Acid jazz

Acid jazz, also known as club jazz, is a musical genre that combines elements of jazz, soul, funk and disco. Acid jazz originated in the London club scene of the mid-1980s in the rare groove movement and spread to the US, Japan, Eastern Europe and Brazil. Major acts included Brand New Heavies, Incognito, Us3 and Jamiroquai from the UK and A Tribe Called Quest, Buckshot LeFonque and Digable Planets from the US. The rise of electronic club music in the mid to late 1990s led to a decline in interest, and in the twenty-first century, the movement became indistinct as a genre. Many acts that might have been defined as acid jazz are now seen as jazz-funk, neo soul or jazz rap.

Name and characteristics

Various origins have been attributed to the name of the genre, including claims to have coined the term by DJs Gilles Peterson and Chris Bangs. The name is a play on the acid house genre, which was flourishing in the UK club scene in the 1980s.

Acid jazz consisted of two related movements. The first was based around records released by DJs and producers that included rare jazz tracks, particularly from the 1960s and 1970s, often mixing them with percussion tracks and electronic dance beats. The second were groups influenced by these recordings and who emphasised a groove-based approach to music. Acid jazz uses elements of jazz, funk and hip-hop. Because of its existence as a percussion-heavy, primarily live music, it was closer to jazz than any other dance style, but its focus on maintaining a groove allied it with funk, hip-hop, and dance music. The style is characterised by danceable grooves, and long, repetitive compositions. Typical ensembles include horns, a full rhythm section (often with a drum set and additional percussion), a vocalist that may sing and rap and often a DJ.

Da Soul Touchaz

Da Soul Touchaz is a professional wrestling alliance, currently consisting of American professional wrestlers Acid Jaz, Marshe Rockett, Willie Richardson and manager C. Red. The group is best known for working for Chikara, but has also worked for promotions such as Dragon Gate USA, Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South and various other independent promotions.

Originally forming on the independent circuit in the Illinois–area, the group has worked majority of its existence as babyface and has had its members hold numerous titles in promotions such as Stars & Stripes Wrestling, Vanguard Wrestling All–Star Alliance and Windy City Pro Wrestling. A major part of the group's gimmick involves its entrance, during which its members are known for doing the "Soulja Boy dance" from "Crank That (Soulja Boy)", which was also their entrance theme.

History

Chikara (2008–present)

After their formation on the Illinois–independent circuit, Da Soul Touchaz, being represented by Acid Jaz, Marshe Rockett, Willie Richardson and their manager C. Red, made their debut for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania–based Chikara on March 1, 2008, entering the 2008 King of Trios tournament. After defeating Team BSE (Kobra Kai, La Sombra Canadiense and Super Xtremo) in the first round, they were eliminated from the tournament later that same day by F.I.S.T. (Chuck Taylor, Gran Akuma and Icarus). The group returned to Chikara in June 2008, with Marshe Rockett entering the sixth Young Lions Cup tournament, while Acid Jaz and Willie Richardson wrestled tag team matches. On July 14 Rockett defeated Johnny Gargano in his first round match, thus advancing to the six–way elimination semifinal match later that same day, from which he was eliminated by Lince Dorado. Trauma made his Chikara debut on September 20, 2008, in an eight-man tag team match, where he, Jaz, Richardson and Rockett defeated UltraMantis Black, Crossbones, Sami Callihan and Trik Davis.

Acid Jazz Records

Acid Jazz is a record label based in east London. It takes its name from acid jazz, a genre of jazz music. Alternative version states that the genre itself was named after the record label. Radio and club DJ Chris Bangs is credited with coining the phrase acid jazz in the late 1980s.

Founding

“We put on this old 7-inch by Mickey and the Soul Generation which was a rare groove record with a mad rock guitar intro and no beat. I started vari-speeding it so it sounded all warped. Chris Bangs got on the microphone and said, 'If that was acid house, this is acid jazz'. That's how acid jazz started, just a joke!”

Gilles Peterson teamed up with Eddie Piller to form the record label Acid Jazz, shortly after Bangs had coined the phrase. Piller had previously managed the James Taylor Quartet.

The label's first signing was singer-songwriter Rob Gallagher's band, Galliano.

Records

The first single from Acid Jazz was "Frederick Lies Still" from Galliano and was followed by albums by individual bands such as the Brand New Heavies, New Jersey Kings, Mother Earth, the Sandals, as well as the production of compilation albums such as the Totally Wired series, and compilation albums with a focus on music emerging from a particular country (for example, Sweden). Acid Jazz has released material covering jazz (Ed Jones, Ulf Sandberg), soul (Brand New Heavies, Rose Windross, D-Influence), jazz rap (Humble Souls, Sandals), retro-kitsch (Corduroy) and dub (Hazardous Dub Company). Despite releasing a number of Latin-inspired albums, Snowboy produced a number of twelve inch singles reminiscent of 1970s soul, such as Lucky Fellow (with Noel Mckoy) and Girl Overboard (featuring Anna Ross).