The Acid Jazz 'sound' (wuz: Re: Beginner)

Elson Trinidad (ertrinid@skat.usc.edu)
Fri, 8 Dec 1995 15:28:50 -0800 (PST)


On Fri, 8 Dec 1995, Tim Arland wrote:
> influence. That doesn't bother me, and I actually do like it, but it
> just doesn't grab me the same way the REAL GOOD jazz fusion/acid
> jazz/groove music does like the Greyboy Allstars...Not without it's hip
> hop influences....

Interesting case - I have their "West Coast Boogaloo" album and I'm
trying to differentiate their sound from the sound of, say, 20 or so
years ago.

It turns out that the funk/jazz/fusion bands of the 70s were just doing
their kind of music with the instruments and technology available at the
time. With the Greyboy Allstars, I don't hear so much of a 'hip hop
influence' per se, but I *do* hear an intended sound - the *choice* use
of Rhodes electric piano, a Slingerland-ish drum kit, etc. I also notice
that in the mix, the drums aren't very loud and there's very little use
of reverb (actually more of a current trend; lots of 90s music is doing
this). So, I don't notice a real 'hip-hop' influence, but I do notice an
influence of the production methods of Greyboy, who through his DJing is
exposed to a lot of 70s-era records.

Elson