Horns, keys and a rolling break
Slide a double bass lick under a skippy break and the whole vibe shifts. That is jazzstep: a strand of jungle and drum & bass that leans on jazz, with jazz samples, live-sounding bass, keys and horns, and lounge-style melody set over broken beats. The name is loose, and it has been pinned on a record by Roni Size and DJ Die, written as "jazz-step". Neighbouring categories on this site include Intelligent, Atmospheric, Liquid Funk and Soulful.
Jazz at junglist speed
Skip the theory and go to the tunes. Alex Reece's "Pulp Fiction" rides a warm bassline and a jazzy horn sample, and Fabio has said the track has no strings or pads. The 2017 reissue of New Forms still shows off jazzy keys and double bass licks. Hospital Records' founders described their early sound as analogue lounge music at drum 'n' bass tempo, drawing on orchestral albums, soundtracks and jazz-funk, and Tony Colman recalled "we called it loungecore".
Not every head was sold. Jazzy drum & bass got written off by plenty of people as a gentrification of earlier jungle. The counter-argument is that junglist principles were still at work inside it, and Pulse & Tango's "Let The Hustlers Play" (1996) is the tune to point at, with its sampling and shifting breaks. The jazz label itself didn't suit everyone either. Peshay names John Coltrane, Miles Davis and Art Blakey among his longest-standing influences, yet he said drum & bass was not "a jazz for the 1990s".
From Bristol to Harlesden and back
Roni Size and the Bristol line
"Music Box" by Size and DJ Die (Full Cycle) is one record the name jazz-step has been hung on. The kick and snare sit on the one, which gives the step in jazz step, and flourishes of lounge jazz melody ride on top. In 1995 Size signed a flexible, non-exclusive deal with Talkin' Loud, which released the EP Reasons for Sharing (1996) and the debut album New Forms in 1997. New Forms won the 1997 Mercury Prize. The jury chairman called Radiohead's OK Computer a classic album, and the jury still chose Size's record. Size himself said "We didn't want to win"; the prize was not one of the group's goals. He has said he loves "rolling sets of drums, whether in reggae or jazz or hip-hop".
Bukem, Speed and Good Looking
LTJ Bukem (Danny Williamson) learned piano as a child, was introduced to jazz fusion by a teacher after his family moved to Watford, and played in a jazz-funk band as a hobby. He founded Good Looking Records from a small office in Harlesden, London. Its first release, "Demon's Theme", was finished in mid-1990, tested on dubplate for a year and officially released in July 1991.
Fabio says he decided with Bukem, a man named Leo and his girlfriend Sarah to start the club night Speed. By his account it began on a Monday with four people, moved to a Thursday, and was the first time jungle had been taken to the heart of the West End. He describes the music he turned to as "beautiful melodic, spacey music like early techno". In the hands of selectors like Fabio and Bukem, jazzy drum & bass still soundtracked hardcore dancing.
Alex Reece and two-step
Reece was part of the original crew of Metalheadz and released "Pulp Fiction" there in 1995. The record is credited with creating the two-step style that became standard across the genre. Goldie called it "the beginning of 2-step drum & bass", and Fabio, who suggested the title, called it "the first minimal tune". Goldie refused to license the tune for Reece's debut album on Island, So Far, which carries jazz-inflected material of its own.
Reinforced, Moving Shadow and the live-instrument turn
4hero's Parallel Universe (1994) is credited as the first drum & bass LP and was voted best dance album in a 1995 poll. Mark Clair says the group "always used those Coltrane chords". Their 1998 major-label album Two Pages, on Talkin' Loud, earned a Mercury nomination.
Moving Shadow began in 1990 in a bedroom in Stevenage. Omni Trio's 1993 "Renegade Snares" is still heard in jungle-inflected sets, and the 1994 Nookie remix of Omni Trio's "Soul Promenade" is a masterclass in sensual strings and descending diva vocals. E-Z Rollers (JMJ & Richie, from Suffolk) stayed with Moving Shadow after its 1997 split.
Peshay's album Miles From Home, released on Island Records, features the vocalists Valerie St Etienne and Kim Mazelle. London Elektricity's Tony Colman, who had played in a band called Izit, started Hospital Records with Chris Goss after their earlier label Tongue & Groove folded. Goss says that label aspired to be like Ninja, Dorado or Talkin' Loud, and Colman also named Acid Jazz. The track "Song In The Key Of Knife" persuaded them to stay with drum & bass.
Names to dig for
- LTJ Bukem: Good Looking founder and Speed co-founder; classically trained pianist with a jazz-fusion background.
- Roni Size Reprazent and DJ Die: the Bristol line from "Music Box" to New Forms.
- Alex Reece: "Pulp Fiction" (Metalheadz, 1995).
- 4hero: Coltrane-influenced chords and soulful vocals on Parallel Universe and Two Pages.
- Peshay: "Psychosis" on Metalheadz; Miles From Home on Island.
- Makoto: his early EPs and LPs came out on Good Looking, and he says he has listened to jazz, soul and disco since he began making music.
- Calibre: Belfast-born, with jazz and soul running through his work; his albums as Dominick Martin span downtempo, jazz and folk.
- London Elektricity and Omni Trio: the lounge and melodic ends of the style.
The labels behind the sound
Good Looking (Bukem), Full Cycle (Bristol), Talkin' Loud (the major-label home of Reprazent and 4hero), Moving Shadow and Hospital Records all feature in the story above. Makoto later released through Hospital and Metalheadz and runs Human Elements.
Still rolling
In 2017 Size toured a live audiovisual show for the twentieth anniversary of New Forms, and in 2020 he played sold-out headline dates with Bukem. Calibre's album Feeling Normal, around 2021, is his first fully 140 BPM record, with UK garage-style kicks, deep bass and dub.
Related styles
See Jungle, Intelligent, Atmospheric, Liquid Funk, Soulful and Deep.
