The song title Jazz Is Dead from the album Love Quantum is not a reference to the album series of the same name by
Adrian Younge and
Ali Shaheed Muhammad. Trumpeter Theo Croker sincerely believes that jazz is a hollowed-out designation for the broad genre that is still called that. On Love Quantum, too, he gratefully draws on the entire legacy of black American music, with hip-hop, spoken word, R&B
… and neo-soul framed by whimsical contemporary, er, jazz. Love Quantum is themed around the many facets of love, interpreted by such sounding names as Jill Scott, Jamila Woods and Wyclef Jean. Carnal love also receives attention in the instrumental Cosmic Intercourse, framed by a horny twerk rhythm. Whereas on earlier albums Croker mostly drew attention to the American discrimination issue, Love Quantum has a high feel-good content, with, for example, Wyclef Jean's naughty rap in She's Bad. Yet Croker's music, in which his trumpet playing plays only a marginal role and electronics dominate, remains too whimsical, thoughtful and radio-unfriendly to really connect with pop music. But then again, pop is just a stuffy pigeonhole (MR).more
