Disco & jazz

Marcio** · December 29th, 2002, 06:32 PM

Two fabolus disco producers - Nile Rodgers & Bernard Edwards and Gino Soccio - explored the jazz way, the songs are, you guessed,...

1) Savoir Faire, Chic, 1978

2) Closer, Gino Soccio, 1981

H.N.Y.

.

**NickNack** · December 29th, 2002, 06:56 PM

Disco & Jazz? MFSB --- The best! :)

**K-Bee** · December 30th, 2002, 03:19 AM

Lots of Jazz & Fusion artist were influenced by the disco movement in the seventies and early eighties:

check out.
Ralph Macdonald - (I'ts) The Game (1983)
Jorge Dalto - Listen Up (1978)

Also John Handy's Carnival album from 1977. And remember - it's was because of disco that former jazz artists george benson and The Crusaders revitalized his whole career.

Talking about Crusaders: Street Life is also a disco jazz classic. Especially the full 11 min 18 sec version that was only availeble on the "Street Life" album. It has the awesome instrumental intro that the single version lacks.

**midas** · December 30th, 2002, 04:50 PM

the songs by jazz artists i feel

stanley clarke and howard hewett-tic toc
herbie hancock and dst - rockit
najee-so hard to let you go
russ freeman-villa by the sea

and off course george benson
specially on broadway long live version

**Nano** · December 31st, 2002, 12:33 PM

I'll add Roy Ayers and classics like "Love will keep us back together", "Red, black & green" or "Everybody loves the sunshine". Did someone try adding a clap track to the latter? I think it coulda been a nice & slow dance track. But then, I only discovered Roy in the 90's.
Hey señorita!

**K-Bee** · January 1st, 2003, 07:41 AM

Roy Ayers, Nano :-?
Try to get a hold on these classic Ayers albums.

"In The Dark" (CBS, 1984) - including the fantastic "Poo Poo La La"
"You Might be Surprised" (CBS, 1985) - produced by James Mtume of "Juicy Fruit" Fame - yes, yes :D

The "Live at Ronnie Scott's" album from 1997 is also worth a mention.

**SandraDee** · January 1st, 2003, 01:09 PM

I think the most successful marriage of disco & jazz was by the Players Asscociation. Roy Ayers also successfully had a few goes at the disco genre with 'Sweet Tears', 'Dont Stop The Feeling', 'Heat of the Beat' & 'Fever'. Lonnie Liston Smith's 'Space Princess' is also a fave disco track of mine.

**Nano** · January 3rd, 2003, 12:30 PM

Hey Steely, I recently found a copy of The Players Association's "Turn the music up!" LP (there's a very sensual "brown" or Latin model on the cover). Do you know if they had other albums? I didn't know the band; buyed the record for the names on the credits.

K-Bee: thanks for your recommendations. I only have the "Best of" CD by Polydor, so they'll be useful.

**Mixmachine** · January 3rd, 2003, 05:06 PM

There are many examples of great Disco Jazz, especially in the early disco years, recently I rediscovered Booker T and the MG’s “Melting Pot”, man what a song, I just punch the repeat button and play it over and over, and the remastered CD sounds great too.

Nano, I’ve got another Players Association LP, “Born to Dance” from ’77, I can’t play it now and I don’t remember how good it is, it features a cover of ‘Disco Inferno” , album credits lists Sanborn on the Sax and congas by Mtume among others..

**sirius** · January 4th, 2003, 02:38 AM

Dear Friends!
Here are some disco-jazz-tracks I like a lot:

1)HERBIE HANCOCK"I Thought It Was You"
2)CRUSADERS"Street Life"
3)AZYMUTH"Jazz Carnival"
4)GEORGE BENSON"On Broadway" & "Give Me The Night"
5)LALO SCHIFRIN"No One Home", "Jaws" and so many
more...
6)RANDY CRAWFORD"Last Night At Danceland"
7)RONNIE LAWS"Nuthin´Bout Nuthin´"
8)WILTON FELDER"Inherit The Wind"
9)STIX HOOPER"Cordon Bleu"
10)What about SHAKATAK with "Nightbirds", "Dark Is
The Night" and other trax???

I really admire HERBIE HANCOCK for "You Bet Your Love",
"Tell Everybody", "Magic Number", "Knee Deep", "Doin´It"
etc. etc.
Cosmic Love & Kisses From SIRIUS & DARKTUNES

**K-Bee** · January 4th, 2003, 02:53 AM

Funny U should name these classic H. Hancock tracks, sirius.
They're all from the period of his musical career that the reviewers and general jazz fans hate the most.

