ACID JAZZ

:''This article is about the music genre called acid jazz. For an article about the record label, see Acid Jazz Records.''

'Acid jazz' (also known as 'club jazz') is a musical genre that combines elements of soul music, funk, disco, particularly looping beats and modal harmony.[1]. It developed over the 1980s and 1990s and could be seen as tacking the sound of jazz-funk onto electronic dance/pop music. Acid Jazz is also the name of a recording label in the United Kingdom (founded by Gilles Peterson & Eddie Piller) which issues recordings by artists in the genre.
While acid jazz often contains various types of electronic composition (sometimes including sampling or live DJ cutting and scratching), it is just as likely to be played live by musicians, who often showcase jazz interpretation as part of their performance. The compositions of groups such as The Brand New Heavies and Incognito often feature chord structures usually associated with Jazz music. The Heavies in particular were known in their early years for beginning their songs as catchy pop and rapidly steering them into jazz territory before "resolving" the composition and thus not losing any pop listeners but successfully "exposing" them to jazz elements in "baby steps".
The acid jazz "movement" is also seen as a "revival" of jazz-funk or jazz fusion or soul jazz by leading DJs such as Norman Jay or Gilles Peterson or Patrick Forge, also known as "rare groove crate diggers".

Contents
Origins
Acid jazz in the international context
Key artists
Compilation albums
See also
References
External links

Origins


The sound and clubs that went with it arose out of Southern England's rare groove scene of the late seventies and early eighties and various other alternative groups, including the London mod scene. It is distinguished from the Northern Soul scene (then popular in the South of England with clubs such as the 100 Club in Oxford Street) but still portrayed various similarities.
The name came into common parlance with the Acid Jazz label but in reality the scene had existed in disparate forms and without a distinguishing name for some time beforehand. Journalists at the time appeared very confused by the genre and made various attempts to connect it to the London mod scene (by links with various former members of that scene, prominently Eddie Piller and the James Taylor Quartet - Taylor having formerly been Hammond Player for sixties garage band The Prisoners). Infamously, ID magazine ran an article on Acid Jazz Mods which irritated both mods and "acid jazz fans" in equal amounts.
The scene always had two halves, those who liked the original jazz and soul recordings and those who followed the new bands signed by labels like acid jazz. It is the former who still probably support their music, many of the early bands having fallen well by the wayside. Attempts to integrate the music with hip hop and jungle are now regarded by many as misguided attempts to keep the music fresh whilst leading it a long way from its starting point, attempts that were regarded with disdain by many.
An important gauge of the UK scene and the creation of the genre are to be found in the UK's Straight No Chaser magazine. Similarly, clothing labels like Duffer of St George were closely associated with the scene, although the "right outfit" was never essential.
Disc jockeys Gilles Peterson and Chris Bangs are generally credited with coining the term ''acid jazz'' at a 1987 'Talkin' Loud Sayin Something' session. At the time, this was Peterson's regular Sunday afternoon club at Dingwalls in Camden, London.
In his Radio 1 biograpahy, Peterson describes how the term Acid jazz came about. "We put on this old 7-inch by Mickey and the Soul Generation which was a rare groove record with a mad rock guitar intro and no beat. I started vary speeding it so it sounded all warped. Chris Bangs got on the microphone and said, 'If that was acid house, this is acid jazz'. That's how acid jazz started, just a joke!"[1]
[2]
Baltimore's underground club scene mixed with the town's love for “live music” the made it easy for bands such as trip hop giants Lake Trout and reggae/acid jazz hybrid The Big Hurt to be able to break into the mainstream and gain regional and national exposure.

