Pitchfork

When El-P isn't busy running the Def Jux label, composing beats for an ill-fated Cannibal Ox collaboration, scoring independent New York graffiti films, and getting trashed with rapper Camu Tao in their Central Services side project, he's now vying for prominence as a credible jazz composer. Earlier this year, El-P made an unexpected leap into jazz-fusion territory, following DJ Spooky's footsteps by producing an installment of the Thirsty Ear label's Blue Series Continuum project. Matthew Shipp and other Thirsty Ear regulars worked with El-P on several loose compositions ("Sunrise Over Bklyn" was released as an EP last year), and the result is a compelling synthesis of the hip-hop producer's talents and the solid ensemble work of the Blue Series collective.

El-P's edits and subtle production work strengthens the ensemble's more indulgent moments. Shipp's piano accompaniment typically grounds the album in discernible structure, but on "Sunrise Over Bklyn", El-P's tactful synth highlights divert attention from the pianist's uncharacteristically clumsy performance. Shipp's vamping on that track seems particularly overwrought, and it overwhels Roy Campbell and Steve Swell's excellent horn arrangements. Shipp is also disruptive on the album's bookends, both titled "Please Leave (Yesterday)" (variations on Charles Aznavour's "Yesterday When I Was Young"), embracing grandiose lounge-y flourishes that offset the album's carefully layered production.

El-P sometimes seems reluctant to interfere with the ensemble's improvisation, which is a shame considering that the album's strongest tracks show him taking the reins from individual players. A live hip-hop beat serves as the foundation to the spacious fusion jam "Get Your Hand Off My Shoulder, Pig", and the dense production of "Intrigue in the House of India"-- ranging from bossanova piano and percussion to dark trip-hop layering-- displays the expansive potential of the project. "When the Moon Was Blue" features sampled vocals by El-P's father, Harry Keys, and finds a compelling balance between the traditional jazz influences embodied in Keys' gruff jazz delivery and his son's hip-hop collage editing style.

The album occasionally succumbs to meandering improvisation and crosses the line between exploratory improv and tedious jamming. "Get Modal" starts off on the wrong foot with a lengthy bit of arbitrary studio chatter and never exceeds its basic bass-driven fusion pattern. "Something Is Wrong" is a generally aimless mix of synths, samples, and the endless variation and repetition of an irritating piano theme.

This isn't entirely the fault of these usually reliable musicians. El-P's hip-hop production work has lagged recently, and Collecting the Kid, a scrapbook documenting his many recent production projects, underscores this. Included here are pieces from his soundtrack to the Adam Lough film Bomb the System, unused instrumental collaborations with Def Jux alumni Cannibal Ox, Mr. Lif, and Murs, and previously released material (including a track from High Water). Though assembling a few excellent tracks-- including "Constellation", a reworking of his contribution to the Charlie Bird remix album Bird Up, and "The Day After Yesterday"-- is convenient for El-P diehards, most of this material isn't essential.

The collection is notable primarily for the unreleased tracks from Central Services, El-P's collaboration with Camu Tao. "Jukie Skate Rock"-- with a relatively spare old school beat and squealing synths serving as a backdrop for a call-and-response chorus/Def Jux label plug-- is a throwback to the party DJs that soundtracked El-P's childhood. "Oxycontin" was conceived as an hour-long drug-induced odyssey; El-P has whittled it down to a lean five minutes. On these tracks, Camu Tao's disconcerting crooning over minimal, thundering percussion and sinister blanket of organ, guitar, and synth emphasizes the importance of distinctive vocals to complement El-P's instrumental arrangements.

High Water suggests a potentially bright future for El-P in hip-hop/jazz hybrid composition, but most of Collecting the Kid shows one of underground hip-hop's most consistently rewarding producers in a frustrating holding pattern. His material for Bomb the System is largely ambient and only intermittently interesting (the most memorable thing about "Telemundo" is the over-acting hinted at in the sampled film clips), frequently coming across as lighter, stripped-down versions of the kind of menacing soundscapes that originally brought El-P to such a high level of underground acclaim. Similarly, Collecting the Kid plays like an afterthought; the album is essentially a reminder that El-P's jazz detour is only a temporary diversion from the music that shaped Def Jux.