Acid Jazz - Origins in UK

Origins in UK

The sound and clubs that went with it arose out of Southern England's rare groove scene of the late seventies and early eighties and various other alternative groups, including the London mod scene. It is distinguished from the Northern Soul scene (then popular in the South of England with clubs such as the 100 Club in Oxford Street) but still displayed various similarities.

The name came into common parlance with the Acid Jazz label, but in reality the scene had existed in disparate forms and without a distinguishing name for some time beforehand. Journalists at the time appeared very confused by the genre and made various attempts to connect it to the London mod scene (by links with various former members of that scene, prominently Eddie Piller and the James Taylor Quartet, Taylor having formerly been Hammond Player for sixties garage band The Prisoners).

The scene always had two halves, those who liked the original jazz and soul recordings and those who followed the new bands signed by labels like Acid Jazz. It is the former who still probably support their music, many of the early bands having fallen well by the wayside. Attempts to integrate the music with hip hop and jungle are now regarded by many as misguided attempts to keep the music fresh whilst leading it a long way from its starting point, attempts that were regarded with disdain by many.

An important gauge of the UK scene and the creation of the genre are to be found in the UK's Straight No Chaser magazine. Similarly, clothing labels like Duffer of St George were closely associated with the scene, although the "right outfit" was never essential.

Disc jockeys Gilles Peterson and Chris Bangs are generally credited with coining the term acid jazz at a 1987 'Talkin' Loud Sayin Something' session. At the time, this was Peterson's regular Sunday afternoon club at Dingwalls in Camden, London.

In his Radio 1 biography, Peterson describes how the term acid jazz came about. "We put on this old 7-inch by Mickey and the Soul Generation which was a rare groove record with a mad rock guitar intro and no beat. I started vary speeding it so it sounded all warped. Chris Bangs got on the microphone and said, 'If that was acid house, this is acid jazz'. That's how acid jazz started, just a joke!"

Notable British acid jazz bands of the 1990s included Brand New Heavies, Galliano, Incognito, James Taylor Quartet, Jamiroquai (also classified as funk and disco) and Urban Species, US3 (also classified as jazz rap), as well as dozens of less commercially successful artists. Later, Repercussions who had a top hit, Promise me nothing. According to the book The Techno Primer, the 1991 album Road to Freedom by Young Disciples was "very influential" in the genre, as the band "set the tone for this movement." Other more recent groups who have produced music in this genre include Mother Earth and Down to the Bone.

Several record labels have specialized in acid jazz. They include Acid Jazz Records, Ninja Tune and Mo' Wax.