beastie boys - when jazz attacks!

[pixelherder]

strolling down memory lane, clutching my walking frame and cursing my brittle bones, i listened to some "ill communication" and was reminded how good some of the instrumental tracks are - transitions, futtermans rule and rickys theme in particular. So i'd like to track down more of that kind of thing, but i'm a bit of a loss as to what you'd call it - jazz? funk? erm,something else entirely?

So if anyone outthere knows what i'm talking about and has some recommendations, then i'm all ears!

cheers

[Matt Dixon]

Tricky. Kind of depends which part of those tracks appeals to you - the heavy funk of Futterman's Rule, the laid-back jazz vibe of Ricky's Theme, or the dreamy, loose groove of Transistions. Here's a few suggestions -

For jazzy grooves, try - Herbie Hancock, Richard 'Groove' Holmes, Jimmy Smith, Johnny 'Hammond' Smith, Tom Scott, Lonnie Liston Smith or Bob James.

For something a bit more funky, try - The Meters, Clarence Wheeler, Cymande, The Blackbyrds, Dennis Coffey, Eddie Harris or the JB's.

There's loads if you're prepared to root around for it. I've tried to pick artists that you might not already have heard of, but are still popular enough for you to be able to find some of their stuff. I would imagine 'best of' CDs should be easy to come by for most of these guys - if not, look for albums from the mid to late seventies or soundtracks ( Dennis Coffey, The Blaackbyrds and Herbie Hancock, in particular ). Obviously, you won't find whole albums that sound like the Beastie's instrumental stuff, but these guys have the same sort of vibe - drop me a PM if you'd like the names of specific tracks or albums that are closest.

You should lay your hands on Money Mark's albums if you don't already have them - he plays keys on Check Your Head and Ill Communication.

And if you like it really heavy and in your face, see if you can track down anything by The Mohawks, or Alan Hawkshaw's sound library work.

Hope that's some help.

[pixelherder]

matt - that reply is pure fried gold. You is, most definately, "da man".

To amazons wishlist i go!

[I.was.ink]

Thats a great list Matt.

I love the same type of funk/jazz grooves, so if you have any more musicians to recommend please do.;)

-Iwasink

[Jens]

mr.scruff, stuff from ninjatunes, the herbaliser, jazzanova, the avalanches

[Undertow]

Did you know that the beastie boys put out an instrumental album called The In Sound From Way Out (http://www.samgoody.com/Music/Album.aspx?p_id=P+++++++10&a_id=R+++233098&prodid=CAP33590.2) ? If you liked their instrumental tracks it's a great little lounge album that compiles all of their instrumental tracks and adds a few more.

-Mike

[skinns]

Undertow, thats best damn album the B.Boys have out in my opioion. Excellent music for the atmosphereish type of scenario.

I have recently been listening to a group called Thievery Corporation. (http://www.eslmusic.com/shop/default.asp). Awesome ambient music, with a little bit of reggea/jazz mix.

[Matt Dixon]

Pixelherder, I.was.ink - Thanks, chaps. I've spent years collection stuff like this, so I could waffle on for hours if you'd like me to... ;)

It's a real shame that decent tunes like this are so hard to come by - especially as you're often trying to track down individual tracks, or stuff that's only ever been released on vinyl. It one of the very few occasions I think you can justifiably fire up Kazaa, or whatever the kids are using to download tunes these days. However, before you double click on your favourite p2p software, have a look here - http://www.dustygroove.com - a Chicago record store that specialises in jazz/funk/soul; these guys really know their stuff, and there are handy descriptions with all their stock. Browsing the site is almost as much fun as thumbing through racks of records for real...

You could also have a look at - http://www.crippled.com - Crippled Dick is a german label, so the choice is a limited to their releases, but they have some great stuff in their catalogue - European porn and movie soundtracks galore, along with some nice jazz and modern downtempo artists. Good links section, too.

A few other random artists in the same vein - David Axelrod ( Heavy Axe is a must have LP ), Charles Kynard, Deodato, Pleasure, BT Express, Dave Pike, Bobbi Humphrey, Lionel Hampton, Eddie Henderson, Ramp, Shuggie Otis, Ananda Shankar and, just to prove I listen to music recorded later than 1976 sometimes, Red Snapper.

[mos667]

Jazzanova and Thievery Corporation rock!

Hearts of Space is a radio broadcast that has some things like that, look for ones with "chill" or "space jazz". You can download about hour long sessions from misc. programs like Kazaa or Winmx.

The Chrono Trigger soundtrack jazz remixes are amazing to listen to (even if you never played that game :)). Again you can find these remixes on Kazaa or winmx.

Massive Attack may be something you would like, it has...life to it :)

Nightmares on Wax has some very delicious sounds to it.

[skinns]

Jazzanova. Never heard of them or any of these for that matter. I grew up listening "2 Live Crew" and now I'm trying my hardest to build a nice collection of good tunes such as the keyboard mixes of beastie boys and thieverory Corporation..

"File / print".. :rendered:

[pixelherder]

after a slow start looks like this thread is getting a new lease of life. And thanks again matt for the second helping of recommendations. I'm scribbling ALL this down for future reference!

*edit*

and in my quest to start listening to stuff PRE 1990, now that it looks like the jazz/funk thing has been sorted, anyone know anything about classic raggae/dub? I'm a big fan of the orb and most of their earlier stuff is apparently heavily influenced (in more ways than one...) by quality jamaican product ;) Be nice to know what their non-chemical influences were.

Or anything else of interest really - in this case, i am literally all ears. The further off the beaten track the better.

[skinns]

I'm sure you've heard of these guys but the Dub Pistols have got a nice groove to them.

[Matt Dixon]

Go for the originals, pixel -

King Tubby, Augustus Pablo, King Jammy, Yabby You, Scientist, U-Roy and of course, just about anything by Lee Perry.

Most of these guys were / are quite prolific, so you should be able to find loads of stuff quite easily, and there's a ton of dub / roots compilations that'll give you a good flavour of their work. Reggae superstars Black Uhuru have a strong dub sound, too.