Jazz

It’s a very spicy and bracing experience. It’s quite similar to Safari, but better, with slightly less leather and faint tobacco notes.

For everything CedarburgTim said, I always compared it to Tsar and preferred Tsar. This Jazz always started with a dissonant note that didn't resolve until it faded several hours later. A friend of mine had exactly the opposite opinion, so there you go.

I purchased the newer cube shaped bottle a few years ago. I had the original bottle back in 1990 and loved it, as did everyone around me. This new version feels slightly different to the original in the opening, maybe due to reformulation. However, the drydown delivers that unmistakable scent of YSL Jazz. To the present generation, Jazz probably smells outdated and old school, but 36 years ago this stuff was fire!🔥🔥

عطر جاز من ايف سان لوران هو مثال لما كانت عليه عطور الديزاينير في الماضي: مبدعة و متجددة و ذات تركيبة معقدة و نقية جاز هو أحد آخر عطور الفوجير قبل بدأ موجة العطور البحرية مع كوول واتر و بدون الاخير ربما لسيطر هذا العطر على سوق العطور الرجالية طوال التسعينيات، و يكفي أنه الهم تحفا عطرية على نهجه منها تسار من فان كليف، باشا من كارتييه و سفاري من رالف لورين فوجير مثالي و منعش، خفيف لا تمل منه و في نفس الوقت معقد و عميق و ممزوج بحرفية فلا تستشعر نوتة تطغى لوحدها على الرغم من تنوع نوتات العطر العطر يرتكز على اللافندر ككل عطور الفوجير و هنا يساعده في الافتاح العديد من النوتات العطرية مثل جوزة الطيب و الكسبرة مع قلب زهري من الجيرانيوم و قاعدة عشبية من طحلب البلوط بلمسة سويتية من التبغ و الجلود يبدع في نهار الربيع و لكنه صالح لجميع الأوقات و المناسبات طالما الجو معتدل الأداء متميز يمتد ل 12 ساعة و فوحان ملحوظ خلال أول 3-4 ساعات يظل أحد مفضلاتي العطرية على الرغم من انقطاعه و صعوبة الحصول عليه حاليا التقييم 4.85/5

7/10 Way overpriced!

The personification of "meh." This one just never resonated with me, and it came out when I was 20. I had the original black and white plastic bottle--that's how long ago it was that I owned this, and my scent memory of it is intact. It isn't offensive, but something about it is just too sharp and not balanced for me. It may be the tonka bean throwing everything off, or perhaps too many sharp herbals thrown together in the wrong proportions--lavender, coriander, basil, cinnamon, cardamom, anise nutmeg. Then add four floral notes, a platitude of musky notes, a sharp citrus that is very potent, and then warm notes like amber and oak moss. There is just so much going on here, that it ends up being a perfumer's version of word salad. It's a peppery, loud, citrus blend. I don't hate it, and I don't seek it out.

Like many others this one triggers some youthful memories. This was the Holy Grail of perfumes back in the 80's. Maybe it smelt soooooo good as it had no competition. The alternatives were BRUT, Old Spice and some others they were terrible. Aramis was not bad. About a year ago I was in John Lewis and decided to test Jazz to trigger some old memories, but that did not happen, either the scent is so old school and just is not appealing any more or the blend has been completed reformulated into something else. It smelt terrible.

A long time ago, when perceptions about men wearing perfume was changing, a little itty bitty ditty came out called Jazz. At that time, nobody really knew who or what Yves Saint Laurent was. But, many tidy blokes parted with their hard-earned beer tokens, to add this perfume to their bathroom shelf. Some of them were pestered to do so by their wives, and some of them did so to try and find a wife. For many, it was their very first incursion into the world of perfumery. Stereotypes were getting smashed and a little-known designer called Calvin Klein was working on some dastardly things, that would forever change the world of perfumery. But Jazz arrived before all of that. For a long time, it was the daddy. The dizzy height of emerging metrosexualism. The way for the man about town to smell, with his finger firmly on the pulse of societal interactions. It was an icon. To me, it still is. For those reasons, it demands some respect. But, unfortunately, it now hangs around like a tired old pensioner. It doesn't know what it's doing, or why it is still alive, but it has memories of the good times, when a nod and a wink got you out of any sort of sexual trouble and the blokes were "proper". The world has moved on though; perfume for men makes up a fucking large percent of the perfume market. It has equality with perfume for women. In 1988, that did not seem likely to happen at all. The "good old days" have gone. The train has left the station, never to return. I will forever smell Jazz with nothing but love, for services to men's perfumery. 5/10. Each point is a sweet kiss, but due to the current world of perfumery on offer for the tails, I cannot go above 5.

