Domi & JD Beck – Not Tight
Weekly Review:
French keyboard player Domi Louna and American drummer J.D. Beck have collaborated with
Thundercat, Earl Sweatshirt, Anderson.Paak, Ariana Grande and more since meeting in 2018. Not Tight
is the duo’s hotly anticipated debut album.
The album may be titled Not Tight, but Domi and Beck are a ridiculously in-synch unit. Beck’s drum
patterns skitter and thump like an insanely sped-up Questlove sample. Domi’s keyboards frequently
apply a wash of color reminiscent of the best 1970s fusion pieces. Along the way, the pair get boosts
from several high-profile guest spots.
Herbie Hancock hops on the vocoder for “Smooth,” while Busta Rhymes, Snoop Dogg and Anderson
.paak all share “Pilot” (which goes a long way in making Not Tight one of the few jazz albums with a
parental advisory sticker). The pair of tracks with Thundercat would be equally at home on one of his
albums. Kurt Rosenwinkel unleashes spidery guitar licks across the aptly titled “Whoa.”
The result is a 45-minute mashup of hip hop, fusion, video game music and R&B that are perfectly
designed for today’s ADD listening environment, but fly past too quickly to unpack over the course of
the record.
At just 21 and 19, respectively, Domi and Beck are already being hailed as the new faces of jazz. They
may well grow into that, but in the meantime it’s fun – if pleasingly disorienting – to hitch a ride on
wherever they want to go. -Joel Francis
