''Jazzmatazz Volume 1 (An Experimental Fusion of Hip-Hop and Jazz)'' is the debut solo studio album by American hip hop recording artist

Guru Guru ( sa, गुरु, IAST: ''guru;'' Pali'': garu'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan- Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: traditionally, the guru is a reverential ...

. It was released on May 18, 1993 through

Chrysalis Records Chrysalis Records () is a British record label that was founded in 1968. The name is both a reference to the pupal stage of a butterfly and a combination of its founders' names, Chris Wright and Terry Ellis. It started as the Ellis-Wright A ...

. Recording sessions took place at

D&D Studios D&D Studios was a recording studio located in New York City on the west side of 37th street. Artists that recorded there include Jay-Z, Foxy Brown, The Notorious B.I.G., Fat Joe, Nas, Gang Starr, Jeru the Damaja, Afu-Ra, KRS-One, Frankie Cutlass, ...

in New York. Production was handled by Guru himself, who also served as executive producer together with Duff Marlowe and Patrick Moxey. The album combines a live

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

band performance with

hip hop production Hip hop production is the creation of hip hop music in a recording studio. While the term encompasses all aspects of hip hop music creation, including recording the rapping of an MC, a turntablist or DJ providing a beat, playing samples and " ...

and

rapping Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

. It features contributions from singers

N'Dea Davenport N'Dea Davenport (born September 22, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer and producer. She was the lead vocalist in the UK acid jazz band the Brand New Heavies and made pioneering contributions to the genre of acid jazz. Career He ...

Carleen Anderson Carleen Cassandra Anderson (born May 10, 1957) is an American singer and musician. She is known for her work with the Young Disciples and numerous collaborations. Her distinguished solo career began in 1992. She is the acclaimed composer, writer ...

Dee C Lee Diane Catherine Sealy (born 6 June 1961), known as Dee C. Lee, is a British singer. Born to Saint Lucian parents, she grew up in south east London. Early in her career, she was a member of the British band Central Line under the aliases Dee Se ...

, French rapper

MC Solaar Claude M'Barali, professionally known as MC Solaar (; born 5 March 1969), is a French rapper of Senegalese and Chadian origin. He is one of France's most famous and influential hip hop artists. Some consider him the best French rapper of all ...

, and musicians Simon Law,

Branford Marsalis Branford Marsalis (born August 26, 1960) is an American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader. While primarily known for his work in jazz as the leader of the Branford Marsalis Quartet, he also performs frequently as a soloist with classical ens ...

Courtney Pine Courtney Pine, (born 18 March 1964), is a British jazz musician, who was the principal founder in the 1980s of the black British band the Jazz Warriors. Although known primarily for his saxophone playing, Pine is a multi-instrumentalist, also ...

Donald Byrd Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II (December 9, 1932 – February 4, 2013) was an American jazz and rhythm & blues trumpeter and vocalist. A sideman for many other jazz musicians of his generation, Byrd was one of the few hard bop ...

, Gary Barnacle,

Lonnie Liston Smith Lonnie Liston Smith Jr. (born December 28, 1940) is an American jazz, soul, and funk musician who played with such jazz artists as Pharoah Sanders and Miles Davis before forming Lonnie Liston Smith and the Cosmic Echoes, recording a number of ...

Ronny Jordan Robert Laurence Albert Simpson, known professionally as Ronny Jordan (29 November 1962 – 13 January 2014) was a British guitarist and part of the acid jazz movement at the end of the twentieth century. Jordan described his music as "urban jaz ...

Roy Ayers Roy Ayers (born September 10, 1940) is an American funk, soul, and jazz composer, vibraphone player, and music producer. Ayers began his career as a post-bop jazz artist, releasing several albums with Atlantic Records, before his tenure at ...

and

Zachary Breaux Zachary Charles Breaux (June 26, 1960 – February 20, 1997)Mark Gilbert: 'Breaux, Zachary', ''Grove Music Online'' ed. L. Macy (Accessed November 5, 2007), was an American jazz guitarist who was influenced by George Benson and Wes Montgome ...

. Guru, quoted in the album's

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner notes are des ...

, talked about his natural affinity for both jazz and rap. "Jazz's mellow tracks, along with the hard rap beat, go hand-in-glove with my voice", he said. The album made it to number 94 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and number 15 on the

Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated ...

in the United States. In spite of the lagging American sales, ''Jazzmatazz, Vol. 1'' was a commercial success in Europe, where jazz was much more popular in the 1990s. It peaked at No. 24 in New Zealand, No. 43 in Germany, No. 49 in Sweden, No. 58 in the UK, No. 67 in the Netherlands, and No. 139 in France. Its

lead single A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. Release s ...

