‘Jaz’s Blues (Side A)’ by Jaz Valentino

Jaz Valentino has been building a reputation in recent years for seamlessly blending sensibilities of the classic and modern – he draws from the past greats of smooth and inviting R&B music whilst bringing a frantic contemporary hip-hop energy to create tunes that respect the past whilst looking forward to the future.

Two years after his last project, he’s back with another collection of eight songs that represent the next step in his career, ‘Jaz’s Blues (Side A)’, continuing to explore the line between rap and R&B in enlightening and surprising ways.

The collection often displays a deeply vulnerable and personal side to Valentino’s music, such as in the tracks which bracket the album, “Farmers Land” and “Life Waters”, which pay tribute to family members who have meant so much to him across multiple generations, and express the grief of having lost its father. Elsewhere, the collection turns its attention to his chosen family of friends, illustrating the complexity and variedness of bonds shared among people.

On the album, he states, “‘Jaz’s Blues (Side A)’ is me baring my soul in the music about the last three years of my life and what I’ve been going through. Flowers come out of the growth process, but no one talks about the pain the bud or seedling go through in the process, and this is what the album represents. I wrote these songs through the pandemic, through finding my feet in the music industry, through countless rejections and breakups. Recorded between Phoenix, Atlanta and LA, this album is me venting my pain in its rawest form, but it is also a helping hand and motivation for those that are going through depression, illness, financial loss, loss of a loved one – no matter what shade of the blues. I guarantee it’s not foreign to me! I know how it feels to be the ‘E.T’ in the room and you do too! Don’t let anyone warp your magic into a mistake! Claim your power and claim your blues! Let’s turn the blues into greens and golds!”