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Bringing jazz to the kids
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This review first appeared in the October 27, 1995 issue of the North County Blade-Citizen (now North County Times).
Acid jazz is the future of jazz – a highly syncopated, danceable melding of a hip-hop beat, rap vocals and the defining characteristic of jazz: virtuosic solo instrumental improvisation. For the first time in a half-century, kids are dancing to jazz again; young blacks are turning on to the music in droves; and jazz is seen is, well, hip.
The Jazzhole's second album has a stronger streak of funk than last year's debut, with shades of Parliament, the Ohio Players and Tower of Power (some of the original purveyors of acid jazz in the '70s).
This is still urban jazz for the '90s, with rap the main ingredient that gives it its flavor. The album is presented as a radio show, and it works pretty well – there are even "callers" into the station to provide breaks in the intense music. As heavy as the beats are, those breaks are needed to give the listener a chance to catch up.