I like them a lot, though.
Disco jazz albums by hancock include:

Feel don't fail me now (1979)
Monster (1980)
Lite Me Up (1982) (with the classic "The Bomb")

Also the electro funk albums: Future Shock (1983), Soundsystem (1984) & Perfect Machine (feat. Leroy "Sugar" Bonner of The Ohio Players) makes for interesting listening.

**Funky Dude** · January 4th, 2003, 04:04 AM

For me some of my favourite disco/jazz includes:

Blackbyrds (a lot of their songs especially):
Happy Music 1975
Walking In Rhythm 1974
Flying High 1975 (my favourite)
Party Land 1975/76
Gut Level 1973
Life Styles 1973

The rest:
Herbie Hancock - Tell Everybody 1979
George Benson - Good King Bad 1976
Herbie Mann - Hi-Jack 1975
Herbie Mann - Waterbed 1975
Brass Construction - Movin' 1975 (My ALL-TIME favourite disco song :D )
Brass Construction - Ha Cha Cha 1976
Deodato - Skyscrapers 1973 (THE BEST of Deodato! :D )
Deodato - Super Strut 1973
Yambu - Sunny 1975
The JBs - Blow Your Head 1974 (LOVE the synth effects)
Kay Gees - You've Gotta Keep On Bumpin' 1974
Kay Gees - Hustle With Every Muscle 1975
Kool & The Gang - Caribbean Festival 1975
Kool & The Gang - Love The Life You Live 1971
Kool & The Gang - Electric Frog 1972
Memphis Horns - Get Up & Dance 1976
Muscle Shoals Horns - Born To Get Down 1976
Miroslav Vitous - New York City 1976
Norman Jay - Watermelon Man By East Harlem Bus Stop
Nite-Liters, The - K-Jee 1971
Osibisa - Fire 1973
Osibisa - Music For Gong Gong 1971
Osibisa - Dance The Body Music 1976
Pleasure - Ghettos of The Mind 1976
Pleasure - Glide 1978
Rhythm Heritage - Theme From SWAT 1975
Rose Royce - Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is 1976
Slave - Slide 1977
Con Funk Shun - Ffun 1977
Bar-kays - Let's Have Some Fun 1977
Brick - Dazz 1976
etc...............

Hehehehe :lol: :lol: I've been picking from my MP3 collection again.

**QUINNY** · January 4th, 2003, 07:52 AM

It's funny how this topic has gone 180 degrees off subject. The original post was about established Disco producers who dipped their toes into jazz NOT jazzers who pillaged the Disco scene (although I was glad a lot of them did).
I guess we'd have to accept that Vince Montana and the Salsoul Orchestra were essentially jazzers before they made disco, so I can't particularly think of any Disco dudes or divas that went jazzy for the odd track, although there are a few who have had fairly successful jazz careers once disco died for them.

OTOH: There must be hundreds, if not thousands of disco records with a jazzy solo or two. Did the dancers realize they were being turned on by jazz??????? Heavens forbid.

**K-Bee** · January 4th, 2003, 09:39 AM

Jazzy disco dudes 'n divas ???

I have never heard of them either, Quinny.

Guess the closest thing that comes to that, are when the various R&b artists switch to jazz influenced styles. People like the very underrated Rachelle Ferrell, or maybe that Billie Holliday Tribute album Miki Howard did in 1993.

Yeah, sorry for going in the jazz funk direction within this topic - i couldn't help it :D Jazz is my 2nd love.

**NickNack** · January 4th, 2003, 12:49 PM

Originally Written by QUINNY

It's funny how this topic has gone 180 degrees off subject. The original post was about established Disco producers who dipped their toes into jazz NOT jazzers who pillaged the Disco scene (although I was glad a lot of them did).

The 'Subject', as Marcio wrote it, simply said Disco & Jazz. He didn't quantify it and say we couldn't discuss it any way we saw fit.

OTOH: Did the dancers realize they were being turned on by jazz??????? Heavens forbid.

Yes, they did, big time :) , and loved it!