Had this in the late 80’s , first real love. The modern clear cube bottle does a decent job, not as nuclear as the original but otherwise pretty much the same. Dua blues is the best clone, bang on original & just as strong, forget any others, nothing else comes near.

This makes me wonder- Should i buy new perfumes, Or should i just finf and buy vintage?! As the vintage are much much much much Better. In fact you cannot even compare!

Yeah, well, during a short time frame, around my 16, loved this fragrance as it is bold. Then came back to slightly more subtle scents, little less in your face. But still find it's a fragrance I did find pretty appealing then in the '90s.

Fresh! Manly! Classic! Perfection in a bottle! Discontinued.....

Review corresponding to the "Memphis" bottle, piano key, 1992 batch: I'm a fan of the La Collection version, which I knew before the vintage, and I already consider it challenging. The point is that when I got to know Jazz Vintage and doing a test side by side between the two, it's amazing how different they are. In terms of olfactory memory, if the person knows Jazz Vintage but has not sprayed it for a long time, they will flow very similar, which was my case. I had memories of Jazz somehow in my head, I was born in the 90s, so this perfume always sounded familiar to me, probably because I felt it in the projection when someone used it. It's amazing how, in the side-by-side test between the two, La Collection is clean near the vintage; for me, that's not bad. In terms of usability, I prefer, with tranquility, the Jazz La Collection, which develops in a very balanced tempered and spicy green chord, a little fougére somehow, but I feel more spices in a green/herbal aura. I tried to use the vintage and I couldn't, but I love to appreciate it for the art, that spray on the back after a day of work, after the shower, and following its evolution while watching TV or listening to good music. The smell in the Vintage projection refers to mold and "smell of storage" when used in "fulltest", it is not pleasant for me. The magic happens when you change the disc and use it for art; a spray on the back, and it already reveals itself taking care of the environment in a herbal and green chord, but with a lot of spice and pepper, with flowers around, and at this stage, on my nose, it is too pleasant, because it takes me to the classic barbershop somehow, in a classic male chord. Incredibly it changes completely in drying, when this smell of mold and stored dominates, with the chord of the opening still resisting, but in the background; on the back, it doesn't sound unpleasant to me, it's even good to feel, because I get some sweeter tone in the background, almost subjective, which I would risk saying that it's jasmine, a note that usually goes down very well in my nostrils. It rounds this moldy tone and stored that, when sprayed a little, is controlled by the florals and slightly sweet spicy notes. When settling on the skin, and here it was very cool, more sensitive noses will still detect the smell of storage, but it calms on a creamy musky wood that took me on a new olfactory journey, in high school, when I often used Coty's Wild Musk deodorant, already discontinued these days. It was very similar to the smell of Wild Musk at its base. 3 well-defined, distinct phases and very intriguing aroma. My bottle has about 40 ml and I'm going to spend my whole life without being able to dry because it's so strong. Lucky me.

