Jon Hassell & Bluescreen ‎– Dressing For Pleasure (1994)

Style: Breakbeat, Future Jazz, Trip Hop
Format: CD
Label: Warner Bros. Records

Tracklist:
01.  G-Spot
02.  Villa Narco
03.  Kolo X
04.  Personals
05.  Club Zombie
06.  Zeitgeist
07.  Steppin' Thru Time
08.  Destination: Bakiff
09.  Sex Goddess
10.  Buzzworld
11.  The Gods, They Must Be Crazy
12.  Mati
13.  Blue Night

Credits:
Bass – Pete Scaturro
Drums, Percussion – Brain
Guitar – Joe Gore)
Keyboards – Jon Hassell
Sampler, Programmed By – Blk Lion)
Sampler, Synthesizer – Jamie Muhoberac
Trumpet – Jon Hassell
Written-By – Jon Hassell
Producer – Jon Hassell, Pete Scaturro

Two of the most memorable albums from the trip-hop and acid jazz era are by cornettist Graham Haynes (Transition) and trumpeter Ben Neill (Goldbug. Dressing for Pleasure preceeded them both. Usually, an adjective like "suave" doesn't sit easily on an ethnomusicologist whose knack for directness is grounded by his sense of beauty; neither does a label like "acid jazz." But this is Hassell's only album to fit its musical moment, following his appearance on the soundtrack of the crime film Trespass. The feel of a fully committed band is especially amazing -- Hassell and drummer Brain work with an army of bassists (six, including Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers) and enough programmers (three) to field a dot com startup on a coffee break. Hassell's horn flits through a sexy blend of trip-hop's hard drum programs topped with soft, impassive electronic textures like a bird circling over a crowded intersection. Woodwind player Kenny Garrett and guitarist Gregg Arreguin provide thematic voices, too, but melody is rarely enough in this genre. As always, the real fun lies in how these instruments are broken up by the programmers, led by Jamie Muhoberec, a Hassell associate on Trespass and Fascinoma. Their work helps a trumpet melody, suave enough for Herb Alpert, sound like that artist playing through the blades of an electric fan. The sample of Duke Ellington's "Bakliff," laminated into "Destination: Bakliff"'s rhythms, prefigures the jazz covers on Fascinoma. And when that horn moans from between a camera shutter and Leslie Winn's coo-oohing in the sultry "Sex Goddess." Dressing for Pleasure is all that -- an ethnomusicologist suavely dipping into a trip-hop trust fund. Old Morcheeba fans should duck into pawn shops to hunt for a copy. 

John Young / AllMusic