz brew are guest vocals by El Debarge and Babyface. 7/10 (Gerard Dee) Juan Jose Carranza Flamenco de la Costa (Oliver Sudden/Festival) Jesse Cook Vertigo (Narada/EMI) The Andalusian region of Spain spawned a vigorous, rhythmic Gypsy dance style; it's become known as flamenco and that's what these two CDs are about. At its best it's a very fiery and moving musical form and both these releases get very close to that. The Carranza disc, a solo outing, gets the edge for raw energy, and Cook appears in a variety of settings--both should appeal to lovers of the genre. Carranza 8/10, Cook 7.5/10 (Len Dobbin)
This M guy--that's it, just M--is a French multi-instrumentalist whose track record includes pit stops with funkateer Sinclair and smooth raï-popper Faudel. His solo debut (hence the title) is a bric-a-brac shelf of freaky, fragile, frequently fruity friponneries en français. The clever wordplay in the deceptively simple lyrics will likely sail past many anglos--i.e. those who need me to tell them that friponneries means pranks. The tweaked pop perfection of this record is clear in any language, though. 8.5/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)
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Fourplay 4 (Warner)
M Le Baptême (Delabel/Virgin)