A transitional masterpiece—part vintage, part modern. For the past few years, I’ve immersed myself in the captivating world of perfumery—a realm where the nose becomes a compass and scent, a language. It’s a thrilling, almost alchemical journey: exploring hundreds of raw materials in both their pure and diluted forms, discovering how they harmonize or collide in unexpected ways. This experience has fundamentally reshaped how I perceive fragrance. Now, when I smell a perfume, I’m not merely enjoying it—I’m deciphering its story. One of the most exciting parts is spotting the building blocks—the naturals and synthetics—that give a perfume its soul. Each raw material has its own unmistakable identity. Once you’ve smelled it in isolation, it’s like recognizing a familiar face in a crowd. And some of these materials are so overdosed, they practically shout their presence. Take Dihydro Myrcenol, for example. If you’ve ever smelled a men’s fragrance in the last few decades, chances are you’ve met this fresh, blue, limey, lavender-tinged note. It’s the backbone of countless perfumes, most famously Davidoff’s Cool Water by Pierre Bourdon. That scent was so iconic, Dihydro Myrcenol became its olfactory signature. But it doesn’t stop there—you’ll find it in Dior’s Sauvage, Chanel’s Allure Homme, and hundreds more. Once you’ve smelled it solo, it starts popping up everywhere—even in perfumes you thought you knew inside out—which brings me to YSL Jazz. I’ve worn Jazz for nearly a decade. It’s one of my all-time favorite Aromatic Fougères—crisp, clean, spicy, woody, and effortlessly elegant. It’s the kind of scent that fits any occasion, and I’ve gone through multiple bottles over the years. And in my mind, it's always belonged to the previous generation of fougeres—that came after Azzaro pour Homme but before Cool Water. But today, after a long hiatus, I sprayed it on and—bam! —a tidal wave of Dihydro Myrcenol hit me square in the nose. It was like rediscovering an old friend who had a side I never knew about. What’s fascinating is how Jazz, released the same year as Cool Water, straddles two generations of Fougères. It carries the spicy, mossy, leathery DNA of classic perfumery, while also hinting at the fresh, blue accords that would dominate the decades to come. It’s a transitional masterpiece—part vintage, part modern. That said, the “blue accord” felt a bit too familiar this time around. Maybe it’s my evolving taste, but those fresh, aquatic fougères now strike me as a bit generic. I’ve worn them for years, but today they lack the intrigue they once held. So while Jazz has always been a perfect 10 in my book, I’m nudging it down just a notch. Still, make no mistake—YSL Jazz is a beautifully crafted fragrance. If you’re a fan of the Fougère genre, this one deserves a spot on your skin. It’s a scent that tells a story, bridging eras with style and sophistication. 9.5/10

I remember was sneaking to spray this fragrance form my dad's wardrobe when the bottle was half black and white (before YSL taken over by L'oreal group). The new bottle in the market smells different compare to the old one (lack of original characteristic which used to be heavy line TF noir the noir) and lack of longevity.

My husband's scent for 20+ years. What a divine, original masculine scent! Projects intelligence. Clean, elegant, fun, sophisticated, sexy, and compelling. I love aromatics and to me this embodies aromatic for men. Just magnificent, nothing clichéd about it. Lasts and lasts especially on clothes. Wish I knew of a feminine equivalent that I could wear.

A fabulous, classy, timeless, versatile, beautiful perfume.

This review is a little late but I only just realised I never got around to writing a review for my most holy grail of discontinued fragrances. Firstly, the La Collection version has nothing on the OG. YSL Jazz is one of those scents I wore when I was a teenager to young adult whenever I went out to a party or nightclub. It was my going out scent and always invokes fond memories of being young and excited to hit the night out partying. Over the years, I had forgotten about the cherished black and white, plastic piano key bottle I used to have until many years later when I really began to become a fraghead. Not only was I able to find an original black and white bottle online for $20, a few months later I managed to score three of the later glass bottle formulations for dirt cheap as well. These bottles now sit proudly in my collection as my most precious scents. I think much of the allure of Jazz is the nostalgia factor, so if you hadn't liked it back in the late 80's and early 90's, then you might not understand the appeal and why it's so cherished amongst some in fragcomm, especially those who experienced it at the time. Apart from the fact that YSL discontinue all their best fragrances, Jazz is the creme de la creme of their discontinued frags in my opinion, and the main reason why, is because this really smells and feels like a jazz club. Anytime I visit a jazz club or go to a jazz concert, I am wearing this because I have never experienced a fragrance that was more true to it's name than YZL Jazz.

