Customer Reviews

Jazzmatazz

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is quite simply an inspired album. The rapping from Guru is sharp, lyrical and creative while the jazzmen are as musical as they ever have been.

I've heard a lot of different stories about how this album was recorded (who performed over what, what was improvised etc.) but as far as I'm concerned - that doesn't matter. The point is that this album is a real high-water mark in hip-hop, one that doesn't seem under any real threat of being surpassed just yet.

As Guru says in the liner notes, the album is "jeep ready" as far as the music is concerned and yet it's also the sort of music that your parents would enjoy. Both of those statements (as contradictory as they may seem) are 100% true. Tracks like "Slicker Than Most" and "Le Bien Le Mal" feature one of hip-hop's finest lyricists doing his job the way only he can. "Le Bien" is also noteworty for being one of the first introductions that France's MC Solaar had to the wider world of hip-hop.

As for the jazz credentials of the album - these aren't in doubt at all. A friend of mine who plays jazz trumpet was stunned when he heard the list of jazz artists who were involved on this project. After I'd taped it for him, he played it for his trumpet teacher who was equally stunned. Every single performer excells themselves on this album.

Donald Byrd's trumpet makes Guru's lyrics have a different cadence in "Loungin'" - while this is one of the standout tracks, it is somewhat hampered by the spoken sample at the end. Ronny Jordan's guitar is truly superb and will move you - either head or feet depending on how you're feeling at the time. The pianos of Lonnie Liston Smith provide a perfect backing to "Down The Back Streets", while Roy Ayers' vibraphones give a reat feel to "Take A Look At Yourself".

As far as I'm concerned, it is the 2 saxophone tracks that really make the album great. Branford Marsalis' work on "Transit Line" is that rare kind of instrumentalism which actually makes the listener experience what is being sung about (in this case, the feel of a New York subway). Courtney Pine is simply heavenly on "Sights In The City" playing both sax and flute. The track winds up being carried by an amazing sax solo at the end - the kind of solo which would not be worth hearing were it played by a performer of inferior class - as it is, the sax solo becomes yet another of this album's many highlights.

Of course, the other vocalists are superb as well. N'Dea Davenport and the other woman whose name has completely slipped my mind are both current or past members of the Brand New Heavies and they really bring that feel to their performances. Davenport richly justifies her inclusion on 2 tracks by sounding almost like a different singer from one to the next.

This CD has rarely left my changer sice I got it - let it stay in yours as well. You deserve it.

I was first introduced to Guru's Jazzmatazz in 1993 when Acid Jazz was big on the West coast, but had not reached my ears on the East Coast. While it's categorized as rap in many music stores, it's a hybrid of hip-hop and jazz, thus the moniker of Acid Jazz. [NOT to be confused with smooth jazz resembling "elevator music."]

Guru is its maistro, conducting distinguished guests like the smooth voiced N'dea Davenport and smooth guitarist Ronny Jordan - each stars with their own careers.

Guru's "No Time to Play" is an anthem for hard working people from hip business man to funky construction workers. And when we do play, Guru offers, "Loungin" as our theme song.

Different styles and tempos come together in this urban quilt of jazz samples and vocal textures to make one of my favorite CDs.

If you like a groove, but prefer the kind of sophisticated cool you can play even for your parents over the hard core you only listen to when you're in full party mode, Jazzmatazz is for you. And good news - Jazzmatazz has a sequal, Jazzmatazz II, for its biggest fans!

I was in college at Clark Atlanta University when this album came out. I thought the album was DOPE back then. I was raised on jazz and grew up on hip hop so this was a great album to listen to. For whatever reason most hip hop/jazz albums fail but this one worked...In the college circle this album was either rebuked or recieved luke worm..now this was the early 90's and that DAS EFX typ of rapping was in, hip hop was very closed minded at the time, anything done out of the context of hip hop at that time was rebuked...but coming from San Francisco we tend to have a more open mind to different vibes of music, this album was in the context of two of my favorite genre's of music. I will say this, Guru was really taking a risk with this album a HUGE risk with his fan based, but this album goes to show you that he was not a one dimensional individual. He was not some hip hopper that just stayed in cyphers all day thinking about lyric and stuff. Guru had a vision and he made it come to fruition. It has been...WOW...12 years since this album dropped and it has gained more influence and has been litteraly elevated to a classic, as it should be...IT IS JUST ONE HELL OF AN ALBUM...Jazzmatazz has aged like a fine French wine, the quality gets better over the years.