Acid jazz in the international context


In the United States notable acid-jazz groups have included The Brand New Heavies and Solsonics; although during the 1990s the major contributions from the US related to jazz dance were predominantly in jazz-house (from labels such as 8 Ball Records) and jazz-rap, particularly by artists such as A Tribe Called Quest, Black Sheep, De la Soul, and the Jungle Brothers. From Japan, notable artists included United Future Organization who released 'I Love my Baby: My Baby Loves Jazz' as well as a cover of Van Morrison's 'Moondance'; another prominent artist from Japan was the female vocalist, Monday Michiru. From the UK, Repercussions who had a top hit, ''Promise me nothing''. Other more recent artists and groups who have produced music in this genre include Medeski, Martin, and Wood, Mother Earth, Mr. Scruff, Visit Venus, Praful, and Down to the Bone.
Key artists


4 Hero

Arrested Development

Atjazz

A Tribe Called Quest

Amel Larrieux

Amon Tobin

Audioform

Azymuth

Bernard "Pretty" Purdie

Bird

Blue Six

Blue Train

Bona Fide

Bonobo

Brand New Heavies

Brooklyn Funk Essentials'''

Broun Fellinis

Corduroy

Count Basic

Dancing Fantasy

De La Soul

De-Phazz

Digable Planets

DJ Cam

DJ Jazzy Jeff

DJ Krush

DJ Spinna

Dodge City Productions

Down to the Bone

DZihan & Kamien

D
★ Note


D' Sound

Five Point Plan

Four 80 East

Fourplay

Funki Porcini

Gang Starr

Galliano

Gary Foote

Gizmo

Greyboy

Greyboy Allstars

Groove Collective

Groove Squared

Heavyshift

Herbert

Incognito

Jaga Jazzist

James Taylor Quartet

Jamiroquai

Jay Dee / J Dilla

Jazzanova

Jazzhole

Jazztronik

Koop

Kruder & Dorfmeister

Kyoto Jazz Massive

Lake Trout

Leather Interior!

Les Gammas

Liquid Soul

Marius Kahan

Mark Farina

Massive Attack

Maysa Leak

MC Solaar

Medeski, Martin & Wood

Melvin Sparks

Micky More

Mr. Scruff

Mo'Horizons

Mojack

Moloko

Moodymann

Mondo Grosso

Monday Michiru

Mother Earth

Muki

Nicola Conte

Nightmares on Wax

Noel Zancanella

Nu Groovers

Nujabes

Omar Lye-Fook

Outside

Paolo Achenza Trio

Parov Stelar

Paul Moran

Pete Rock

Phil Davis

Poets of Rhythm

Praful

Q-Point

Quantic

Quantic Soul Orchestra

RAD

Reel People

Reuben Wilson

Revolution Void

Ronny Jordan

Roy Ayers

Saint Germain

Shazz

Shilts (Paul Weimar)

Skalpel

Smoke City

Smooth

Snowboy

Soulive

SoulStice

Sound Tribe Sector 9 (STS9)

Speedometer

Squarepusher

T.A.T.U.

The Cat Empire

The Cinematic Orchestra

The Egg

The Pasadenas

Thievery Corporation

Tosca

The Big Hurt

Tussle

Urban Species

US3

Victor Djamkotchian

Walter The Orange Ocean

Wax Poetic

Wibutee

Xploding Plastix

Young Disciples

★ Zebra

Zero 7

Compilation albums



Totally Wired

Totally Wired II

Totally Wired III

Totally Wired Sweden

The Story of Acid Jazz

The Rebirth of Cool

The History of Acid Jazz

This is Acid Jazz

Supa Funky

Red Hot and Cool

Jazz 'N Go

Strictly Acid Jazz

See also



Acid Jazz Records

Nu-jazz

Jazz rap

Broken beat

Michael Franti & Spearhead

Trip hop

Jazz-Funk

Soul jazz

Jazz Fusion

Deep Funk

Ninja Tune

Groovera

List of electronic music genres

References


1. BBC Radio 1 website, Gilles Peterson: Biography, (accessed 21 Mar 07)
2. Jazz Styles: History and Analysis, , Mark C., Gridley, Prentice Hall, 2006,

External links



Acid Jazz Portal

'What Is Acid Jazz?' feature, 1988 by Chris Hunt

Acid-Jazz@UCSD.edu List Archive

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