Acid Jazz: Stereo MCs

Acid jazz is difficult to write about, because the fusion of sounds is so familiar to us today. Soul with a jazz groove to it? Jazz + hip hop? It’s unavoidable. Just take a listen to Madlib’s Shades of Blue (a masterpiece, by the way) - these sounds were meant to be together:

With the Stereo MCs we can hear a bit more of the original mesh of sounds - this is jazz that you can dance to, that is a bit more structured for clubs. You’re probably already familiar with their smash hit, Connected, but you may not be familiar with its video which is 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 (you know, in an early 90s, way too baggy pants, way too much denim, overuse of low-budget editing techniques kind of way):

Formed in 1985, Stereo MCs are still going - and have made some excellent remixes along the way. Their remix of Madonna’s Frozen is excellent, and was the version she ended up using on her tour:

Early, when they were establishing themselves they were one of the few British hip hop acts that were performing at rock and alternative festivals - and you can hear why - the sound is a bridge between a bunch of genres, and it’s hard to know how to classify them. Acid jazz is appropriate though, this is jazz infused dance music with a bit of hip hop sprinkled on top. Who cares if the rock kids didn’t know what to do with it?

Today we are listenting to 1992’s “Connected” and their 2000 DJ Kicks compilation (oddly, they didn’t follow the wildly successful Connected with a new album until almost a decade later - 2001’s “Deep Down & Dirty”):