The Best of Guru's Jazzmatazz | ||||
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Greatest hits album by | ||||
Released | February 12, 2008 | |||
Genre | Hip hop, jazz rap | |||
Label | Virgin/EMI | |||
Producer | Guru, Various (See individual Jazzmatazz albums) | |||
Guru chronology | ||||
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The Best of Guru's Jazzmatazz is a greatest hits album released by Guru on Virgin Records. This compilation includes tracks from the first three volumes of the Jazzmatazz series, as well as remixes and alternate versions. Tracks 1-6 & 17 (1993), Tracks 7-11 & 18 (1995), & Tracks 12-16 (2000).
Keith Edward Elam, better known by his stage name Guru, was an American rapper and record producer. He was a member of the hip hop duo Gang Starr, along with DJ Premier. He was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts.
Jazz rap is a fusion of jazz and hip hop music, as well as an alternative hip hop subgenre, that developed in the late 1980s and early 1990s. AllMusic writes that the genre "was an attempt to fuse African-American music of the past with a newly dominant form of the present, paying tribute to and reinvigorating the former while expanding the horizons of the latter." The rhythm was rooted in hip hop over which were placed repetitive phrases of jazz instrumentation: trumpet, double bass, etc. Groups involved in the formation of jazz rap included A Tribe Called Quest, Digable Planets, De La Soul, Gang Starr, The Roots, Jungle Brothers, and Dream Warriors.
The Brand New Heavies is an acid jazz and funk group formed in 1985 in Ealing in west London. Centered around songwriters/multi-instrumentalists Simon Bartholomew and Andrew Levy, the core members of the group since its founding, Brand New Heavies are best known for a string of successful singles in the early 1990s featuring N'Dea Davenport as lead vocalist.
Jazzmatazz Volume 1 is the debut solo studio album by American hip hop recording artist Guru. It was released on May 18, 1993 through Chrysalis Records. Recording sessions took place at D&D Studios in New York. Production was handled by Guru himself, who also served as executive producer together with Duff Marlowe and Patrick Moxey.
Acid jazz, also known as club jazz, is a music genre that combines elements of funk, soul, hip hop, as well as jazz and disco. Acid jazz originated in clubs in London during the 1980s with the rare groove movement and spread to the United States, Japan, Eastern Europe, and Brazil. Acts included The Brand New Heavies, D'Influence, Incognito, Us3, and Jamiroquai from the UK and Buckshot LeFonque and Digable Planets from the U.S. The rise of electronic club music in the middle to late 1990s led to a decline in interest, and in the twenty-first century, the movement became indistinct as a genre. Many acts that might have been defined as acid jazz are seen as jazz-funk, neo soul, or jazz rap.
N'Dea Davenport is an American singer, songwriter, dancer and producer. She was the lead vocalist in the UK acid jazz band the Brand New Heavies and made pioneering contributions to the genre of acid jazz.
Jazzmatazz is a series of hip hop and jazz recordings from American rapper Guru.
Jazzmatazz, Volume II is the second solo studio album by American hip hop musician Guru. It was released on July 18, 1995 through Chrysalis Records as the second installment of the rapper's Jazzmatazz album series.
Guru's Jazzmatazz: Streetsoul is the third solo studio album by American hip hop musician Guru. It was released on October 3, 2000 via Virgin Records as the third installment of Guru's Jazzmatazz album series. Production was handled by Gang Starr, The Neptunes, Agallah, DJ Scratch, Erykah Badu, J Dilla, The Roots and Victor Flowers.
Carleen Cassandra Anderson is an American singer and musician. She is known for her work with the Young Disciples and numerous collaborations. Her distinguished solo career began in 1992. She is the acclaimed composer, writer and producer of futuristic operas. Carleen Anderson is the daughter of the singer Vicki Anderson, stepdaughter of Bobby Byrd and goddaughter of James Brown.
