Jazz (1988)
by Yves Saint Laurent

Genre: Fougère

Jazz is a surprisingly hard scent for me to nail down. The opening is nicely distinguished, with a bright, airy, and transparent blend of dry citrus and crisp, astringent herbaceous notes that’s only slightly marred by a short-lived burst of raw alcohol. Jazz remains decidedly dry and transparent, with an appealingly open texture and the persistent, pleasantly bracing bitter edge that comes from a well-blended artemisia note. The central movement emphasizes geranium, with very lightly applied spices lending some depth and contrast to the composition. Jazz’s mossy/woody drydown is very similar in weight and tone to Dior’s Eau Sauvage, but Jazz includes an ever-so-slightly sweet coumarin or tonka base note that tilts it away from chypre axis and firmly towards the fougère.

The entire scent is highly reserved, with an elusive quality that leaves it sometimes smelling faint, then suddenly present again, though rarely closer than the margins of perception. Paradoxically, Jazz offers substantial sillage, and seems to hang about the room well after its wearer has departed. I can’t describe Jazz as an exciting scent, but it is neither bland nor faceless. Instead it is cool, collected, and somehow detached. It smells clean, but not generically “sporty,” relaxed, yet never bumptious. In other words, the ideal “office scent.”

18 June, 2014

I love this fragrance...In my top five of all time. Great longevity...Good sillage. I really like it's versatility.

This is a beautiful fragrance that really surprised me. I guess nothing produced by Yves Saint Laurent should surprise me. Every fragrance that I have tried from this house is unique and of the highest quality...And every one of them is enjoyable in its own unique way. Thank you YSL for another winner.

11th January, 2013 (Last Edited: 09 May, 2013)

First impression to me is: here I am again in 1990 and it is not a worse thing. This scent is very well made, it is clean, fresh, spicy, little woody and yet actual. It is a shame YSL discontinued it.
Give it a try if you can find a bottle.

14 October, 2012

keep buying small 0'50 ml bottles wherever I find them, it's so good in its original formulation, the new one smells too dry for my taste, it almost seems another scent!

02 August, 2012

I het a lot of Lavender-flower and wood notes and some added spice. Finding it very conservative but wearable, it is unexciting to me. Average longevity of two hours.

15 July, 2012

YSL is my favorite house. They take chances on big combinations of notes, Jazz is no exception. However I'm on the fence with Jazz. I got the original formula and to me there is one note, maybe the geranium, that makes this one off. It feels masculine and everyday wearable. I want to try the reformulation and see if it is just the vintage juice I have that is questionable. I so want to love this frag.

14 March, 2012