SpenniesJazzmatazz
June 16th 2006 05:07
JAZZMATAZZ
Vol. 1
Chysalis Records (1993)
Produced by Guru
Link to Amazon for purchasing and audio samples
I don't listen to a lot of hip-hop - I'm gonna say that upfront. I don't mind it, I have nothing against it, it's just my knowledge of the genre as a whole is fairly limited to some of the more well known names. I initially spotted this album for cheap at a record store and thought it looked interesting so I decided to buy.
Now a dude who goes by the moniker of "Guru" basically collaborated a whole bunch of artists and musicians to contribute to the Jazzmatazz series (of which there are 3), which are "an experimental fusion of hip-hop and jazz."
And that it is.
Right off the bat you are hit with an album jam-packed with jazz piano, trumpet, xylophones etc mixed with hip-hop beats and smooth rapping over the top. It appears Guru thought he was onto something pretty revolutionary at the time (1993) as the intro track and interval have him explaining the importance of hip-hop and jazz, shout-out's to anyone who has contributed and basically all things jazzmatazz. The music is really awesome - about as cruisy as you can get and bordering on wanky inner-city cafe musak (but not QUITE). I think he has blended both styles flawlessly and the sheer amount of collaborators (both jazz-cats and rappers) is pretty astounding.
The rapping, to me, is for the most part pretty ordinary. I don't know... I can tell that a lot of heart and soul has been poured into the recordings, the sincerity is there - I just think when rapping, you need to write a LOT of material, and I guess it comes down to a quality vs quantity issue. To me, listening to someone tell you about how their rhymes are the smoothest and everyone else are fools does not shout out 'interesting subject matter' - hey, maybe I just don't understand hip-hop. To be fair, my little spout of negativity does not represent the albums entire lyrical content. A lot of it deals with city ghetto living in the US, with tracks such as "Transit Ride" and "Down the Backstreets" musing such aspects of modern life. What I'm trying to say is that the vocals do not ruin the album by far, I just think they could have been done a little better.
For me, the record works great for things like just hanging out or going to sleep, it's dreamy and relaxing and very smooth. The music is brilliant and very well suited, and it really keeps the whole thing interesting. There are also a few samples like an interview with the great Louis Armstrong where he is talking about the culture of jazz. To sum it up, Jazzmatazz is background music that probably wasn't intended to be background music, but just works too darn well in that medium. Perhaps Guru knew this - as the next two albums declined the jazz aspect greatly, but in turn, heightened in popularity.
I really do think that hip-hop is the jazz of our generation - and Jazzmatazz may just be the missing link.
Vol. 1
Chysalis Records (1993)
Produced by Guru
Link to Amazon for purchasing and audio samples
Now a dude who goes by the moniker of "Guru" basically collaborated a whole bunch of artists and musicians to contribute to the Jazzmatazz series (of which there are 3), which are "an experimental fusion of hip-hop and jazz."
And that it is.
Right off the bat you are hit with an album jam-packed with jazz piano, trumpet, xylophones etc mixed with hip-hop beats and smooth rapping over the top. It appears Guru thought he was onto something pretty revolutionary at the time (1993) as the intro track and interval have him explaining the importance of hip-hop and jazz, shout-out's to anyone who has contributed and basically all things jazzmatazz. The music is really awesome - about as cruisy as you can get and bordering on wanky inner-city cafe musak (but not QUITE). I think he has blended both styles flawlessly and the sheer amount of collaborators (both jazz-cats and rappers) is pretty astounding.
The rapping, to me, is for the most part pretty ordinary. I don't know... I can tell that a lot of heart and soul has been poured into the recordings, the sincerity is there - I just think when rapping, you need to write a LOT of material, and I guess it comes down to a quality vs quantity issue. To me, listening to someone tell you about how their rhymes are the smoothest and everyone else are fools does not shout out 'interesting subject matter' - hey, maybe I just don't understand hip-hop. To be fair, my little spout of negativity does not represent the albums entire lyrical content. A lot of it deals with city ghetto living in the US, with tracks such as "Transit Ride" and "Down the Backstreets" musing such aspects of modern life. What I'm trying to say is that the vocals do not ruin the album by far, I just think they could have been done a little better.
For me, the record works great for things like just hanging out or going to sleep, it's dreamy and relaxing and very smooth. The music is brilliant and very well suited, and it really keeps the whole thing interesting. There are also a few samples like an interview with the great Louis Armstrong where he is talking about the culture of jazz. To sum it up, Jazzmatazz is background music that probably wasn't intended to be background music, but just works too darn well in that medium. Perhaps Guru knew this - as the next two albums declined the jazz aspect greatly, but in turn, heightened in popularity.
I really do think that hip-hop is the jazz of our generation - and Jazzmatazz may just be the missing link.
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