Dinner Party - Dinner Party

REVIEWED: September 24, 2022

The jazz powerhouse Dinner Party released their first project in 2020. Although their discography is small, they have made a splash. I would describe this album as being very groovy all around. At this point in my life, I like jazz music a lot. My mom is the one who introduced me to the genre. Usually, a really short project is a con for me–especially if I enjoyed it because it leaves me wanting more. However, this project really felt like a treat. It was just short enough to keep me engaged for every song, but it wasn’t so short that I felt like I was running out of material to listen to. Despite this, I still wanted more. The remedy to this was a sequel album being released that featured different artists on the same instrumentals, and fittingly, this secondary project was titled Dinner Party: Dessert. As someone who has a very creative mind that needs to be stimulated, I used to find that instrumental jazz music all sounded the same, but as I listened more, I have come to understand that there are very distinct sounds. Nonetheless, if you are someone who does not enjoy instrumental music, regardless of the minimal vocals involved, that may put you off of this album. I feel like there is a lot of jazz music without vocals, and sometimes when you are just getting into a genre, this can be jarring to listen to. I found this project to be the perfect gateway music for anyone who is trying to get into jazz. This is because it doesn’t feel oddly silent–the songs are still catchy because there are words there. Personally, as I continued listening to jazz, I found that oddly enough, even when there are no vocals, songs are still able to be catchy. I will find myself humming the instrumentals. In terms of outliers, there are no strikingly bad songs here, I generally found myself enjoying all of them. The project in its entirety is very relaxing. Sometimes I put my headphones on, play this album, and scroll through Pinterest; it serves as the perfect daydreaming soundtrack. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this album, and would subsequently recommend it to anyone who is interested in delving into the world/realm of jazz, or who just needs some new music. Thank you for reading, I'll see you next week!