If you are an aficionado of traditional jazz, that style of music born in America and best known for its strong but flexible rhythmic core but featuring improvisation, then you can appreciate its lack of appeal to the younger set with their affection for high-decibels in their music and a strong beat to dance to.
In response to a need, jazz bands in the hip clubs of the southern United Kingdom began and developed over the 1980s and 1990s a music genre which the Macmillan Dictionary defines as "a type of music that mixes various styles such as funk, disco, and Latin, and combines electronic production with acoustic instruments and sometimes singing." In 1987 the term Acid Jazz was coined by DJ.s Gilles Peterson and Chris Bangs; incidentally, it's a term that James Taylor of the James Taylor Quartet sees as simply a way of making more money. Gilles Peterson reinforced this perception in a 1988 conversation with Chris Hunt: “Well, the jazz scene is very strong now, but we felt that it needed a little boost to keep it up there. By calling it acid jazz, people are going to say, ‘Oh, this must be interesting’ and then dance to it. So, subtly you are introducing them to new forms of music and new forms of jazz."
The Geography of Music Styles
A region can be defined as an area that is similar within and different from surrounding regions. This geographic concept can be investigated using one or many of the variables that potentially define a region, country or city, including its music styles.
Usually music has its roots in a region or regions and from there diffuses out. As Rob Aurich points out in his article on the Music of the World, Vaudeville, for instance, "although it began in Boston, its roots are found in Normandy, France."
So, while Acid Jazz developed in the southern United Kingdom, and became commercial with bands such as the Jtq, regularly playing The Jazz Café in Camden Town in Greater London, the genre began springing up in New York and San Francisco. As Matt Keleman wrote in the Orlando Weekly, "The Groove Academy and Giant Steps became popular fixtures in the dance culture of Manhattan and several record labels began spreading the gospel from Northern California. England shot back with soul drenched recordings from Brand New Heavies and Massive Attack while the New York Enclave spawned the Groove Collective." (The Groove Collective was a band formed in 1990, and like Jtq became noted for the fusing of many styles.) By 1992 acid jazz scenes had sprung up all around the globe.
Changes:
A classic example of the older Acid Jazz was the music of The James Taylor Quartet, particularly with the album In The Hand of The Inevitable and songs such as Love Will Keep Us Together and Keep on Moving.
S. Duba, writing for Wine X Magazine proclaimed: "James Taylor has consistently delivered the juiciest chunks of super hip retro soul available in the free world," describing the older music as "heaving Hammond B3 organ, funky fine horn charts, blazing instrumental grooves and hipster swing …called acid jazz."
Collective Groove effectively made changes by fusing many more styles from bebop, funk, and old-school hip-hop to classic soul, achieving recognition in Time Magazine in 1994 for being part of the compilation album Stolen Moments: Red Hot + Cool that became album of the year.
Let's dance!
Sources:
- Chris Hunt. Acid Jazz-Does it Really Exist? Chris Hunt Editorial
- James Taylor Quartet. jtq
- Groove Collective. World News
- Matt Keleman. Orlando Weekly
- Macmillan Dictionary
- Rob Aurich. Music of the World. The Monograph. OAGEE. Vol. 62, Issue No. 2. Summer 2011.
- S. Duba. James Taylor Quartet. Wine X Magazine. Vol. 2.2
James Gibson - James Gibson is a retired teacher and small business owner. He is a published writer and has a wide spectrum of interests.