**QUINNY** · January 4th, 2003, 02:36 PM

Nicky: EEEZEEE there Nicky. I won't argue 'cos we both know we're right!! :lol:
Being a jazz lover, I'd say that most UK dancers probably weren't as aware of the jazz influence in Disco records as you feel they were in the US. It's like this Nicky. If you asked the dancers if they liked Jazz, how many would have said yes? I'm sure most of my everyday, non jazz funk specialist punters would have said no. In the UK, we'd always loved jazz funk, and that was really big for about 18 months in '79 and '80, but jazz funk is a totally different bag to jazz in disco. See what I mean?
IMO: Disco jazz had some of the biggest sucking records of the whole disco era. For example, I love lots of the Players Association records, but some of their tracks were really crass covers (Everybody Dance being a prime example) that sounded like tired jazz musos going through a chart that they just couldn't care less about. Really tired, but Disco Inferno by them was an absolute knockout with its searing horns, ever so soulful, emotive vocals and fierce, fiery jazz solos propelled by a fantastic rhythm track that really flew.

KBee: You should know by now that nearly all subjects go off on a tangent. :D
As is my wont, I merely point this out from time to time. Why? I don't know, so no apologies needed.

**NickNack** · January 4th, 2003, 05:34 PM

Originally Written by QUINNY

Nicky: EEEZEEE there Nicky. I won't argue 'cos we both know we're right!! :lol:

:) :) Yeah, I have been a little tense lately. Must be all this damn snow. The dancers here were pretty educated about their music, especially in the later years. (That means, as we all got older. :x ) They would be schooling me about the jazz as well as the classical music influences in disco.

**SandraDee** · January 5th, 2003, 02:20 PM

Nano, as well as their 3 70's LPs, 'Born To Dance', 'Players Association' & 'Turn The Music Up' you must check out their 1980 LP called 'We Got The Groove' as I personally think it was their best; the track called 'Get Down Mellow Sound' is disco perfection IMO! They also did 2 LPs after this but they weren't as good as the previous 4, but all credit to them for sticking with the disco sound after 1980 as most acts dropped the sound like a hot potato around this time.

**jazz_pilgrim** · January 6th, 2003, 07:30 AM

Excellent thread... coz I definitely prefer the jazz side of dance music

Originally Written by QUINNY

Being a jazz lover, I'd say that most UK dancers probably weren't as aware of the jazz influence in Disco records as you feel they were in the US. It's like this Nicky. If you asked the dancers if they liked Jazz, how many would have said yes? I'm sure most of my everyday, non jazz funk specialist punters would have said no. In the UK, we'd always loved jazz funk, and that was really big for about 18 months in '79 and '80, but jazz funk is a totally different bag to jazz in disco. See what I mean?

I would agree with you on that one, Quinny. It was only after two or three years (say '79) that I realized some of the stuff I was really getting down to in my early dancing years was jazz stuff eg Roy Ayers - Running Away, Eddie Henderson - Say You Will. I think the jazz thing hit me when I first heard the Crusader's Streetlife - although I didn't like it at first, it was a grower... and yes, I prefer the long LP version as well ...

Originally Written by QUINNY

IMO: Disco jazz had some of the biggest sucking records of the whole disco era. For example, I love lots of the Players Association records, but some of their tracks were really crass covers (Everybody Dance being a prime example) that sounded like tired jazz musos going through a chart that they just couldn't care less about. Really tired, but Disco Inferno by them was an absolute knockout with its searing horns, ever so soulful, emotive vocals and fierce, fiery jazz solos propelled by a fantastic rhythm track that really flew.

That version of Disco Inferno was an absolute blinder ...

Going back to disco artists playing jazz, I have a Salsoul compilation LP called Saturday Night Disco Party where the Salsoul Orch played some of the Saturday Night Fever hits like Night Fever and Staying Alive. The interesting thing about all these tunes were definitely jazzified versions that contained guitar, sax and keyboard solo breaks in them. Very interesting .. And I think it just about works, you know ...

My favourite jazz LP by a disco band? Kool and the Gang with "Kool Jazz" from 1971. That was even before they went Funky and before they went Disco ...

:D

**Nano** · January 6th, 2003, 01:05 PM

It's nice for me when a topic discover field for investigation on something I'm interested in, like this "disco & jazz" stuff (thanks Steely & Mixmachine for your info).
Maybe an example of the music Quinny's thinking of is that track called "Jazzy" in Lipps Inc.'s "Pucker up" LP. I remember it was played on radio because it seemed cool, but hearing it now it sounds rather simple & mechanical, at least for the jazz ear.
On the other hand, Kool & The Gang's "Celebrate!" LP has a nice instrumental track called "Morning star". Light, yes, but well played and rich in melody too.
Maybe funkateers did much better than disco producers in doing jazzy stuff?