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Acid Jazz

 
 

Description of Acid Jazz

 
Acid Jazz refers to a conglomeration of danceable, groove-oriented musical styles that share the influences of Soul Jazz, Jazz-Funk, hip-hop, and Latin Jazz. In contrast to the majority of 1990s dance music, Acid Jazz most often takes the form of a live band, commonly featuring a rhythm section, organ, horns, and vocals. The music started in the 1980s, when British club culture became fascinated with American Soul Jazz of the 1960s and Jazz-Funk of the 1970s, all of which they called "rare groove." These sounds inspired a group of musicians and producers, who began creating music in a similar vein. In 1991, the Brand New Heavies, with their melding of Jazz-Funk and hip-hop styles, became the first of the new bands to achieve commercial success, and more was soon to follow, with the irresistible pop-Funk of Jamiroquai and the jazzy hip-hop grooves of Galliano. Americans soon rediscovered this style from the British; Acid Jazz scenes in New York and San Francisco produced the Funk-drenched supergroup Groove Collective and the genre-bending groove band Slide Five.
 

Filed Under

 
Jazz  >  Acid Jazz
 

Acid Jazz Key Artists

 
Baby Mammoth

Mark Blissenden and
Andrew Burdall are the
force behind the acid jazzy
downtempo duo Baby
Mammoth. The two share...

Brand New Heavies

Simon Bartholomew, Andy
Levy, and Jan Kincaid are
the central movers behind
these soul/Funk/jazz giants
from Ealing, London. Soulf...

Cinematic Orchestra

U.K. composer Jason
Swinscoe plays a variety of
instruments in this live,
jazzy electronic orchestra.
In 1999 the group perform...

D*Note

D*Note emerged out of
London in the mid-1990s,
working in a variety of
genres such as Drum 'n'
Bass, House, and Acid Jaz...

Galliano

DJ Rob Gallagher started
Galliano and went from
deejaying Acid House to
performing live Acid Jazz.
Galliano was the first act s...

Gilles Peterson

Connecting the world of
jazz to dance music,
Peterson is one of Acid
Jazz's pioneering
producers. Raised by his...

Groove Collective

This Acid Jazz/hip-hop
ensemble from New York
was formed in 1990 by
emcee Nappy G and flautist
Richard Worth. Best desc...

Incognito

Jean-Paul Maunick and Paul
"Tubbs" Williams head the
'70s Funk-influenced Acid
Jazz act Incognito. Original
members Jean-Paul Mauni...

James Taylor Quartet

Their booty-shaking soul
jazz grooves have lead
many to regard the JTQ as
the originators of Acid Jazz.
Emerging from the downf...

Jamiroquai

Jason "Jay" Kay's U.K.
funk/soul/jazz band
Jamiroquai is named after
the Iroquois tribe whose
pantheism inspired him. T...

P'taah

Wamdue Project's Chris
Brann sheds his restrictive
House persona in favor of a
little bit of electronic
innovation.

Slide Five

Formed in the early '90s,
Slide Five were originally an
Acid Jazz ensemble.
They've been exploring
downtempo more recentl...

Snowboy

London-based Acid Jazz
percussionist and
bandleader, champion of
the Afro-Cuban sound.

Soulive

A new-jazz trio from
Vermont, Soulive crank out
energetic, organ-fuelled
jams influenced by
soul-jazz hero Jimmy Smit...

The Brooklyn Funk Essentials

Acid-Jazz outfit blends
grooves as heavy as the
Greyboy Allstars with poets
and singers as soulful as the
Brand New Heavies.

The Greyboy Allstars

DJ Greyboy and Karl
Denson formed this talented
Acid Jazz quintet out of San
Diego, Calif. Many of the
members have sidecar pr...

ulu

In addition to promoting the
lowercase "u", this
downtown NYC group is
also known for their solid
Acid Jazz chops. If you di...

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