Verve Remixed

1	Spanish Grease / Willie Bobo Dorfmeister Con Madrid de Los Austrias Muga Reserv 7:26
2	How Long Has This Been Going On? / Carmen McRae MJ Cole Remix 4:57
3	Who Needs Forever? / Astrud Gilberto Thievery Corporation Remix 4:13
4	Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby? / Dinah Washington Rae & Christian Remix 4:58
5	Feeling Good / Nina Simone Joe Clausell Remix 6:04
6	Return to Paradise / Shirley Horn Mark de Clive-Lowe Remix 5:52
7	Wait Till You See Him / Ella Fitzgerald De-Phazz Remix 3:52
8	Don't Explain / Billie Holiday dZihan & Kamien Remix 4:50
9	See-Line Woman / Nina Simone Masters at Work Remix 10:05
10	Summertime / Sarah Vaughan UFO Remix 6:50
11	Strange Fruit / Billie Holiday Tricky Remix 3:19
12	Hare Krishna / Tony Scott King Britt Funke Mix 6:57

Barnes & Noble

The progressive sounds of down-tempo music have long claimed a loungey kinship with the reachin' sounds of jazz, even if only through extensive sampling. Now jazz stalwart Verve Records has given a dozen dance music denizens the chance to prove their mettle with remixes of original jazz classics. The source material they've selected comes largely from Verve's top ladies of song -- Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, and Nina Simone among them -- and the results are suitably classy. Thievery Corporation's reworking of Astrud Gilberto's "Who Needs Forever?" is smooth as silk, a hip-swaying bass line snaking its way through a breezy mesh of beats, Latin guitar leads, and Gilberto's airy coos. Elsewhere, British duo Rae & Christian punch up Dinah Washington's sassy "Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby?" and Dorfmeister (of Viennese duo Kruder & Dorfmeister) works out any kinks in the grooves of Willie Bobo's sultry Latin workout "Spanish Grease." Both Tricky ("Strange Fruit") and Vienna's Dzihan & Kamien ("Don't Explain") fall under Billie Holiday's spell, the former twisting her signature tune into spooky, dissociated strains of sound in which guitar feedback butts heads with a bright horn section, the latter pair settling for a more beat-friendly, laid-back mood. Whichever path these knob-twiddlers take, the final destination is a smoky after-hours club where the neither the grooves nor the ice ever run out. Lydia Vanderloo

All Music Guide

More than ten years on from the first whisperings of a dance revolution, there are scores of solid producers in the scene, figures with all the talent, historical knowledge, and judgment necessary to rework most any tracks from the Verve archive. Surprisingly, Verve Remixed strays from the label's crossover-heavy '60s and '70s material (the records usually name-checked by dance producers), preferring instead to tackle serious classics from the canon of vocal jazz, focusing especially on female vocalists: Billie Holiday (two songs), Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Dinah Washington, Nina Simone, Carmen McRae, and Shirley Horn. As is nearly always the case with tributes or remix albums, the results are mixed; several productions triumph in either equalling or enhancing the intent of the original, but too often a complex arrangement of a pop standard is trampled by insistence on a constant groove, whether it's of downtempo or more clubby house origin. British garage producer MJ Cole provides a few good vibes underneath Carmen McRae's "How Long Has This Been Going On?," but, in so doing, utterly destroys the pace and rhythm of the original. dZihan & Kamien are given the unenviable task of redoing Billie Holiday's "Don't Explain," and seem utterly unable to find a middle ground between all or nothing (of course, there isn't much of a middle ground on most dancefloors). The most intriguing collaboration on paper, a take on Holiday's classic "Strange Fruit" by nightmarish trip-hop star Tricky, suffers from the same strange quality: it's a great production, but shows little understanding of the arranging skills necessary to frame a great singer. The best track here, Richard Dorfmeister's grooving house take on Willie Bobo's "Spanish Grease," proves the point perfectly; the original was a laid-back jam (not a standard), and the remix coaxes a superb house production out of it. Too many other contributions here are unable or unwilling to spend the hours necessary to craft traditional pop. John Bush

Entertainment Weekly

Ella, Sarah, Astrud, et al. show how much DJ-jazz vocal fusion can offer