1. To start with my own bit of blashemy, I've never thoguht Guru did a good job at all of mixing jazz and hip-hop on the Jazzmatazz albums. Few of those tracks rose above mediocre by hip-hop standards, and the "jazzy" elements were a muddle of aimless noodling over bland backbeats. It impressed me only as a testimony to Premier's genius, hearing how music suffers in his absence.
2. The Eric Dolphy thing made my head explode too, Noz, but I can understand how Horace Silver et al are better gateway drugs. I had to leave Eric and come back years later to really hear it. One side note though: calling Eric Dolphy "the clarinetist" is like saying "the rapper Pete Rock": not technically wrong but it doesn't look right.. he was equally virtuosic on alto sax, bass clarinet and flute, and rocked each regularly (with most of my favorites on the sax, just cuz it's my favorite instrument).
3. Props to XXL for putting Jalylah in the mix.. and for the record I asked her to guest blog for us way before this, so if you ever see her up in here it's not cuz we're biters.. we're just slow on the follow-through.
4. Do y'all have any other recommendations for hip-hop/jazz mixtures that worked?