I got lucky and found a couple of vintage piano Jazz bottles. Unless the juice has turned, this is like, the king of generic 80s smells. It's incredibly nuanced and complex and I like it from start to finish and yet, with the aggressive spicy opening, followed by the oakmoss dry down but it kinda just smells like a generic 80s perfume. Maybe I had it up on a pedestal and thought I would be getting something special like Fahrenheit or Kouros, something that really stands out, but it doesn't. Even the Aramis Gentleman's Collection perfumes and Dali Pour Homme feel more unique to me. If anything, it reminds of Antaeus quite a bit, but I haven't smelled that in a while. I also don't have any nostalgia tied with Jazz. And performance on my skin is quite poor for some reason. And yet despite all that, I still really like it. It's addictive in a way, just a really nice composition I want to keep wearing and smelling, but I know I have to pace myself cause I'll never luck out like that again and stumble on vintage Jazz. I'll have to get the La Collection version to actually wear, but I've smelled it and it feels flat compared to the vintage juice. This stuff is going to get tucked away in my collection. It also goes without saying, the bottles are so cool.

My father had this, may God's mercy be upon him. I remember when I was 4, I used to see this fancy bottle in the fridge. I smelled it, pretty much liked it. It's a masterpiece. So sad it's discontinued nowadays. I wish I had a bottle...

Timeless Classic

Timeless classic. I've had this bottle for more than fifteen years and it never gets boring nor has the scent changed in the slightest. Scent 8/10 Longevity 7/10

I've received this as a gift many years ago. I still love it. I have used more than half the bottle, but I'm going to keep the rest for special occasions. No way am I going to give up this version for anything newer. I'm in love with it and I sometimes wish YSL would bring it back. Aggressive opening, then it dries down into a masculine, woody feel, and it is so, so special. Jazz, just like my soul, as a jazz musician.

I've loved this fragrance for so many years, and it never gets old. It's got such a strong presence! It opens up aggressively, but then the drydown is smooth and elegrant. It's not a young/informal fragrance, probably not for everyday use, and most deffinitely not for everyone. It's mature, manly and classy --not something everyone can pull off--. The name can't be more appropriate: it's like sitting at a dimly lit cozy bar listening to a good old jazz band and having an Old Fashioned.

I dont know maybe its just in my head or in my age, But Jazz belong to those times when things were much more simple. Jazz Opens with boldness, with freshy full of strength notes which awake you instantly. Than its becoming "nicer" and calm down to be very warm and inviting. No iso e super, no BDC, But still sophisticated and full. I miss it...

This is a spectacular fragrance and I can understand the love for it in the frag community. However, it does smell a lot like Tsar and apparently Tsar drew its inspiration from this. Side note: The similarities to Tsar really happen in the dry down phase of the fragrance and that's my favorite part. The opening of this stuff is kinda harsh, esp if you get your hands on a vintage batch.

Perhaps a reformulated modern Jazz, but maybe not. Far too many notes listed here as usual. This is not even a lavender perfume people, come on! On the actual new bottle it says Accords: Coriandre, Geranium, Armoise, Cyprés and Patchouli, 1988. Wow! I think I was more into Jazz Prestige though. Maybe make an effort with Jazz Prestige and Live Jazz as well. But it's still a landmark for the industry, an innovation from another world and a relief from modern "candy" perfumes. Always special, like barbershop from outer space, way ahead of its time.

I've waited long enough to give a review to Ysl Jazz. Probably never wore It in a propper manner. What i have, is the first edition, piano claps bottle, parfume corp or Something. You have seen It before, It is similar with many fragrances from that era...It is Nice, performance is again very Nice. It gives me a positive vibe, a great Allure. I would have sworn that this had a pinneapple note in it, but it doesnt. It does not have Something specific in it, not groundbreaking....but it is a very solid fragrance with very good performance. Always puts me in a very positive and formal spirit, cause the fragrance is more formal then casual. I would not see this worn with a t shirt and jeans....

It’s back in stock on the UK YSL Beauty website. Just ordered mine. I was worried it was discontinued because it had been out of stock for so long. Hope they’re rebottling it and bringing back the beyond iconic original bottle. It’s just not quite the same in the new more generic bottle.

My love affair with Jazz began in 1991 or 1992, when I received a bottle as a gift. Back then, the bottle was black-and-white plastic. I recall it was the best thing I had ever smelled. Not long ago, I bought a tester in glass from a chemist which was renovating. It mostly smelled the same. I see the classic bottle has been discontinued. Jazz is now part of some YSL collection in identical bottles, but I don’t know if it’s the same. But I digress. The original was strong, original, soapy and long-lasting. A truly beautiful blend which exuded luxury and quality. Too good for everyday use; Jazz belongs only on the top shelf!