About

- TAV // Essential Listening -

“Welcome to Jazzmatazz – an experimental fusion of hip-hop and live jazz.” A more than perfect
introduction to one of the first albums to combine a live jazz band with hip hop production and
rapping by Gang Starr’s Guru. His first solo album represents the pinnacle of the symbiotic
courtship between rap and jazz - anchored by Guru’s smoky, deep baritone East Coast flow
alongside first-rate, heavyweight jazz instrumentalists such as Lonnie Liston Smith, Branford
Marsalis, Ronny Jordan, Donald Byrd and Roy Ayers. Jazzmatazz presents the listener with a
playful dialogue between both genres - with each track a mission statement bridging
generations, eras and styles. Considering the increasing prevalence of jazz-rap fusion in recent
times, Jazzmatazz was truly a prescient record that cemented Guru as a visionary.

Genre: Hip Hop, Jazzy Hip-Hop, Electronic, Acid Jazz, Rap

[Reissue: 2016 onwards (Original release: 1993), 1LP, Virgin]