This is a great album to enjoy whether you are a hip hopper or a jazzman...I will say this Jazz people need to stop acting like such elitist and realize jazz can be integrated in other musical forms...And Hip Hop needs to stop being such and elitist closed minde genre also. Hip Hop has gotten so commercial and watered down, it does not resemble the hip hop of 93'. This album show the best of both worlds...Good Job Guru...you were wayyy ahead of your time on this one...and he still is. I can't see this type of album happening today....

This it what real hip hop is all about, innovation, trying to do something new to help further the hip hop scene. Guru fuses his intense and always meaningfull rhymes with beats and instruments straight from real lounge loving jazz. If you like jazz and have an open mind to new things check this out. If you like gangstarr and have an open mind check this out. If you love hip hop CHECK THIS OUT!

this is hip hop at its finest, inventive, original and in your face. lyrics are smooth as well as street based and introspective. I would recommend this album to anyone who really has a taste for hip hop. Not just some R&B hyped rap. This is a hip hop experience.

Being a fan of Miles Davis, one of the key experimenters in the jazz world, I have always been on the look out for artists that have a leaning to the experimental and unconventional.

I had heard a few of Guru's later albums, and although I am not a fan of rap, his style was interesting. I was [angry] though that it was classified as 'jazz' since only a few were jazzy.

However I got around to hearing this album: Jazzmatazz Vol. 1. This is by far his best work. It was so experimental in nature, and the envinronment is obviously one jazz. The phat hip hop beats have have the same vibe as the instrumental solos in the backing tracks, and Guru's deadpan delivery of his rhymes are very good.

Favourites would be "Loungin'" and "Transit Ride". This album showed that Guru had potential to be a 'jazz' great, however his switch to a more hip hop than jazz sound on his later work is a great shame. Perhaps he will do better in the future.

I have jazzmatazz one two and three. they are all great. In my view this is what hiphop should be all about. Trying to create high art that lives up to the legacy of greatness of those who came before. The mixture of Bebop and Hiphop is a win win combination. The entire jazzmatazz series will become a long living classic to be coveted by fans of good music well into the future.

I'm not a big hip-hop fan, but I like Jazz a lot. Jazzmatazz takes fusion to another level with amazing grooves and rhythmic jazz beats and a french rapper on one track. this cd is much jazzier than the other two, which is why i prefer it to the other two. The hip-hop is truly amazing in this cd too, but is definitely more mellow than the mainstream rap you hear nowadays. For anyone who likes jazz and hip-hop and can do without explicit lyrics (which you will find on the 3rd volume), this is absolutely a must.

...this album is worthwhile yes, BUT more as a historical document than in its own right. I say this in all honesty as a huge fan of Jazz, Gangstarr and Guru. I thought this album was okay at best, but have never loved it.

Let me explain: This album was indeed one of the early points where legit jazz (not samples) was being truly mixed in with hip hop.

Yet most early efforts eg Ronny Jordan's similar (but more instrumental) effort etc just lacked the right mix of these things. This album suffers from that weakness, despite the strength of the personell and the sincerety of intent by the participants.

If that isnt enough, this album (in my opinion) exposes and intersting fact: Guru perhaps in fact got props for his talent BEFORE it had actually flower. Some of the lyrics here are not only corny but structurally weak.

If you contrast by looking at Gurus work on the last 2 Gang Starr albums (The Ownerz, 2003) (Moment of Truth, 1998) the difference is shocking. There we see Guru as an MC in full bloom, total control of hs gift and throwing off hours of jaw-droppingly precise work. There his legendary status is more than confirmen. In fact if anything he puts forth a case for being greatest of all time there.

That puts anything he did here to shame as far as I'm concerned. In that sense my dissapointment at this album back when it came out is only confirmed: he could - and eventually DID - produce better than what he dropped here.

And musically, I will always think that Primo would be the one to truly bring the jazz & hip hop closer. What he does with samples is beyond incridbe. It is evidence of the kind of ear that would be required to put together a trully compelling mix of contemporary hip hop and live jazz. But for some reason, Primo has never seemed show any (public) evidenence of interest in exploring that. Maybe he doesn't want to step on Guru's toes. We may never now....

But sure buy this Jazzamatazz thing to see what it was like, as a legit historical document of jazz and hip-hop starting to belnd. Just dont expect it to fulfill the hype it always seems to have got.

Any hardcore fan of Gang Starr should consider this essential. If not, then any fan of laid back hip hop will find this a nice find. Sure it isn't Premo but Guru definitely keeps the Gang Starr attitude kickin' on this smooth release. Just beware, this is certainly an album relegated for the bedroom or living room with a little cheeba use and not in your fly whip. It's very laid back but then again so was Gang Starr, right? If your favorite Gang Starr song is Discipline or Moment of Truth then you're good to go.