| Jazz rap | |
|---|---|
| Other names | Jazz hip hop, jazz hop |
| Stylistic origins | |
| Cultural origins | Late 1980s,New York metropolitan area |
| Derivative forms | |
Jazz rap (alsojazz hop orjazz hip hop) is a fusion ofjazz andhip hop music, as well as analternative hip-hop subgenre,[1] that developed in the late 1980s and early 1990s.AllMusic writes that the genre "was an attempt to fuseAfrican-American music of the past with a newly dominant form of the present, paying tribute to and reinvigorating the former while expanding the horizons of the latter." The rhythm was rooted in hip hop[1] over which repetitive phrases of jazz instrumentation, such as the trumpet, double bass, etc., were placed. The groups involved in the formation of jazz rap includedA Tribe Called Quest,Digable Planets,De La Soul,Gang Starr, andJungle Brothers.[1]
During the 1970s,the Last Poets andGil Scott-Heron placedspoken word and rhymed poetry over jazzy backing tracks.[2] There are also parallels between jazz and the improvised phrasings offreestyle rap. While it drew from these disparate threads, jazz rap did not coalesce as a genre until the late 1980s.
At this time, the jazz community was divided between those who appreciated traditional styles and others who embraced newer forms likesmooth jazz. This period also marked a significant shift in jazz's cultural positioning, elevating it to the status of "serious art music." Influential figures likeWynton Marsalis played a pivotal role in this transformation, advocating for a return to traditional jazz values.[3]
Jazz rap's emergence can be seen as an attempt to elevate rap music's status by associating it with jazz'scultural capital and was seen as an alternative to dominant rap subgenres likegangsta andpop rap. This association not only enriched the musical texture of hip-hop but also provided a platform forsocial andpolitical commentary, aligning with jazz's historical role as a voice forAfrican American experiences and struggles.[4]
In 1989,Gang Starr released the debut single "Words I Manifest", samplingDizzy Gillespie's 1952 "Night in Tunisia", andStetsasonic released "Talkin' All That Jazz", samplingLonnie Liston Smith. Gang Starr's debut LP,No More Mr. Nice Guy (Wild Pitch, 1989), and their track "Jazz Thing" (CBS, 1990) for the soundtrack ofMo' Better Blues, further popularized the jazz rap style. In 1992,Eric B & Rakim used wood bass on "Don't Sweat the Technique".[5]
Digable Planets' 1993 releaseReachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space) was a hit jazz rap record. It sampled the likes ofDon Cherry,Sonny Rollins,Art Blakey,Herbie Mann,Herbie Hancock,Grant Green, andRahsaan Roland Kirk. Additionally, it spawned the hit single "Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)".[6]
In 1993,Us3 releasedHand on the Torch onBlue Note Records. All samples were from the Blue Note catalogue. The single "Cantaloop" was Blue Note's firstgold record.[7]
Post-WWIIswing and modern jazz had fused with the introduction ofBlack appeal radio, which attracted a younger audience through its reliance onjive idioms, rhyming, and cadence-laden rap verses.Dizzy Gillespie had pointed toThe jives ofDr. Hepcat and rhyming D.J.Daddy-O Daylie as key to popularizing modern jazz.[8] The rise ofTop-40 radio on the strength of the rapping DJs in this period of radio's rebirth among black youth led to the wider use of language and syntax popularizing rap.Muhammad Ali's phrasing to the press in the early part of his career was born of listening to black radio of the 1950s, which was often white radio announcers speaking slang "jive" and imitating black announcers while withholding the fact on air of their backgrounds.[9] Pioneering DJsAl Benson,Nat D., andJack the Rapper all used rhyming,[10] the dozens and jive talk to pepper their broadcasts and were widely copied by white DJs like John Richbourg, Gene Nobles, and Bill Allen during the 1950s, and whose influence onJames Brown and other godfathers of rap was formative.Bebop was the backing track that modern jazz credits with being the foundation black appeal radio is based on.[11]
Groups making up the collective known as theNative Tongues tended toward jazzy releases: these include theJungle Brothers' debut,Straight Out the Jungle (Warlock, 1988), andA Tribe Called Quest'sPeople's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm (Jive, 1990).[citation needed]The Low End Theory has become one of hip hop's most acclaimed albums,[12] and also earned praise from jazz bassistRon Carter, who played double bass on one track.De La Soul'sBuhloone Mindstate (Tommy Boy, 1993) featured contributions fromMaceo Parker,Fred Wesley, andPee Wee Ellis, and samples fromEddie Harris,Lou Donaldson,Duke Pearson andMilt Jackson.Queen Latifah andMonie Love were members ofNative Tongues also.
Also of this period was Toronto-basedDream Warriors' 1991 releaseAnd Now the Legacy Begins (Island). It produced the hit singles "My Definition of a Boombastic Jazz Style" and "Wash Your Face in My Sink". The first of these was based on a loop taken fromQuincy Jones' "Soul Bossa Nova", while the second sampledCount Basie's 1967 rendition of "Hang On Sloopy". Meanwhile, Los Angeles hip hop groupFreestyle Fellowship pursued a different route of jazz influence in recordings with unusual time signatures andscat-influenced vocals.[13]
Though jazz rap had achieved little mainstream success, jazz legendMiles Davis' final album (released posthumously in 1992),Doo-Bop, featured hip hop beats and collaborations with producerEasy Mo Bee.[14] Jazz musicianBranford Marsalis collaborated with Gang Starr'sDJ Premier on hisBuckshot LeFonque project that same year. Between 1993 and 2000 fellow Gang Starr memberGuru releasedJazzmatazz, which featured guest appearances from jazz artists such asLonnie Liston Smith,Freddie Hubbard andDonald Byrd, amongst others.
Musical jazz references became less obvious and less sustained, and lyrical references to jazz certainly more rare.[15] However, jazz had been added to the palette of hip hop producers, and its influence continued throughout the 1990s whether behind the gritty street-tales ofNas (Illmatic,Columbia, 1994), or backing the more bohemian sensibilities of acts such asthe Roots,the Nonce, andCommon. Since 2000 it can be detected in the work of producers such asJ. Rawls,Fat Jon andMadlib. A project somewhat similar to Buckshot Le Fonque wasBrooklyn Funk Essentials, a New York–based collective who also released their first LP in 1994.Prince himself contributed to the genre on some songs from 1991 to 1992, as well as with hisNew Power Generation albumGold Nigga, which mixed jazz, funk and hip-hop and was released very confidentially.
One hip hop project which continued to maintain a direct connection to jazz wasGuru'sJazzmatazz series, which used live jazz musicians in the studio.[16] Spanning from 1993 to 2007, its four volumes assembled jazz luminaries likeFreddie Hubbard,Donald Byrd,Courtney Pine,Herbie Hancock,Kenny Garrett andLonnie Liston Smith, and hip hop performers such asKool Keith,MC Solaar,Common, and Guru's Gang Starr colleagueDJ Premier.
Madlib's 2003 releaseShades of Blue paid homage to hisBlue Note Records roots, where he samples from Blue Note's archives. The album also contains interpretations of Blue Note classics performed by Yesterdays New Quintet.[17]
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