Well I’d say it was a close call as all three previous 12” singles have been strong. Yukihiro Fukutomi’s two EPs and Jazztronik’s ‘Faro’ remixes were all very good. However, there’s a wealth of talent assembled on ‘In The Morning’ to give it that extra touch.

Not only can Vikter Duplaix sing and DJ, he’s written the lyrics for ‘In The Morning’ — and pleasantly life affirming they are. For those that still hanker for the summer, this is your feel good sing-a-long. This is on a par with those great Vikter sex-drenched funk vocals of the likes of ‘Happiness’, ‘That Night’, ‘Sensuality’ and ‘Manhood’. So does anyone know what Vikter is up to? See links below, his web site looks a little unloved as ‘coming soon’ could mean ‘abandoned’. Let’s hope not.

The instrumental version shows off the Orto sound. Orto are Faze Action (aka brothers, Simon and Robin Lee) and Simon has added percussion and congas whilst Robin has provided extra keyboard and string action. Simon and Robin are both established musicians and remixers, Robin is particularly well placed to collaborate with Pantone as 10 years ago he was teaching English in Osaka.

“Reinventing themselves with a new more UK production sound,” means a mellow Bugz In The Attic meets 4-Hero in a jazz-funky way. It works for me as the extra percussion and strings are particularly tight. Not only that, you wouldn’t buy a 12” on the strength of the ‘beats’ track alone but ‘Orto Beats’ keeps the swirly synthness and the percussion that DJ types will enjoy.

The other track on the b-side, is a remix by fellow Pantone, Jazztronik. This includes Jazztronik’s trademark piano sound with acoustic guitar by Yoshito Tanaka. Yohsito co-wrote ‘In The Morning’ with Jafrosax, Jazztronik and Vikter. The sax is to the fore on this mix and there’s additional percussion by Takashi Nakazato. We’ve been looking forward to Jazztronik’s first live tour of Europe for some time now and it seems to be coming together. Keep your diary free for the Jazz Café on 19th November.

When you listen to the Jazztronik mix, you’ll realise that the Orto mixes have deleted the saxophone solo. Now that’s a brave move for a band called Jafrosax, even if they are thousands of miles away in Japan. Yukihiro Fukutomi’s CD Equality included Jafrosax’s Kazuki Katsuta on sax so if you like that album, you’ll enjoy the Jazztronik mix.

Read the full interview with Gav Smith on Fly.

Reviewed: Jafrosax – ‘In The Morning’ (Pantone) Cat. No. PAN12004 Release date: September 2005.
Tracklisting:
A1. In The Morning (Orto Remix)
A2. In The Morning (Orto Instrumental)
B1. In The Morning (Jazztronik Re:Edit)
B2. In The Morning (Orto Beats)

Links:
Pantone Music www.pantonemusic.com
Jazz Café www.jazzcafe.co.uk
Vikter Duplaix www.vikterduplaix.com
Faze Action www.fazeaction.com