The Cinematic Orchestra Every Day Vinyl LP 2002

There's an old music press adage that second albums are notoriously "difficult". If this were true, then by rights Everyday should be one big disappointment. That fact that it's arguably one of 2002's finest jazz albums (yes, jazz--as in real, old fashioned, clarinets and trumpets type jazz) just goes to prove how talented Jason Swinscoe's Cinematic Orchestra are.

Following up their impeccable debut, Motion, was always going to be tough, but here they've surpassed themselves. While the former was a fusion of sample-culture smoky, backroom jazz, Everyday is jazz pure and simple--old jazz for the nu-jazz generation. "Man With the Movie Camera", "Burnout" and "Flite" are near-perfect soundtrack jazz pieces--epic, shuffling, ever shifting--while "All That You Give" and "Evolution" feature the enchanting vocals of legendary soul singer Fontella Bass. Best of all, though, is the Roots Manuva collaboration "All Things to All Men"--proof that jazz and rap aren't as strange bedfellows as some may think. It's spellbinding stuff, and sure to be one of 2002's finer albums. --Matt Anniss