Acid jazz

Acid jazz (also known as groove jazz or more recently club jazz) is a musical genre that combines jazz influences with elements of soul music, funk, disco and also nineties english dance music, particularly repetitive beats and modal harmony. It developed over the 1980s and 1990s and could be seen as taking the boundary crossing of jazz fusion onto new ground.

Key artists

• The Brand New Heavies

Originally inspired to form in 1986 by the rare groove records that its members heard at such influential clubs as The Cat In The Hat, The Brand New Heavies first recorded instrumentals for Cooltempo before moving to Acid Jazz in 1989. Original members Jan Kincaid, Simon Bartholomew and Andrew Levy, Lascelles Gordon and Jim Wellman were joined by vocalist Jay Ella and their funky blue-eyed soul proved a winning sound. Stay This Way and Dream Come True are two of their most popular tracks from their time at Acid Jazz.

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• K-Collective

A one-off project from Brand New Heavies founder and drummer / keyboardist Jan Kincaid. Never Stop was the track that would later have N'Dea Davenport's vocals added to it and break the Heavies in the US.

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• Sunship

Originally the on-tour keyboard player for the Brand New Heavies, Ceri Evans released just one single on Acid Jazz under the name Sunship. A driving instrumental obviously inspired by Herbie Hancock its innovative jazz-meets-dance feel evidenced a major talent - one unfortunately that would only really find expression in later albums for Filter records and as a don of the UK garage scene.

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• Rose Windross

Acid Jazz released a one-off single from the singer and co-writer of Soul II Soul?s ?Fairplay?. At the time Rose also promoted, bounced and danced her socks off at the popular mid-week club rave Yum Yum in London?s West End and was the retail manageress of a shop. The lyric to the soulful funky ?Living Life Your Own Way? not surprisingly reflect Rose?s determination at the time to forge a career on her own terms.

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• The Subterraneans

Marco Nelson - later of The Young Disciples - and Max Beesley - later of BBC TV's Tom Jones costume drama and Scary Spice fame - were the backbone of the Subterrraneans. Despite `Taurus Woman' being one of the most popular tracks to be featured on the Totally Wired series, it was a flop as a single and The Subterraneans soon disbanded. Acid Jazz's loss was Gilles Peterson's gain as Marco and Taurus Woman's vocalist Carleen Anderson went on to form The Young Disciples and release one of the 90s greatest albums.

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• Snowboy

Resplendent in quiff, black leather biker's jacket, drainpipe 501s and a pair of creepers Mark `Snowboy' Cotgrove didn't exactly look like your typical Acid Jazz signing he first appeared on the scene. His incredible knowledge of everything from northern soul to funk, jazz dance to all things latin allied with his inspired live conga playing soon got him noticed however and he eventually signed for Acid Jazz in 1989 staying with the label for 8 years and 5 albums. Snowboy continues to keep the jazz dance flag flying as promoter and dj at his Hi-Hat club nights at London's Jazz Cafe and around the world as well as recording for the US Ubiquity label and throwing in a bit of remixing and production work. Leroy Huston's Lucky Fellow and Sam Dee's Girl Overboard are two soul standards from the rare groove scene given the inimitable Snowboy treatment.

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• Mother Earth

Initially the brainchild of Eddie Piller's flatmate Bunny, Mother Earth incorporated elements of funk, blues, rock, jazz and mod into a sort of working man's Santana. Despite numerous line-up changes the group somehow kept going and, Bunny-less, produced an acclaimed 200,000selling second album from which we've taken the classic ballads `Jesse' and `Apple Tree'.

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• Apostles

The Apostles were an off shoot of JTQ, set up by the sax player, John Willmott along with Southend keyboard player John Dutton, who made one of the first successful album releases for the label. `Superstrut' being a laid back version of the Deodata jazz dance classic.

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• James Taylor Quartet

To many people the James Taylor Quartet were - and still are - the sound and vibe of Acid Jazz but despite their close connection to the label were not actually signed until 1994. Previous stints at Poydor's Urban label and then Big Life had helped establish the band's sales credentials but it was their raw Hammond-funk led live sound that Acid Jazz were looking for. We feature two of the group's finest workouts on `Good Thing' and `Creation'.

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• Vibraphonic

Formerly of popular live swing band the Chevalier Brothers, Roger Beaujolais originally approached Acid Jazz with a self-recorded latin jazz album in 1990. Determined to keep up with the scene, however, he went on to form Vibraphonic and release the acclaimed eponymous album from which we have taken the stand-out track `Trust Me' featuring the vocals of his chart-topping girlfriend of the time Alison Limerick.

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• Night Trains

Hugh Brooker's Night Trains were one of the first acts to be signed to Acid Jazz. Hugh also formed the Humble Souls with MC / rapper Wildski - splitting his time between both groups. The shuffling soulful groove and infectious lyrics of Lovesick from the Night Trains' second album augured well but the album never took off and despite a third album Hugh Brooker moved on to writing music for the movies.

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• New Jersey Kings

Another side project of JTQ allowing the group to get down to the funky Hammond led grooves they loved without the pressure of major labels' A&R men wondering where the next hit single was. Acid Jazz played their part by pretending that the New Jersey Kings were an unknown 70s organ group. Their track 'Spinning Wheel' is a cover of the classic Blood, Sweat And Tears

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• Pure Wildness

The story goes that an afro-american called Ricardo was behind this classic one-off soul track. Resplendent in cowboy boots and a Stetson, Ricardo would turn up intermittently while the track was being prepared for release but then disappeared completely on its release.

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• Ace Of Clubs

Ace Of Clubs were Jerry Marshall, an original member of the jazz dance outfit `IDJ' without whom no Acid Jazz night was complete and Paul Heard, later of M People fame. Everything Going To The Beat was an enormously influential track championed by the burgeoning house scene and DJs such as Todd Terry and Tony Humphries.

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• Emperor's New Clothes

Ahead of its time free jazz meets dub outfit that sadly never enjoyed much commercial success or critical acclaim. Tears Inside is a fine laid back soulful track with a hint of underlying menace that deserves its place amongst the more obvious tracks from the Heavies, JTQ et al as a sign yet again of the forward thinking ethos of the label. The band split after their third album.

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• The Humble Souls

Hugh Booker of Night Trains and MC / rapper Wildksi teamed up to form the Humble Souls. The funky infectious `Watch My Gardens Grow' is from the criminally underrated album `Birds, Things And Flowers'. Another one that got away.

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• Ohm

German Thomas Melchior was the man behind Ohm. Another one-off single, Sweet Ohm is a funky little number with a spoken almost electro introduction ? in German.

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• Mac Pac

Mac Pac was the brainchild of London-based keyboard player Cyrille McCammon. The laid back latin funk of Just Dream was reputedly a favourite at Acid Jazz.

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Marc Lessner was the head of the independent distribution company Soul Trader. He was Acid Jazz's first distributor - helping break the label and its first groups to independent stores throughout the UK.

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• Jamiroquai

Jamiroquai is probably the most well-known acid jazz group to the mainstream audience. However, it should be noted that only the first two albums (Emergency on Planet Earth and The Return of the Space Cowboy) have a distinct acid jazz sound, although the group's later albums have been more pop, funk and disco oriented.

Related Topics:
Emergency on Planet Earth - The Return of the Space Cowboy - Pop - Funk - Disco

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