Mark Turner (nugroove@pacbell.net)
Sat, 08 Jan 2000 12:16:23 -0500
Hi folks,
I'm a bit late jumping in to this introductions thread because I've been on
the road. (In fact, I think I missed the original post altogether.) But
here 'goes...
Thanks to Leslie Shill (wink wink), I'm not the oldest person on the list,
but certainly close, at the ripe old age of 40. Started out listening to
hard rock and progressive rock, then punk and new wave in the late 70's. I
credit the Talking Heads with first opening my ears to the joys of black
music. Then I took a college course in the history of jazz, and never
looked back. From about 1979-1981, I hosted a classic jazz radio show on
my college station (KGOU in Norman, Oklahoma). Moved to California in the
late 80's, and started getting into the underground dance/electronic scene
(acid house, ambient house, progressive house, etc.). I steered clear of
anything labeled "acid jazz" for a while because the concept just sounded
too cheesy. But when I finally picked up Instinct's THIS IS ACID JAZZ, I
was hooked. I could see a definite musical link to some of my favorite
mid-80's artists like (early) Simply Red, Sade, and of course The Style
Council. I guess I'm one of the few people on the list who didn't get into
this music via the Brand New Heavies. Truthfully I've never really cared
for them, nor Jamiroquai, two of the more popular "acid jazz" artists.
(Sorry if I've alienated anybody.) For me there's always been a fine line
between perfect pop and calculated commerciality, and those two artists
often fall on the wrong side of the line, as far as I'm concerned.
I've always considered myself a musical pluralist, though, and the best
thing I can say about "acid jazz" at this point is how the concept seems to
have expanded well beyond the "retro" sound it used to have, to encompass
all kinds of genre-crossing and other experimentation. That's what keeps
me interested in the music.
As many of you know, since 1998 I've hosted a show on KJFC (www.kfjc.org)
called "Jazzadelica," which attempts to cover the whole spectrum of black-
and jazz-inspired musics. Many of you have written to me privately about
where to find the show archives, but unfortunately KFJC does not currently
archive its programming. However, I do invite you to listen to the show
live, either over-the-air or via the internet on Sundays from 10pm-2am
Pacific Time. I welcome any and all feedback or questions about the
program or my playlists. (This weekend I will not be doing the show,
though, as I'm still out of town.)
I certainly appreciate all the information I've gleaned from the acid-jazz
listees over the years, and hope that I have provided useful information to
you as well. Let's hope the list continues to flourish in 2000!
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b3 on Sat Jan 08 2000 - 18:21:11 MET