Acid Jazz

Acid Jazz is one type genre within Jazz music which is fresh and quickly grabs the attention of younger generation. It specifically has the characteristic of fast beat.

This style is a melting pot from Funk Jazz, Fusion Jazz, R&B, Hip Hop, and EDM. Soul, house and disco music also play a role to mold the form of the beat of the style.

This genre is mostly influenced by jazz-funk electronic dance which was a buzz in the U.K. And therefore it is no surprise that there is a touch of soul, house music and disco in the arrangement of the song. This genre found its ground in late 1980s and 1990s in southern United Kingdom.

Improvisation of this style was mostly played in the southern England, playing groves of the late seventies and eighties. These improvisations were focusing on younger audience.

Gradually the development of bands using this grove divides the audience into two groups. The first group is those who are loyal to original jazz and soul style and the second group is those who were adaptable to the recordings of this style.

Electronic composition can be felt in the atmosphere throughout the song with sampling and DJ cutting and scratching to be part of the signature composition. Although not all Acid Jazz bands uses sampling or DJ mixes in their song arrangements.

And this is not only a studio creativity style which can only be played by a single person with a lot of high tech sound. The composition is playable in life performance with band musical instruments. It has the same atmosphere as it was originally arranged in the studio and it offers a grove that invites people to dance.

Musical instruments typical for this genre is DJ’s turntables, synthesizer, saxophone, flute, trumpet, trombone, clarinet, piano, electric guitar, electric bass, drums and strings.

Further creativity expanding this music genre resulted in other innovative style known as Nu Jazz, Nu-funk, and Trip hop. Acid jazz music groups such as Jamiroquai, The Brand new Heavies, Incognito, Urban Species and others incorporate jazz chords which are typically associated with Jazz music.

This next video is from The Brand New Heavies, performing their first single Never Stop, which reached 43rd position in the UK TOP 75 in October 1991.

This next video is the single from one of Acid Jazz famous group, Jamiroquai. The is “Cosmic Girl”. It was the second single of Jamiroquai's third studio album "Traveling Without Moving". It was released on November 1996.

This next video is from Incognito. The song is "Night Over Egypt", from their album "No Time like the Future". It reached 56th position on the UK chart in 1999.