Jay Dee is certainly no stranger to instrumental based endeavors.  After all, his last opus, Welcome To Detroit, not only ushered in BBE’s influential Beat Generation series, but also provided Dilla with the ultimate outlet to exhibit his diversity behind the boards.  While most of us are eagerly anticipating his solo-debut, or his upcoming EP on Groove Attack, Jay Dilla tides us over by sliding us something from the vaults.  With the eight-track EP, Unreleased Vol. 1, Jay’s ability to interchange styles is once again highlighted as it ties together most of the musical phases of his development—from his more minimal Ummah/Tribe Called Quest origins to the brawny funk orientated tracks he has been catering his sound to as of late. 

While there’s a reason why most unreleased material remains unheard, the first installment of Dilla’s vaulted surplus is hardly of the throwaway variety.  With the exception of the elastic “Flyyyy” (check out how Jay deftly manipulates the SP-1200 to stretch and elongate one chord of a vocal sample for a full three-minutes) the first half merely plods along, as minimal numbers “Busta” and “L.L” fail to generate the requisite headnod.  However, Jay hits his stride on the second half of the disc, as the hazy “Tomita” rides a simmering organ sample and the muddy drums and organic rush of “Vibeout” is eerily reminiscent of Dilla’s work with ATCQ.    Likewise, the vibrant “Substitute” and “Guitar” where Jay employs simple guitar strums and makes them seemingly flourish and diminish in the same breath sound as if they were originally slated for inclusion on Slum Village’s Fantastic Vol.2. 

While Unreleased Vol.1 eschews the artsy, eccentric flair that many instrumentalists favor, this assortment of smoky grooves exudes a subtle zone out flavor—just the way the D likes it.