AP News article on Liquid Soul
Gen Kanai (gkanai@earthlink.net)
Fri, 22 Aug 1997 14:39:38 -0700 (PDT)
Acid Jazz Grows, Gains Respect
By PAUL TOLME
Associated Press Writer
NEWPORT, R.I. (AP) _ From Dennis Rodman's star-studded birthday
bash to an outdoor stage at President Clinton's inauguration, the
10-piece acid jazz band Liquid Soul has played some unique gigs.
But its last big show may have been the most important for acid
jazz, a musical form that fuses jazz horns and improvisation, funk
bass lines, turntable scratching, hip-hop beats, rap lyrics and
even poetry.
Liquid Soul played at the recent JVC Jazz Festival in Newport,
where thousands of fans have come since 1954 to hear legends and
up-and-comers perform in the seaside community known for its lavish
mansions.
The appearance by the Chicago band, which is gaining recognition
as one of the country's top acid jazz acts, marked the first time
organizers have reserved a stage for acid jazz.
It was a breakthrough in terms of respect for acid jazz, Liquid
Soul saxophonist and band leader Mars Williams said.
``Jazz is becoming fun again. We like to say we're bringing it
back to the dance floor, where it was in the '40s and '50s when it
was America's pop music,'' he said. ``Somewhere along the line it
got really snobby.''
Williams doesn't care that some consider acid jazz merely pop
music.
``It's not jazz in the traditional sense, but I think it's being
recognized as a new form of jazz. The improvisational aspect of it
definitely is jazz oriented,'' he said.
Festival organizers say they invited Liquid Soul and Brooklyn
Funk Essentials for reasons of ``culture and commerce.'' The acts
attract a younger crowd, and other festivals have included acid
jazz bands for several years.
Acid jazz never will appeal to ``jazz purists,'' said Art
Edelstein, a senior producer for the event.
``It's got elements of dance music and improvisation and it
definitely appeals to a broad spectrum of listeners,'' he said.
``Part of the reason we haven't done this sooner in Newport is
because acid jazz is something that has been developing over the
last three or four years.''
Williams said the term ``acid jazz'' can mean anything from
stage bands like his to DJ acts that rely on the sampling of jazz
recordings.
``I like to say we go beyond acid jazz,'' Williams said. ``We'll
take jazz standards and put them to a hip-hop beat. We'll do a
Latin tune or something with a Mideast flavor to it.''
The band's performances in downtown Chicago nightclubs attract
an unconventional mix of fans.
Rodman, the pierced and tattooed Chicago Bulls basketball star,
invited Liquid Soul to play his birthday party last year, where
Williams was joined on stage by Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam and John
Popper of Blues Traveler.
``It was kind of a wild night,'' Williams said.
Liquid Soul played to more than 100,000 people during Clinton's
latest inaugural parade after becoming a favorite of young
Democratic National Committee staff members who heard the band
while in Chicago for last year's Democratic National Convention.
In Newport, Liquid Soul played at the Hotel Viking Ballroom.
Organizers say acid jazz acts could play on the main stage before
10,000 fans in a few years.
Regardless of what purists think, acid jazz will expose a new
generation of fans to jazz, Williams said.
``A lot of people get scared of jazz. The younger generation
hears the word `jazz' and I don't know what goes through their
minds.
``They'll hear us play a Miles Davis tune and say, `I loved
that.' We'll say, `Well, it's not ours, it's Miles Davis,' and
they'll go out and buy a Miles Davis album.''
Writing songs for Liquid Soul is part free-for-all and part
traditional musical composition, with the classically trained
Williams often bringing full pieces to the band.
``We're trying to write more stuff freestyle,'' Williams said.
``To open up a set the DJ will be spinning something and the
drummer will start playing along with the record and the bass will
join in and twist the bass line, and the DJ will take the record
off and put on another and the guitar will come in and I'll be over
in the corner with the horns with about 30 seconds to work out a
horn section,'' he said.
The band was pieced together after Williams and DJ Jesse De La
Pena began jamming together at a Sunday night show at Chicago's
Elbo Room, then the larger Double Door.
Liquid Soul's other players are: Ron Haynes on trumpet, John
Janowiak on trombone, Frankie Hill on keyboards, Dan Leali on
drums, Rickie Showalter on bass, Tom Sanchez on guitar, The Dirty
MF on raps and Omega on vocals. The band has released a self-titled
debut and a new CD is due in January.
``You can look at our resume and see all the different styles,''
Williams said. ``Liquid Soul is perfect for incorporating these
many sounds. It's a melting pot of sounds, a liquidy mix.''
Bill Pierce, chairman of the woodwind department at the renowned
Berklee College of Music in Boston, said acid jazz has allowed many
of his school's graduates to make a living.
``If it makes jazz more accessible to a younger audience, that's
good,'' he said. ``It's just jazz with a groovier kind of rhythmic
foundation.''
Brooklyn Funk Essentials, which is working on a follow-up to its
debut CD, ``Cool and Steady and Easy,'' has played festivals in
Europe and was excited to play Newport, ``probably the most
prestigious,'' bassist Lati Kronlund said.
The band's other members are poet Everton Sylvester,
percussionist E.J. Rodriguez, trombonist Joshua Roseman,
fluegelhorn player Bob Brockman, saxophonist Paul Shapiro, vocalist
Sha-key and DJ Jazzy Nice on turntables.
Although he doesn't care for the term ``acid jazz,'' coined in
jest in the early '90s by experimental club DJs, Kronlund said fans
are beginning to differentiate between live acts like his and
studio-produced music.
``Originally, acid jazz was a DJ thing, but this is a live band.
We don't use any recorded loops or samples on stage,'' Kronlund
said. ``To a lot of people, if there's a saxophone in there, it's
jazz.''
AP-NY-08-21-97 1202EDT
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