Nu Jazz - History

History

Nu jazz has its roots in the use of electronic instruments in production in the 1970s work of such luminaries as Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, and Ornette Coleman. Hancock's early 1980s work with Bill Laswell, in particular, such as the album Future Shock, anticipated the style in its incorporation of electro and hip-hop rhythms. Beginning in the late '80s, many hip-hop musicians worked in the jazz rap style—among them, Gang Starr, The Roots, A Tribe Called Quest, and Nas. Also in the 1980s, many house musicians took inspiration from jazz, particularly post-bop and jazz funk.
In the mid-'90s and early 2000s, musicians from the downtempo scene, St Germain, DJ takemura, Perry Hemus and Jazzanova among them, began to delve more deeply into jazz. In the same period, intelligent dance music producers—most famously Squarepusher and Spring Heel Jack, and later London Elektricity and Landslide -- took a similar interest. Techno musicians, such as Laurent Garnier, Carl Craig and his Innerzone Orchestra project, have also touched on nu jazz. Some figures from the digital hardcore and breakcore scenes, notably Alec Empire, Nic Endo, and Venetian Snares, have explored a harder, noiser variant on the style. A decade later, some dubstep producers, such as Boxcutter, also explored electronic jazz.

While still embracing the traditional forms of jazz, pianist Bugge Wesseltoft and trumpeter Nils Petter Molvær are known for their improvisational nu jazz style. The Cinematic Orchestra is also known for incorporating a traditional jazz band while fusing electronic elements into their music production. St. Germain, a purveyor of nu jazz music, has sold 1.5 million copies of his Tourist album, thus making it the top-selling jazz album in the United States.