"Trust Me" peaked at No. 34 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

and No. 105 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Its second single, "No Time to Play", peaked at No. 25 in the UK. ''

SPIN Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally ...

'' ranked the album at number 20 on their 'The 20 Best Albums of 1993' list.

Track listing

;Notes * signifies a co- producer.

Personnel

Credits adapted from liner notes. Musicians * Keith "

GuRu Guru ( sa, गुरु, IAST: ''guru;'' Pali'': garu'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan- Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: traditionally, the guru is a reverential ...

" Elam – vocals,

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orche ...

– vocals (tracks: 3, 9) * Diane "

" Sealy – vocals (track 5) * Claude "

" M'Barali – vocals (track 11) *

– vocals (track 12) * Cary "

Big Shug Cary Guy (born December 13, 1961), better known as Big Shug, is a rapper and actor from Boston, Massachusetts, a co-founder of Gang Starr and a member of the Gang Starr Foundation collective. Biography Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Cary spent ...

" Guy – additional vocals (track 5) * The Cutthroats – additional vocals (track 10) * Black Jack – additional vocals (track 11) * Mickey "Mus Mus" Mosman – additional vocals (track 11) *

–

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

and

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

(track 2) * Simon " The Funky Ginger" Law – keyboards (tracks: 3, 12) *

–

alto The musical term alto, meaning "high" in Italian ( Latin: ''altus''), historically refers to the contrapuntal part higher than the tenor and its associated vocal range. In 4-part voice leading alto is the second-highest part, sung in choruse ...

and

soprano saxophone The soprano saxophone is a higher-register variety of the saxophone, a woodwind instrument invented in the 1840s. The soprano is the third-smallest member of the saxophone family, which consists (from smallest to largest) of the soprillo, so ...

(track 4) *

–

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

(track 4) * DJ Jazzy Nice – scratches (track 4) * Robert "

" Simpson – guitar (track 5) *

– acoustic and

electric piano An electric piano is a musical instrument which produces sounds when a performer presses the keys of a piano-style musical keyboard. Pressing keys causes mechanical hammers to strike metal strings, metal reeds or wire tines, leading to vibrations ...

(track 6) * James "Lil' Dap" Heath – live

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

(track 6) *

–

vibraslap The vibraslap is a percussion instrument consisting of a piece of stiff wire (bent into a U-shape) connecting a wooden ball to a hollow box of wood with metal “teeth” inside. The percussionist holds the metal wire in one hand and strikes th ...

and

vibraphone The vibraphone is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vibraphonist,'' ''vibraharpist ...

(track 8) * Gary Barnacle –

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedles ...

and

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

(track 10) * Christophe "Jimmy Jay" Viguier – scratches (track 11) *

– flute, alto and soprano saxophone (track 12) Production * Guru – producer, mixing,

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights ...

, concept development * Donald Byrd – co-producer (track 2) * N'Dea Davenport – co-producer (tracks: 3, 9) * Branford Marsalis – co-producer (track 4) * Ronny Jordan – co-producer (track 5) * Lonnie Liston Smith – co-producer (track 6) * Roy Ayers – co-producer (track 8) * DJ Jimmy Jay – co-producer (track 11) * MC Solaar – co-producer (track 11) * Courtney Pine – co-producer (track 12) * Carleen Anderson – co-producer (track 12) * Philippe " Zdar" Cerboneschi –

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...

* James B. Mansfield – engineering * Craig Marcus – engineering * Kieran Walsh – engineering * Jason Bell – engineering * Joe Quinde – engineering * Luke Allen – engineering assistant *

Doug Boehm Doug Boehm (born November 4, 1969)''U.S. Public Records Index'', Vols 1 & 2 (Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.), 2010. is an American record producer and sound engineer who specializes predominantly in the rock music genre and has worked ...

– engineering assistant * David Carpenter – engineering assistant * Tracii D. Sherman – engineering assistant *

Tony Dawsey Tony Dawsey is an American mastering engineer at Masterdisk in New York City. He has been active since 1980.mastering * Patrick Moxey – executive producer, concept development * Duff Marlowe – executive producer Design * Henry Marquez – art direction * Diane Cuddy – design *

Michael Benabib Michael Benabib is an American portrait photographer, known for his portraits of David Bowie, Tupac Shakur, Sean Combs, and Keith Richards among others. Notable portrait photography of public figures include Bill Clinton, Alan Dershowitz and L ...

– photography * Marc Villalonga – photography * Ray Burmiston – photography *

Bill Adler Bill Adler is an American music journalist and critic who specializes in hip-hop. Since the early 1980s he has promoted hip-hop in a variety of capacities, including as a publicist, biographer, record label executive, documentary filmmaker, mu ...

–

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1993 debut albums Guru (rapper) albums Albums produced by Guru Chrysalis Records albums