By TUREKA TURK
Mlchlp.n CltlBn
You are now entering a world
of time and space, of live jazz and
phat rhymes. Your ho tithe
might Guru, the wordster of the
highly respected Gang Starr.
Guru will take you on a journey,
a fusion of two African-Ameri­
can origins of the soul, jazz and
hip-hop.
Both are valid expressions of
Black culture and reality. You
are entering Jazzmatazz. '.
"J azzmatazz" is n ' tat rip
through turntables spinning
through Bob James, James
_ Brown, Donald Byrd, Roy Ayers,
John Davis & the Monster Or­
chestra. Grandmaster flash did
that back in the day. J azzmatazz
"It'sjeep
ready, "
Guru
•
promises.
" I te ted
'it in the
jeep and
the beats
are
there. "
is a step up from Cool J' "Goin'
Back to Cali" with the Dixieland
trumpet. Perhaps Stetsasonic
was clo est when "Talkin All
That Jazz" landed on the cene in
19 .
Then came Gang Starr in 19 .
The world shook when the du
landed hard on the hip-hop planet
with "Words I Manife t", which
contained ampl from the
, highly acclaimed trip through the
land of horns and ba ,"Night In
Tunisia",
o IT' 0 surprise that the
master of ceremonies, the Rod
Sterling of''} azzmatazz", is Guru,
Proving that jazz is n t on its
deathbed, Gang Starr did have th
only hip-hop tune on Spike Lee'
"Mo' Better Blue" oundtrack.
And now that jazz is healthy and
alive, not dependent upon life
upport, it ha also found its way
into the stream of hip-hop. So
comes "J azzmatazz", a journey
down the fusion of the two art
forms.
Branford Marsali couldn't be
related to the brother Delfeayo
who tomped on rap for its "vula-
--.---------------
garity", saying that "every ele­
ment in rap is derived from jazz",
unfavorabl y.
Obviously, hip-hop isn't
thicker than than blood. Bran­
ford Marsalis jams melodiously
in "Transit Ride". If only the sub­
way could be as mellow with
Branford in the background and
Guru's subway observations go­
ing through your mind. You ain't
heard this Branford on the "To­
night Show".
Shaft is back, wen, at least the
spirit of Curtis Mayfield flows
through "When You're Near",
, with Simon Laws on keyboards
and Brand New Heavies' diva,
N'Dea Davenport. The fusion
explodes around Guru aka mod­
em-day Black Romeo. "Near" is
so funky a seduction that you can
actually hear Don Cornelius and
the sway 0 bell bottoms from
your favori episode of Soul
Train from the 70s.
KICK HAC AND CHILL
on "Loungin'" with Donald Byrd
on the trum pet. The most chill d
track on the CD, Byrd is flowing
as light as the smell of incense in
the air.
Roy Ayers gives a new mean­
ing to the word "vibe" on "Take A
Look (At Yourself)" with Guru
lashing out the lesson of respect.
For the real jeepsters, there's
Guru's cocky, self-confident
track "Slicker Than Most" with'
Gary Barnacle masterminding
the sax and the flute, and "Le
Bien, Le Mal" ("The Good, The
Bad" for those of you unhip to the
French lingo) with French rapper,
C Solaar.
"Slicker Than Most" cages in a
phat beat, greasy with jazz lyrics
and sax bars, a is all of "Jaz­
zmatazz".
"It's jeep ready," Guru prom­
ises. "I tested it in the jeep and the
beats are there."
"LE BIEN, LE MAL" is defi­
nitely jeep ready. MC Solaar,
born in Senegal and residing in
Paris, ain't no stranger to the true
meaning of hi p-hop and carries
the legacy of hip-hop ryhmes
with a Leaders of the New.
School-funk. For all of the hard­
core followers, French ain't just a
language of love.
GURU
Light" is the spiritual guide for
"Sights In The City" with saxo­
phonist/flutist Courtney Pine
(He's been compared, to music's
own genius, John Coltrane), vo­
calist Carleen Anderson and Si­
mon Laws on keyboards.
musical twilight zone, a zone per­
haps Coltrane himself was 100 -
ing for. It's a plateau that can
only go higher and, only blend
stronger.
, It's a legacy that Gang Starr,
with DJ Premiers' needle of pure
steel paying homage to the broth­
ers of a time ago and Guru's 1 yric
that pay homage to a time of now,
began and the Guru continues.
Visions of str ,t lights, drug
fotlowers, and the city's night life
flow through the pcakers with
Guru as your tour guide.
DONALD BYRD
GURU
"Jazzmatazz" i a' spiritual
journey for Guru, who explain in
the intro that he waited a long
time for this fusion. H wanted it
done right.
It's tracks of time and space, of
greasy jams and cool jazz'
breezes. And it could only hap­
pen in "Jazzmatazz." Dig.
Jazzmstazz
journey.
"I want to make the mu ic
more intellectual, not ju 1 boom
boom ba and hardcore rap," So­
laar said. "I have the attitude
cool."
Randy Crawford's "Street
"jAZZMATAZZ" ucce-
fully takes a journey through a
BRANFORD MARSALIS
, GURU