MUSIC MONDAY: “Excursions” – A Jazz Rap Collection (LISTEN)

by Marlon West (FB: marlon.west1 Twitter: @marlonw IG: stlmarlonwest Spotify: marlonwest)

The connection between jazz and rap goes back to the glory days of Louis Jordan. In the 1970s, The Last Poets and Gil Scott-Heron brought their spoken word to straight ahead jazz music.

Though the sub genre of Jazz Rap really started In 1988 with the release of Gang Starr’s debut single “Manifest” sampling Dizzy Gillespie‘s “Night in Tunisia” from 1952, AllMusic.com describes the genre as “an attempt to fuse African-American music of the past with a newly dominant form of the present, paying tribute to and reinvigorating the former while expanding the horizons of the latter.”

The main groups involved in the formation of the style include A Tribe Called Quest, Digable Planets, De La Soul, Gang Starr, The Roots, Jungle Brothers, and Dream Warriors.

This collection features classics of the genre as well as recent releases from this year. I do hope you all enjoy.

Stay safe, sane and kind, you all.