CD Review

Jason Mraz would like to be known as Mr.Wordplay, but on his latest album he’s thrown with the tag Mr. A-Z. After all, if you mix a little Eminem and Dave Matthews and sprinkle in a little Michael Jackson, you might have Jason Mraz, with his hip-hop meets singer-songwriter pop. On his second album Mr. A-Z, he’s enlisted producer Steve Lillywhite (U2, Dave Matthews Band, Peter Gabriel) to ad a touch of maturity to Mraz’s bag of tricks.

Where Mraz made a significant dent into the mainstream with his 2003 debut Waiting For My Rocket to Come and the single "Remedy," Mr. A-Z stays in familiar top 40 radio format to keep Mraz the crown wearer of the "fa, la, las." On the first single, the autobiographical "Wordplay," Mraz cuts more words per second than his prior hit "Remedy" with his scant delivery. "Geek In The Pink" finds Mraz doing his best Justin Timberlake in the dance flavored number while rapper Bushwalla lays down some rhymes and ?estlove from The Roots lays the beats. The guests keep comin’ as Rachael Yamagata lends vocals to the uptempo cut "Did You Get My Message?" and Santana drummer Karl Perazzo ads percussion duties to a majority of the album, providing a little shake and bake amidst Mr. A-Z’s pop sheen. Mraz even ads a Latin flair to his vocals in "Bella Luna," while"O. Lover" moves into Ricky Martin flavored boy band land. Although Mraz has matured with Mr. A-Z, his music still has some growing up to do. Hopefully we can soon toss toss away the images of Mraz as another sideways wearing truck hat pop artist for the mall generation.