Scooter Chronicles

Count Basic - “Movin’ in the Right Direction”

Tracks:

1. Sweet Luis
2. This is Your Life
3. Joy and Pain
4. Movin’ in the Right Direction
5. So Far Away
6. On the Move
7. Got to Do
8. Love Your Life
9. Speechless
10. What’s Up?
11. Where Did Our Love Go

That famous former chain of record/tape/CD shops called Harmony House in the Detroit area gets credit for introducing me to this album. The branch on Woodward between 11 Mile and 12 Mile was at least two times bigger than all the other branches (it was three times the size of most). They were the first store in the area to implement listening stations where you could hear CD’s before purchasing. One day when I was in there, this was in one of those stations. After a couple of songs, I was hooked.

Peter Legat (guitars) and Kelli Sae (vocals).

Count Basic is best classified as acid jazz. Acid jazz being a mix of lounge jazz, soul, hip-hop, funk, disco, and smooth jazz. Now, all of these can apply with acid jazz, but not all are needed. It’s hard to describe. I know when I heard acid jazz, but putting into words is tough. Though as I have said before, I hate labels, but it’s easiest to describe them that way. Count Basic is hipper and funkier sounding smooth jazz, with a lot of vocals. The main conspirators of Count Basic is guitarist Peter Legat and singer Kelli Sae. The rest of the band is in a state of flux, though Dieter Kolbeck has been the longtime keyboardist.

This was the first jazz album of any kind that had vocals that I really liked. As much as there are some great jazz singers out there who not only defined vocal jazz ,but the genre of jazz in itself, I always preferred my jazz sans voices. To my ears though, this has a very nice blend of sounds that made it great. Modern, or smooth jazz with vocals have always come across to me as very cheesy, like bad pop songs. But the high hip factor here makes the vocals excellent. Plus the vocals are sometimes used sparingly. On “Joy and Pain”, they are rather sparse, and it is only two lines that are ever sung (”Joy, and pain / Like sunshine, and rain”). It is not too much, or too little. It’s just right.

And even with songs like “Speechless”, which had every opportunity to come across as a very sappy, very cheesy, pop ballad, it didn’t. Though the album closer “Where Did Our Love Go”, get close to being sappy and cheesy.

There are two instrumentals, too. “Sweet Luis” and “On the Move” are great guitar lead pieces. “On the Move” also features some great work on the vibes. “Sweet Luis” is a great album opener, with a lot of great brass and sax up front in the beginning. It’s a real eye-opener for a jazz album.

The hippest and catchiest tune is the title track. The brass arrangements are great, from the ballad like opening seconds, to the trumpet blasts between pauses in the chorus. The song may not get you movin’ in the RIGHT direction, but is certainly will get you movin’ in SOME direction.