Forever Everlasting is the debut solo studio album by American recording artist Everlast. It was released on March 27, 1990 via Warner Bros. Records. The eleven track full-length album features a remix song of his 1988 single "Syndication", and singles "Never Missin' a Beat", "The Rhythm" and "I Got the Knack". Single "The Rhythm" featured guest appearances from his Rhyme Syndicate bandmates Donald D and Ice-T, as well as an early appearance from the Brand New Heavies singer N'Dea Davenport who is credited as "Diva", and "I Got the Knack" featured scratches provided by DJ Lethal, whom he would later join to form House of Pain.
Straight No Chaser is a British music magazine based in London. Originally published between 1988 and 2007, it restarted publishing in mid 2017 in a limited edition format, released once a year. The magazine covers various forms of black music and electronic music.
Babylon Istanbul is a music venue located in Istanbul, Turkey. It was opened by Pozitif on April 23, 1999 with a concert by John Lurie & the Lounge Lizards . In 2010, Babylon launched its Lounge restaurant, which is located just a street behind the main venue. They started "happy hours", warm-ups and after parties hosted by various DJs, before and after the concerts in Babylon. In earlier hours before the concerts, the audience can have a sit in the restaurant and have a dinner.
Kollage is the debut studio album by the American hip-hop artist, Bahamadia. The album was released on April 2, 1996, by Chrysalis Records. Kollage peaked at number 3 on the Billboard Heatseekers, a music chart that features up-and-coming recording artists.
Hank Mobley with Donald Byrd and Lee Morgan is an album by jazz saxophonist Hank Mobley released on the Blue Note label in 1957 as BLP 1540. It was recorded on November 25, 1956 and features Mobley along with trumpeters Donald Byrd and Lee Morgan, pianist Horace Silver, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Charli Persip.
My Conception is an album by jazz pianist Sonny Clark, recorded for the Blue Note label and performed by Clark with Donald Byrd, Hank Mobley, Paul Chambers, and Art Blakey. It was originally released in 1979 in Japan, as GXF 3056, featuring six tracks recorded in 1959 including an alternate take of "Royal Flush", appeared on Cool Struttin'. The 2000 limited CD reissue also comprised the three additional tracks originally recorded for Sonny Clark Quintets, an album which never saw the light of the day until being released later only in Japan.
Mustang! is an album by American trumpeter Donald Byrd featuring performances by Byrd with Sonny Red, Hank Mobley, McCoy Tyner, Walter Booker, and Freddie Waits recorded in 1966 and released on the Blue Note label in 1967 as BLP 4238. The CD reissue included two bonus tracks recorded in 1964.
Kofi is an album by American trumpeter Donald Byrd featuring performances by Byrd with Frank Foster, Lew Tabackin, Duke Pearson, Ron Carter, Bob Cranshaw, Airto Moreira, Wally Richardson, and Mickey Roker recorded in 1969 and 1970 and released on the Blue Note label in 1995.
Bluebird, also released later as The Trio with Guests (1956) and Hank's Pranks (1962), is an album by American jazz pianist Hank Jones recorded in 1955 for the Savoy label.
Malik Turner is an American rapper and producer from Fayetteville, NC, who came to prominence in the 1990s as a rapper. He is known for his politically aware, socially conscious lyrics, and sample heavy production. Malik is the other half of the duo, "Malik Turner and DJ Master Jam". The duo was formed in the early 1990s when Malik and DJ, Master Jam were college students at Cheyney University. In 1992 Malik and Jam, along with two friends, Allen "Nadir" Muhammad and Milton "Fahyim" Sharp formed "Son of Man Productions". In 1994, with the support of Guru from Gang Starr, and DJ Sean Ski, Son of Man Productions released the classic independent single, No More 9 to 5 and The Last Days of Wax on their own label "Mpacked Sounds". The classic record was mastered by mastering engineer Tony Dawsey. Mpacked Sounds focused on a more independent label and artist ownership position in their music, during a time when their peers were interested in seeking record deals from major labels. At the time Billboard noted the lead single "No More 9 to 5", for having top 40 single potential and hip hop magazines like Rap Sheet and Rap Pages featured Malik and Master Jam as a rising duo to look out for. Projects with Mpacked Sounds led to opportunities to share the stage with the likes of Brand Nubian, the Fu-Schnickens, Black Sheep, Poor Righteous Teachers, Da Bush Babees, The U.M.C.'s, Rakim, and others.