One of the things that have kept me quite busy was participating in the
Clarksville West End Jazz Festival in Austin. I've included a review
from The Austin Chronicle for those interested in checking out the
activities. Interesting to see a music critic's perspective on the
scene.
PEACE:
http://www.insync.net/~djsun
The following was reviewed in the 6/20/97 issue of The Austin Chronicle:
ACID JAZZ SHOWCASE
Caucus Club, June 13
"The further jazz moves away from the stark blue continuum and the
collective realities of Afro-American and American life, the more it
moves into academic concert-hall lifelessness, which can be replicated
by any middle class showing off its music lessons."
Amiri Baraka's bold statement about jazz and its future was
certainly relevant to the Acid Jazz Showcase, a welcome component to the
Clarksville Jazz Fest. The "collective realities" of the milieu that
created and developed jazz as a style is the same environment that
created and developed funk, rap, hip hop, et. al. Acid Jazz can, on
one hand, be viewed as a contemporary bridge between jazz and some of
these more recently formed African-American art forms. On the other
hand, it functions the same way its components do -- creating something
new by combining existing forms. Folk blues begat jazz, blues begat rock
& roll, rap begat hip hop, etc. Likewise, all of these elements (plus a
few others) begat acid jazz, a style that's been around, in name at
least, for about a decade. In fact, two newer styles -- jungle and trip
hop -- are but branches from the burgeoning acid jazz tree. But what the
hell is "acid jazz" anyway?
That's a good question, and like all good questions, the answer you
get depends on whom you ask. Acid jazz is not jazz in the common sense
of the word, but rather jazz played live and/or mixed with groove-laden
back tracks. It's music that's more visceral than cerebral. And that's
about as specific as it gets -- that and what Concerto Grosso
and DJ Sun did at the Acid Jazz Showcase at the Caucus Club. Consisting
of horns, guitar, steel drum, and bass, Concerto Grosso, lead by local
trumpet sensation Ephraim Owens, could share the bill with most jazz
bands in town. Quite simply, they smoked. While they took a break, the
audience was treated to Houston's DJ Sun and his turntable magic. Sun,
originally from the Netherlands via Suriname, skillfully mixed
the beats and sounds on two turntables, producing a veritable groove
synthesis.
Slowly, members of Concerto Grosso began playing along with DJ
Sun's mixed tracks, starting with the tenor sax blowing over the top of
Sun's chunky tracks, blending so naturally that you'd swear the horn you
were hearing was on vinyl. Next, other members of the group started
playing until the stage pumped out complex and rewarding sounds from the
small orchestra. I don't know how much, if any, the band practiced with
Sun, but it certainly sounded like they were joined at the hip. While
they weren't as responsive to the mixed tracks as much as the live
music, the audience couldn't help but move to the headboppin' goodness
pouring forth. The Acid Jazz Showcase is an important part of the
Clarksville Jazz Fest: It demonstrates that the fest organizers are
willing to showcase one of jazz's more recently formed progenies, one
that deserves wider exposure here in Austin.
-- David Lynch