Jazz (1988)
by Yves Saint Laurent

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-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.” Why the people at Yves St. Laurent thought they needed YSL Homme with this already in their stable is beyond me.

an interesting fragrance, masculine and well built. it was impossible though to find it a way to place it somewhere or on someone, for me. the opening is quite floral and woody and the drydown is deliciously manly and spicy.
i guess it's the wise mixture that gives this fragrance its appeal but again it's very difficult to build on it a set of memories or stories.
it's like is there, it's good, it screams it's appeal and that's it.

then we go to the point of the drydown. the leather is soft, the sandalwood is loud but assertive. it's very faint but it lasts, although losing all the impact of the opening and the middle tones. it's like a music, grandiose at the beginning and then slowly fading away with pleasant and simple notes in the air.
If I were a real man, I would like to smell like this, at the end of the day. I would like the woods to be my companion when someone kiss me on the neck and being so close to the perfume they can smell it finally.
it's like being there not for the conquest, but for the conquered. like that last trace of scent it's the final reward before going where no perfumes can stand to stay. in the warmth of a tight embrace.

I absolutely loved this at first, but after a while I began to get the salty note mixed with some kind of balsam the whole time... As Trebor noted: it smells like a fish and chips wrapper. I couldn't get this out of my head, and I began to hate the fragrance. I gave my bottle to a friend and it absolutely doesn't smell like salt and vinegar on him. Instead, I got cool woods, resinous balsams and a nice variety of spiced flowers. The nutmeg is also very well done in this.

It's a nice and restrained floral woody scent, quite French smelling and on the whole, very classy. I can't bear down too heavy with the marks on this, as I really like it on paper and others and I think it's very well put together, I just can't pull it off on myself. Works much better on cooler days/evenings. I like the bottle and the atomiser is very good, if a little cheap looking (black plastic on clear and frosted glass? Must try harder, YSL. It's not 1983 anymore). Longevity is great at around 10 hours, and it has a nice understated projection which stays close, but is easy to notice by companions. Good for a night out for a meal or theatre etc.

Haha I'll give this a thumbs up in the name of Nostalgia!!

Every Joe Bloggs was wearing Jazz in the late ‘80s but I always thought it smelt like discarded fish and chip wrapping paper (with oil, salt and vinegar notes fighting amongst each other to get noticed). Although it smelt strangely intriguing, during my childhood years, it would probably irritate the hell out of me now.

[Original submission date: 30 October 2006]

One of the least mentioned classics of ysl. Its bitter-sweet woodsy notes are very easy and pleasing to the nose. Unlike experiences with m7 and kouros, this was quite an instant satisfaction. Despite it not being as sophisticated as m7, kouros or rive gauche, i certainly enjoy this. there is a mineral herbal feel to it. easy not to love but hard to hate. Deserves more mention