Guru
Jazzmatazz, Volume 1

THE REVIEW

Jazzmatazz, a play on words that titles one of the most rap albums of the 90s.
Jazzmatazz is Guru, the other half of Gangstarr Foundation to be clear, executive producer and creative mind behind the album.
Guru is not the rapper from the ghetto: Guru, like Spike Lee, comes from the middle class (yes, even African-Americans have a middle class), perhaps that's why jazz could become part of his cultural luggage.
Niggaz don't listen to jazz (with all due respect for the niggaz), they need it to be pre-digested for them.
Hip hop and its culture are real, true, just like jazz is, with unquestionable connections.
Before Guru, only the Stetsasonic; the Roots and the Digable Planets are practically contemporaries; the US 3 operation was too slick to be credible (even though it carried the imprimatur of Blue Notes).

In 1993 this gem was released in stores, presented by Guru in the introductory track: “Peace yo’ and welcome to Jazzmatazz. An experimental fusion of hip hop and live jazz.” Simpler than that! And off it goes, listing all the guests featured on the album: enough to herald something unheard of and absolutely delightful.

In random order: Donald Byrd (trumpeter who played with John Coltrane, Thelonius Monk, just to name a couple); Roy Ayers (the most important living jazz vibraphonist); Ronny Jordan (pioneer guitarist of acid jazz), Courtney Pine, Lonnie Liston Smith (pianist who collaborated with Miles Davis and Pharaoah Sanders), Gary Barnacle (world-renowned saxophonist and session man), Mc Solaar (the most famous non-Anglophone rapper on the planet), 'Ndea Davenport (voice of Brand New Heavies).

Is that enough?