> I paid the Greyboy page a visit and downloaded an article from the San
> Diego newspaper profiling the Greyboy Allstars. Here's an excerpt that's
> the focus of my question:
>
> >The Greyboys are a groove jazz band, although they are often referred to as
> >acid jazz. "We're from the acid jazz genre," says Karl Denson, band leader,
> >saxophonist and flutist extraordinaire. "But we've moved more in the
> >direction
> >of groove jazz."
>
> >Groove jazz, as the name might imply, is made up f a very dense, danceable
> >groove, and flavored with improvisatory work on top of that.
>
> Being an AJ neophyte (though I've come a long way since I first picked up
> Greyboy's *Freestylin'* four months ago), I'm curious how one
> differentiates between *acid jazz* and *groove jazz*. Is *GJ* an
> established, acknowledged term? (It seems it must be if Mr. Denson is
> using it.) I've only got *Freestylin'* and haven't heard the Allstars, so
> I don't have the whole evidence to base my own hypotheses on. Any help,
> ideas, opinions would be helpful.
Well first off, stay tuned to the Greyboy Web Page for more info on
where to obtain the other albums..The current Web Page will actually
transistion it's focus slightly to Greyboy Records, with information
about distributors and where you can get the current and upcoming
records. I'll try to post new info here as I get it too.
As far as labeling their music as Groove Jazz. I don't know...I don't
really think of Groove Jazz as a title or style of jazz, it's more of a
description...I think the purpose here is to attempt to give their music
a more apt description, because it is so special...As I've stated before,
you really have to check out one of their gigs...as it is with many
bands, live performances will really give you an idea of a band's talent
and character. The CD's are excellent, but they don't change. It's the
same songs on that CD. The Allstar's have a much larger repetoire than
available on CD, and they have a style of improvisation that's extremely
addicting. I absolutely love it!
Acid Jazz along with any other attempt to categorize music often limits
that music. I mean Acid Jazz encompasses a large variety of music...just
like Jazz in general, or rock, or classical, etc. Groove jazz is just
trying to say that it's not necessarily like other Acid Jazz you've
heard..I've heard a lot of Acid Jazz lately that seems to have a lot of
Hip Hop influence, and although I don't mind that, it doesn't really blow
my mind. I think the Allstars at times attribute some of that Hip Hop
influence, but in a totally different manner. I sometimes relate them to
Fusion more than anything else, but when it comes right down to it, these
guys are capable of taking the music all the way to another level. It can
only be witnessed!
Tim (tca@cerfnet.com)