| Jazz |
Summary: A refined jazz album blending political insight, inventive arrangements, and expressive vocals.
In ‘Crazy World,’ Al and Stacey Schulman Reimagine Jazz for an Unstable Era.
As I often argue, jazz has always been rooted in a matrix of political expression, no less than theater, the visual arts, or even ballet. Crazy World by Al Schulman and Stacey Schulman, performing as AS IS, stands as a compelling contemporary example. Even the album’s title captures, with understated precision, a world shaped by political unease, media saturation, and a lingering sense of social fragmentation.
What emerges from the partnership between these two artists is something quietly magnetic. They balance playfulness with critique, levity with a subtle but persistent sense of protest. Beneath the album’s polish lies an engagement with themes of disconnection, resilience, and the search for meaning in a noisy cultural landscape.
The record moves fluidly between jazz standards, original compositions, and modern reinterpretations. Al Schulman’s guitar work, at once nimble, restrained, and stylistically expansive, anchors the project, while Stacey Schulman’s expressive, narrative-driven vocals give it emotional contour. Around them, a cohort of accomplished musicians adds depth and texture, with particularly notable contributions from Gil Goldstein on accordion and McKinney’s carefully sculpted string arrangements, which lend the album a cinematic breadth.
The album closes on a striking note with Crazy World, a piece by Henry Mancini. Here, Goldstein’s accordion weaves through lush orchestration, creating a sense of resolution that resists despair. Instead, the track offers something more measured, a reflective calm, as if taking stock of the chaos rather than succumbing to it.
At moments, the listener may hear echoes of The Manhattan Transfer, though filtered through a distinctly contemporary sensibility. Genre boundaries, whether jazz, hip-hop, or beyond, feel secondary. The duo, supported by a finely attuned ensemble, moves freely across styles, delivering thoughtful lyricism alongside carefully constructed musical passages.
Even familiar material is transformed. Better Than Anything, for instance, becomes a case study in reinvention. The arrangement preserves the song’s core identity while reshaping its emotional trajectory, illustrating the duo’s broader artistic philosophy. Partners both onstage and off, the Schulmans have built their reputation on such reinterpretations, approaches that respect tradition while rendering it unmistakably personal.
Through AS IS, they guide listeners on an intimate journey across the terrain of overlooked or underappreciated songs, revived here with renewed soul and swing. The result is accessible yet musically sophisticated, polished without feeling inert.
The album’s true strength lies in the palpable interplay between its two central voices. There is a coherence to every musical decision, a sense that nothing is incidental. Stacey Schulman’s vocal phrasing adapts seamlessly to each composition’s emotional core, while the instrumental arrangements are given equal narrative weight. This is not a voice-forward record in the conventional sense; instead, it operates on a principle of balance. Instrumental passages are as detailed and expressive as the vocal lines, and the arrangements, layered, precise, and often surprising, reward close listening.
If there is a minor reservation, it is that the album’s meticulous polish occasionally edges toward restraint, smoothing over moments where a touch more spontaneity might have deepened its impact. Yet this same precision also underlines its clarity of intent.
So what role does nostalgia play here? Very little. This is not an exercise in looking back, but in re-engaging with the past as living material. The driving force is exploration, the desire to reinterpret, to connect, to create meaning in the present. The technical command on display is considerable, but it never feels detached. Instead, it supports a work that is deeply human, socially aware, and sonically refined, aided by particularly careful recording and mixing.
Stacey Schulman, a native of the New York region, has demonstrated the dynamic range of her voice since childhood, with performances spanning radio, television, and film soundtracks. That early versatility continues to inform her work here, where control and expressiveness remain in constant dialogue.
Ultimately, this is an album that speaks to its moment, our moment. It invites both analysis and immersion, offering lyrical depth alongside musical immediacy. In a fractured cultural landscape, Crazy World does not attempt to resolve the chaos it reflects. It offers something rarer: a sense of coherence within it.
Thierry De Clemensat
Member at Jazz Journalists Association
USA correspondent for Paris-Move and ABS magazine
Editor in chief – Bayou Blue Radio, Bayou Blue News
PARIS-MOVE, April 10th 2026
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Musicians :
Al Schulman — guitars
Stacey Schulman — vocals
Jeff “Tain” Watts — drums
Corcoran Holt — bass
Kokayi – freestyle (1)
Christylez Bacon — beatbox (1)
Dante Pope — background vocals (1, 6)
Gil Goldstein — accordion (11)
Mary Loftus — violin (11)
Blake Epsy — violin (11)
David Yang — viola (11)
Dr. Shannon Merlino — viola (11)
Branson Yeast — cello (11)
Ezgi Yargici — cello (11)
Track Listing :
- From This Very Moment On (9:07) Radio Edit 5:19
- Better Than Anything (4:39)
- Children’s Games (2:05)
- PrAilude (1:58)
- Double Rainbow (5:46)
- A House is Not a Home (7:10)
- The Moon’s a Harsh Mistress (4:20)
- Tiny Dancer (4:32)
- As Falls Westphal (2:59)
- From This Very Moment On (reprise) (3:45)
- Crazy World (5:10)
Produced by James McKinney