Editorial Reviews

Smooth jazz label Hidden Beach hit upon a seemingly unlikely formula with its now-trademarked Unwrapped series of various-artists albums. Taking inspiration from the jazz tradition of using pop hits as the platforms for jazz performances, the label turned to the rap/hip-hop world and re-created the rhythm tracks from recent rap hits, then added jazz soloing over the top instead of the raps. Some might feel that this "music minus one" concept is akin to jazz karaoke, but it was successful enough to spawn four volumes. For volume "5.0, Hidden Beach has focused on Atlanta-based Southern rap and brought in as a collaborator the Collipark production team, which itself was copying the formula on its "Crunk Jazz Café." Collipark provides the re-creations of the instrumental tracks under rap hits by the likes of Young Jeezy, Unk, Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz, Hurricane Chris, and others, and the jazz solos are played by such contemporary jazz and R&B stalwarts as Jeff Lorber, Mike Phillips, and Fred Wesley. The result sounds like a contemporary jazz album; it turns out that those rhythm tracks aren't really all that different from what contemporary jazz musicians tend to cook up by themselves. Unwrapped thus remains more of a marketing idea than a distinct musical one, but this is another in an aurally pleasurable series. William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide

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