V.A. Saturday

In 1991 U.S. label 4th And Broadway, a subsidiary of Island Records with a focus on American dance music, pulled together a various artists compilation that tried to capitalise on the then recent upsurge in rap artists inspired by and sampling jazz. There was something in the air in the USA and the UK in the late 80s/ early 90s, jazz being mined for sounds, for styles and for substance- Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing may have been part of this, the DAISY Age hip hop groups (De la Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, The Jungle Brothers), the London based Acid Jazz label with acts like Galliano and Young Disciples. 

The album was released as The Rebirth Of Cool, the title a play on Miles Davis' 1957 album Birth Of The Cool, and featured fourteen jazz inspired, jazz sampling or jazz adjacent songs. I loved it, bought it in the summer of '91 and played it endlessly, sometimes going into the north west's boutique shops and wondering if I could get away with something a little jazz flavoured- a button up Gabicci style cardigan maybe. The graphics of jazz were beginning to find their way into flyers and the acid jazz sound would feed into what would become trip hop. The album was a mix of U.S. and U.K. acts, opening with Gang Starr's Jazz Thing, the foundation stone of the album really. Gang Starr were a great hip hop duo, GURU and DJ Premier's stripped down sound, two turntables and a microphone, GURU's easy lyrical flow and the short songs, a sound I loved for several of their albums. Jazz Thing (first released in 1990) works as a primer, sampled jazz drums and basslines, and rhymes that celebrate the jazz music of the 1930s, 40s, 50s and 60s- Bessie Smith, Theolonius Monk, Max Roach, John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, Sonny Rollins, Betty Carter- before concluding, 'the 90s will be the decade of a jazz thing'. 

Jazz Thing

Side 1 then unfolds with tracks from X- Clan, MC Mell'O', Soho, Dream Warriors, Izit and Galliano. Side 2 starts with Young Disciples, doyens of the London Acid Jazz label and scene- their song Apparently Nothin' was a hit in '91 and launched Carleen Anderson as a solo artist. On The Rebirth Of Cool they were represented by Step Right On, dusty early 90s funk with a jazzy feel and some Jimmy Smith style organ, James Brown and Roy Ayres samples and rap courtesy of London group Outlaw Posse. 

Step Right On

Side 2 has further jazz/ hip hop grooves from A Tribe Called Quest, Skatemaster Tate, Laquan, Caveman and Young MC and one from Stetsasonic, Talkin' All That Jazz, a track dating back to 1988. All That Jazz was a response to critics of hip hop who claimed that sampling was lazy, an act that showed those who did it lacked true musical talent. Stetsasonic bite back, led by producer Prince Paul, and over a sax and looped jazz drums and bass, fire off rhymes in all directions, placing hip hop and rap in the tradition of jazz, funk and soul.

Talkin' All That Jazz

The Rebirth Of Cool came back with further volumes The Rebirth Of Cool Too and then on, up to at least Volume 7. I bailed after the first, the law of diminishing returns setting in fairly quickly- and there were so many other things were going on in 1991 and into 1992.