Mike Romig - Whatever I Do

Hear The Track Here

November has been a good month for me to meet some new musicians, it's been a while since I've had such an influx of new sounds and I freely admit that it is good to get away from the same names for a while. Variety is the spice of life and all that. Jazz is the specific genre and that sits well with me too because I do like a lot of jazz and for someone to name both John Coltrane and Miles Davis as influences, it gave me something to look forward to after all the usual bleepery I subject me poor ears to. Mike is American and I'm not sure what exactly he's playing here, or whether he's playing everything, in which case he's got some considerable chops about him and he's obviously not that new to making music, even if he's new to me. Judging by the amount of plays and page views he is not doing to badly either...

In the scheme of things, doncha know? ;)

He is also another in a long line of artists lately who choose to sell their material rather than allow free downloads. Fair enough I say, although as a reviewer I am bound to treat the track in a slightly different - and hopefully more professional - way because bucks is bucks innit? Mind you, at .50c this would be a steal even it were brown and pointy which - I hasten to add - it is most assuredly not. Nope what you get for your money is a very smooth peice of music that - should you like cool, relaxed jazz. Having spent a lot of time hanging around Ronnie Scott's (one of the worlds premier jazz spots doncha know), I was exposed to a lot of the great jazz trios and quartets and this harks back to that period beautifully.

There again, this is money we are talking about, are there any cons?

Well, sad to say, there are - but only a completely geeky muttonhead like me would ever know. Certainly not yer average Mr & Ms because all they would see and hear was whether it was a good track or not. Musically, I'd say it was very efficient. The slight arrangement helps the inherent laziness of the track to really show what its made of. My only quibble is again with certain 'factory' sounds and the tendency for MIDI instruments to sound - how can I put this? - hokey. There are a couple of those culprits on this track and they definitely detract from my enjoyment of the peice. Had those sounds been better realised, this would have been hard to tell from the real thing - and that's a back handed compliment if I have ever heard one.

Smooth, relaxed jazz in the grand manner. Recommended.