Most of those half-bred, jazz-hop hybrids offered to the musically daring are to be taken with a grain of patience. The formidable attempts have been "nice tries" at best, with little consideration for either the tradition of jazz or the on-the-fly creativity of hip hop. Russell Gunn appears to one of the few musicians with enough talent and imagination to connect the musical dots and remove the doubts about the amalgamation of hip-hop and jazz, a form Gunn conceptualized as a kid in St. Louis. Rather than abandoning the music he loved, he simply applied its energy, spirit and fiercely proud intellectual rage to the jazz idiom, creating a synthesis that is truly contemporary and singular. With his latest HighNote Release, "Love Stories," Russell harkens back to his "Love Requiem" album, a high concept suite about romantic love and loss and re-examines the subject in the most contemporary of terms. With tenor sax giant KIRK WHALUM, and ORRIN EVANS on keyboards, Russell Gunn takes jazz to the very precipice and begins the task of building the connective bridges to other musics of today.

Russell Gunn, tpt, flhrn & effects; Kirk Whalum, ts; Brian Hodges, as; Orrin Evans, keys; Carlos Henderson, bs; Montez Coleman, dms; Heidi Martin, vo; Kahlil Kwame Bell, perc.

Tracks: Love Requiem; All You Need Is Love; Because I Love You (Stalker Song); I'm in Love With a Stripper; Bitch, You Don't Love Me; Love Me in a Special Way; Love For Sale; Ghandi's Love; He Loves Me; The Stalker Song - Alternate Ending

 Love Requiem

 Love Me in a Special Way

 Ghandi's Love

 He Loves Me