Thursday, December 11, 2003
history 101: the story of acid jazz
[+] Who coined the phrase Acid Jazz?
The term was originally coined by DJ Gilles Peterson at one of Nicky Holloway's Special Branch gigs at the Watermans Arts Centre in Brentford in late 1987.
Nicky's Special Branch gigs had already been going for 2 or 3 years and
attracted both suburban dwellers and a London crowd. As well as up and
coming guest DJs like Gilles Peterson and Chris Bangs, Nicky decorated his
clubs with slide shows on the walls. At one particular gig just as Gilles
and Chris were about to start their set of funky jazz, soul and latin
Gilles looked up at the visuals and pronounced 'acid jazz'. As simple as
that - no rhyme or reason for it - just an off-the-cuff remark
[+] What was the club scene like at the time?
London and the suburbs had various different scenes at the time - rare
groove, house, jazz dance and two step soul. The acid jazzers embraced the
afro-american music of all these other scenes and began to put their own
twist on the music.
[+] How did Acid Jazz Records come about?
Eddie Piller was the manager of James Taylor Quartet - the hottest act on
the acid jazz circuit at the time - when he met Gilles Peterson at one of the Special Branch club nights and subsequently went on to become part of Gilles’ circle, answering phones on his Mad On Jazz programme, doing warm-up slots at his Wag nights and so on. Eventually the duo decided to start up a label to release acts from the burgeoning acid jazz scene.
[+] What was the first release on Acid Jazz?
The first release was Galliano's `Frederick Lies Still' a take on Curtis
Mayfield's `Freddie's Dead' - an ever popular track on the rare groove
scene. It was officially released in June 1988, 500 7” dinked middle copies having previously been sold by hand from November 1987.
[+] How did word spread about Acid Jazz?
A combination of a very healthy club scene, Gilles's Tuesday night radio
show on GLR and the support of enthusiastic journalists like Dave
Swindells at Time Out helped spread the word about the scene. There were
also a lot of bands that would come and play at the club nights - bands
like the James Taylor Quartet, the Jazz Warriors, Mark Murphy, Courtney
Pine and so on - all of which helped energise the scene. It would be wrong
though to think that clubbers were part of a scene known as `acid jazz' -
at the time (as is the case with so many musical movements) clubbers were
just into a certain mix of music and found it at club nights like Nicky
Holloway's Special Branch and Gilles Peterson's and Chris Bang's Cock
Happy.
The worldwide use of the phrase acid jazz was still some way away.
[+] Why did `acid jazz' become so popular?
There's a whole host of reasons as to why acid jazz was such a lengthy and
successful scene and why acid jazz compilations still sell so well today.
First up there were a lot of talented people in the scene - the djs we've
mentioned, Gilles Peterson and Eddie Piller whose excellent ears for music
allied with an ability to move fast and take risks brought forward a whole
host of talented musicians and producers - many of whom have continued to
be successful to this day. Additionally we should mention the friendly
inclusive nature of the scene which attracted both men and women, whites
and blacks, Londoners and suburbanites and people from working and middle
class backgrounds. Lastly, as we've mentioned before, the unique mix of
afro-american music drew people from many other scenes such as mod, rare
groove, jazz dance, two-step and so on.
[+] Was acid jazz largely a London and the home counties scene?
Not at all. Acid Jazz quickly spread around the country with DJs like Russ
Dewbury in Brighton and Baz Fe Jazz in Birmingham.
:: Sleevenotes of The Story Of Acid Jazz
as told to Steve Bunyan by Marc Lessner ::
[+] Who coined the phrase Acid Jazz?
The term was originally coined by DJ Gilles Peterson at one of Nicky Holloway's Special Branch gigs at the Watermans Arts Centre in Brentford in late 1987.
Nicky's Special Branch gigs had already been going for 2 or 3 years and
attracted both suburban dwellers and a London crowd. As well as up and
coming guest DJs like Gilles Peterson and Chris Bangs, Nicky decorated his
clubs with slide shows on the walls. At one particular gig just as Gilles
and Chris were about to start their set of funky jazz, soul and latin
Gilles looked up at the visuals and pronounced 'acid jazz'. As simple as
that - no rhyme or reason for it - just an off-the-cuff remark
[+] What was the club scene like at the time?
London and the suburbs had various different scenes at the time - rare
groove, house, jazz dance and two step soul. The acid jazzers embraced the
afro-american music of all these other scenes and began to put their own
twist on the music.
[+] How did Acid Jazz Records come about?
Eddie Piller was the manager of James Taylor Quartet - the hottest act on
the acid jazz circuit at the time - when he met Gilles Peterson at one of the Special Branch club nights and subsequently went on to become part of Gilles’ circle, answering phones on his Mad On Jazz programme, doing warm-up slots at his Wag nights and so on. Eventually the duo decided to start up a label to release acts from the burgeoning acid jazz scene.
[+] What was the first release on Acid Jazz?
The first release was Galliano's `Frederick Lies Still' a take on Curtis
Mayfield's `Freddie's Dead' - an ever popular track on the rare groove
scene. It was officially released in June 1988, 500 7” dinked middle copies having previously been sold by hand from November 1987.
[+] How did word spread about Acid Jazz?
A combination of a very healthy club scene, Gilles's Tuesday night radio
show on GLR and the support of enthusiastic journalists like Dave
Swindells at Time Out helped spread the word about the scene. There were
also a lot of bands that would come and play at the club nights - bands
like the James Taylor Quartet, the Jazz Warriors, Mark Murphy, Courtney
Pine and so on - all of which helped energise the scene. It would be wrong
though to think that clubbers were part of a scene known as `acid jazz' -
at the time (as is the case with so many musical movements) clubbers were
just into a certain mix of music and found it at club nights like Nicky
Holloway's Special Branch and Gilles Peterson's and Chris Bang's Cock
Happy.
The worldwide use of the phrase acid jazz was still some way away.
[+] Why did `acid jazz' become so popular?
There's a whole host of reasons as to why acid jazz was such a lengthy and
successful scene and why acid jazz compilations still sell so well today.
First up there were a lot of talented people in the scene - the djs we've
mentioned, Gilles Peterson and Eddie Piller whose excellent ears for music
allied with an ability to move fast and take risks brought forward a whole
host of talented musicians and producers - many of whom have continued to
be successful to this day. Additionally we should mention the friendly
inclusive nature of the scene which attracted both men and women, whites
and blacks, Londoners and suburbanites and people from working and middle
class backgrounds. Lastly, as we've mentioned before, the unique mix of
afro-american music drew people from many other scenes such as mod, rare
groove, jazz dance, two-step and so on.
[+] Was acid jazz largely a London and the home counties scene?
Not at all. Acid Jazz quickly spread around the country with DJs like Russ
Dewbury in Brighton and Baz Fe Jazz in Birmingham.
:: Sleevenotes of The Story Of Acid Jazz
as told to Steve Bunyan by Marc Lessner ::
