Jazzmatazz-which celebrates its 25th anniversary in the form of an Urban Legends three-LP box set that features instrumentals, remixes, B-sides and other rarities housed in a classy hardcover slipcase -also served as a quintessential vessel for young jazz talent of the early ’90s-Branford Marsalis, N’Dea Davenport and the late jazz guitarists Ronny Jordan and Zachary Breaux-looking to cross over. You know, MTV was never into jazz, but the guy on the channel was like, ‘Aw, man, this is history-rap meets jazz.’ Everybody in the music industry got all excited. But the thing that blew my mind was how MTV went crazy. When we went into the studio, it had worked. I wasn’t doing anything at the time and the money was correct, so they flew me to New York and put me up in a hotel. “The record company called me because they had this concept where they were going to use a different artist on each cut,” explained Lonnie Liston Smith, who played acoustic and electric piano on the Jazzmatazz track “Down The Backstreets.” “They said to me how Guru was a big fan of my music and would like me to participate. 1 found the late Elam-who succumbed to cancer in 2010 at 43-calling upon such giants as Ramsey Lewis, Donald Byrd and Roy Ayers to expand upon the seeds sown by A Tribe Called Quest’s work with Ron Carter on The Low End Theory from two years earlier. Originally released by Chrysalis on May 18, 1993, Jazzmatazz, Vol. However, it was a recording by Gang Starr emcee Guru (Keith Elam) that broke down barriers between legendary jazz musicians and the artists who sampled them. (Photo: Thierry LeGoues)īy 1993, advancements in the mutual appreciation between jazz and hip-hop reached a new level of creative oneness thanks to innovative groups like Digable Planets, The Roots, The Dream Warriors and Us3 tightening the knot that bound the two genres. The first installment marks its 25th anniversary this year.

Guru (Keith Elam) issued four volumes of his Jazzmatazz project.

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