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6. "just say no" of the week:
One should be wary of a genre label that musicians don't suspect.
Get Massive Attack or Wagon Christ or, for that matter, Anthony Braxton
talking and they'll discount the viability of "trip-hop," "ambient,"
"jazz" and every other rubric that's been invented. But there's something
about "acid jazz" that rings like a cash register in some musicians'
ears. The urge to reconcile hip-hop and jazz is a worthy one, and the
artistic challenges are exciting, but the resulting flood of releases
speaks of profit motives, not aesthetic ones. Thus, 'THE NEW GROOVE: THE
BLUES NOTE REMIX PROJECT, VOL. 1' (Blue Note, 4/2), the esteemed label's
imminent disgrace, on which renowned hip-hop types (Guru, Spearhead,
Large Professor) raid the Blue Note catalog (Gene Harris, Lonnie Smith,
Cannonball Adderley) and remix some classics ("Listen Hear," "Move Your
Hand, "Hummin'"). The result is an embarrassing mash of conflicting
sensibilities. Few of the tracks pretend to be anything more than a jazz
cut with a couple of beats and the odd rap grafted on. There's no formal
pleasure to be found, no acknowledgement of the tension between studio
refinement and improvisatory grace, between cooked and raw. Just beats
and bleats -- pass the mic. Reportedly, the label will release only a
vinyl edition, no doubt to build an "underground" buzz. (Howzabout six
feet under?) Expect a "by-popular-demand" CD edition to follow.
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Somebody tell me it isn't this bad!
-- Mark Turner mturner@netcom.com