This came out in 2002 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
US3 may have been the first hip-hop act to incorporate classic jazz samples into modern grooves, but they sure aren’t the last word on the subject.
The trendlet continues with Verve Remixed, an above-average collection that merges timeless, old-school grooves with of-the-moment, new-world producers. Dorfmeister scratches up Willie Bobo’s gritty Spanish Grease, Thievery Corporation buff Astrud Gilberto’s Who Needs Forever into a blurry dreamscape, Rae & Christian weld a snappy fatback beat to Dinah Washington’s Is You Is or Is You Ain’t My Baby?, UFO abduct Sarah Vaughan’s Summertime and mutate it into a syncopated, click-clacky trip-hop, and — perhaps most memorably — Tricky revamps Billie Holiday’s Strange Fruit into a humid ball of swampy, buzzing ominousness. It’s all but guaranteed to turn a hip-hop fan into a jazz buff — and vice versa. For traditionalists, there’s also Verve Unmixed, which contains all the original tracks in the same order. I suggest getting the pair so you can hear the both sides of the story.
