A Question...
Firebird75
35 Posts
So....If I were to pull out a tin can here on Strut, which is labelled "ACID JAZZ", and open it - would it be full of worms??
Firebird75
35 Posts
Comments
FREE JAZZ? Yes.
ACID JAZZ? Not sure. Try it, I'd rather watch that spiral out of control than the political threads.
Plaese to explain the genre "Acid Jazz." I've never been able to figure out what the hell it means! I thought this was some stuff coming out of the UK in the late 80s to early 90s. Are people still making Acid Jazz music? What types of groups or artists are considered acid jazz?
The following website was very confusing: http://www.cmd.uu.se/AcidJazz/FAQ/
The list below is from the site mentioned above. This list is all over the place hommie! Jamiroquai? Although I like a lot of Jay Kay's work, I never thought he was an acid jazz artist. I thought he was more of a Stevie Wonder wanna be than could still put together some decent arrangements. He had pretty nice production on his earlier LPs. Please try to explain this list to me. The "Old School Oringinals" list? WTF! These guys were just dope jazz and latin groups. How the hell are you going to label them as acid jazz in the late 80s? ATCQ and Gang Starr?
Definitely Acid Jazz (in *no* order)
James Taylor Quartet
Night Trains
United Future Organization
Brand New Heavies
Young Disciples
DJ Takemura
DJ KRUSH
Jamiroquai
Ronny Jordan
Incognito
D-Influence
Corduroy
New Jersey Kings
Mother Earth
Snowboy
Jazzhole
Very* close (ambiguous- rap? soul? house?)
Solsonics
Galliano
Massive Attack
Soul II Soul
MC Solaar
Alphabet Soup
Greyboy
Sandals
Jhelisa
Greyboy Allstars
Quiet Boys
Angel
US3
Omar
Kyoto Jazz Massive
Massive Attack
Urban Species
MC Mello
Stereo MCs
Lalome Washburn
The "Old School" Originals
Herbie Hancock
Ivan Boogaloo Jones
Pucho
Grant Green
Funk, Inc.
Miles Davis
Roy Ayers
Lou Donaldson
John Coltrane
Cal Tjader
Donald Byrd
Chico Hamilton
Honorable mention ("jazzy" influence, or straight up jazzy)
Digable Planets
A Tribe Called Quest
Guru
Gang Starr
Level 42
Swing Out Sister
Lisa Stansfield
Yo-yo Honey
Innocence
Charlie Hunter Trio
Courtney Pine
Manu Dibango
Paul Weller
Buckshot Lafonque
I was thinking about bringin' up an acid jazz thread a bit back. Since I still listen to the Totally Wired Comps on the regular.
I always took Acid Jazz as just being a sort of Jazz type style, heavyly influenced with soul, funk and disco. With a touch of UK flavour. Not the actual music per say, just the time and location styles.
I'm not sure if it's really a genre IMO (Since you could drop fucking almost anything and call it Acid Jazz *Which alot of people do, as I've even heard a reggae track on one comp once*).. Since the term was just thrown out there by Gilles Peterson.
Alot of Snowboy's stuff is dope!
Anyways.. More Acid Jazz talk plz
It being England, a whole range of influences made its way into the new "Acid Jazz" sound- most notably the musical and fashion sensibilities of the Mod scene and (for some weird reason) the noodliest of jazz from the seventies- people were creaming their pants over pretty middle of the road organ / soul jazz from the late sixties- early seventies.
On the earliest "Totally Wired" comps, you can see the transition of scenes: there's a mix of old and new tracks. As soon as the Acid Jazz and Talkin' Loud labels were up and running, there was no looking back....
(NB: the acid jazz scene later gave birth to the monster called Triphop- but that's another story)
Fuck, I'm not gonna even front... When I was working in London, I met Norman Jay through my good friend Ronnie Herel. He's like one of the kewlest dudes I've ever met. For some strange reason I always think of Alex D??sert (Charles "It's dead in here anyways") from the movie Swingers. Maybe it's because of the hats... Anyways, one of my favorite DJ's of all time.
Funny... speaking of acid jazz. I met Jan Kincaid (Brand New Heavies) a few times through Ronnie also.
Anyone on the board got a dope mix of Acid Jazz? Or is that to crazy to ask?
1/ You're right, "Acid Jazz" is both a hard one to pin down, because it seems to blur into many areas of the spectrum; but also because it's a term which seems to be thrown onto almost anything. There are a few bands out there still making it, somehow they get labelled as funk bands most of the time! You have Atar & the Funkadrome from the UK (www.atar.co.uk - very nice if you're into the deal); there was The Jive Express here in Oz a while back, I'm not sure if Groove Collective (NY) are still together (anyone seen them live btw?? I think they'd kick serious ass). Other than that, I'm still looking.
2/Jamiroquai has always been classed as acid jazz; at least the first 2 albums merited this tag but the more recent ones, sadly, are just commercialised dance.
The funny thing is, all these years I've continued listening to acid jazz, and people always ask, "huh? What's acid jazz?". Personally I'd like to see a comeback of some of the early vibe, it just has this chilled, vibrant, colorful mood; but I'd like it even better with some kicking drums over it, really hard-edged...and I'll have some fries with that thanks