The Guru of Jazzmatazz RapPages (Ft. Guru)

There's been a lot of talk about the fusion of Hip-Hop, classical rap and jazz for quite some time. Like the strong Black men in Guru's life used to say, "Do something and stop all that talkin'!"

     Jazzmatazz, an experimental fusion of Hip-Hop and jazz, is Guru's answer. The collaboration with contemporary and classical jazz artists is as much an experiment as it is a natural progression for the rapper. Roy Ayers, Donald Byrd, MC Solaar, Branford Marsalis, Ronnie Jordan, Courtney Pine, Carlene Anderson (Young Disciples), N'Dea Davenport (Brand New Heavies) and Lonnie Liston Smith are the featured artists.

     "It's the type of album I could give to my pops and say, ‘Just listen. This is an experiment in Hip-Hop and jazz. It's got some cats on it that you've probably been listening to.’"

     Although Guru and DJ Premier of Gang Starr are credited with heightening the Hip-Hop's community in jazz, Guru admits, "We started using jazz because everyone else was doing James Brown samples." Then again, the mellow tracks with the hard rap beats make a perfect mate for his trademark voice.

     "Gang Starr has sort of been down with this whole rap/jazz fusion from where it started," says Guru. "There was jazz music before there was a jazz thing." It was the "Jazz Music" cut on their No More Mr. Nice Guy LP that peaked Spike Lee's interest when he was filming Mo' Better Blues. That led to the collaboration with Branford Marsalis. Guru, or Gifted Unlimited Rhymes Universal, recited jazz history over DJ Premier's turntable scratches and the rhythms of the Branford Marsalis Quartet.

     While "Jazz Thing" was receiving a huge following in Europe, several people approached Guru about working with live musicians. "I'd say for Gang Starr, we are a classical rap group. So we stick strictly with turntables and a mike. That's what it all started with, so that's what we do. If I ever have an opportunity to do an experimental project, I would try it."

     As the group Gang Starr, Guru and DJ Premier release their own records and work on other people's music as well. Some of their projects include work with Neneh Cherry, as well as remixes for Soul II Soul, Loose Ends and Wendy & Lisa. DJ Premier's company, Works of Mart, did five tracks for Boogie Down Productions and a few for Branford Marsalis.

     "My company is called Guru Productions. I've done remixes, and production for this female rapper, Nefertiti, from L.A. Then I did Jazzmatazz," Guru says.

     Jazzmatazz isn't the first attempt to bring elements of Hip-Hop and jazz together. It's been almost a decade since Herbie Hancock used a turntable scratcher on his jazz-fusion LP, Rockit. Fab Five Freddy and drummer Max Roach were performing live at The Kitchen in New York around that time as well. Quincy Jones' Back on the Block brought Kool Moe Dee and Big Daddy Kane together with Miles Davis, Sarah Vaugh and Dizzy Gillespie on a cut called "Jazz Corner" in 1989. The ever-evolving Miles Davis was working on Doo-Bop with Prince and Easy Mo Bee before he died. There were other groups like Stetsasonic ("Talkin' All That Jazz") and DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince ("All That Jazz") who were using samples on their records before A Tribe Called Quest and Digable Planets, not to mention what appeared to be a Hip-Hop jazz-fusion movement brewing in Europe.

     While both musical forms have roots in the urban African-American experience, one basic difference kept them apart for nearly a decade. Jazz purists have problems with sampling, and most rappers aren't trained musicians. The bottom line is they use different instrumentation. For rappers, it's the voice over the mike and turntable with a funky beat. For jazz artists, it's their live instruments. Mixing the two has its challenges.

     With Jazzmatazz, "I wanted to make sure that every artist that was featured ... that you could hear them in balance with my voice." Guru said. "The most difficult part was the mixing."

     Two things were established when Guru and his management decided to do the project. One, Guru would produce it ("I'm not rhyming to beats I don't like"); two, they would use three older and three younger jazz artists-older artists because rappers are sampling their music; younger artists because they already know about rap. Branford Marsalis was down, as well as British guitarist Ronnie Jordan, who coined the term "new jazz swing," British saxophonist Courtney Pine, and female singer N'Dea Davenport, who went to Clark College while Guru was attending Morehouse.

     "It was funny because when I saw her video, it was, like, I know her. When our managers hooked us up by phone, it was like, ‘Yeah!’ It was really easy, really natural. Mostly everybody was willing to do the project."