Showing posts with label ronny jordan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ronny jordan. Show all posts

Ronny Jordan - The Quiet Revolution



Ronny Jordan emerged from the British club jazz explosion of the 1990s seemingly determined to salvage the jazz guitar from middle class cocktail bars and make it hip again. He had a world-wide hit with his jazz-funk cover of "So What" and with The Quiet Revolution had two acid jazz compilation favourites released: "Season For Change", with Gangstarr's lead rapper Guru, and "The Jackal" featuring poetess Dana Bryant. The latter being surprisingly disconcerting for a dance hit: a haunting story of a mysterious ghetto figure it aims at the head as well as the feet.

Throughout the album Jordan's playing is accomplished rather than amazing and is usually to be found propelling amiable jazz-funk tunes. His playing is neat and compact, and if it lacks a little emotional depth it is attractive nonetheless. So maybe the album title is rather misleading, a more accurate one would have been "gentle reform", but then that doesn't quite have the same ring to it. Still, it is well worth your vote.

1. Season for Change
2. In Full Swing
3. Slam in a Jam
4. Mr. Walker
5. Jackal
6. Come With Me
7. Morning After
8. Under Your Spell
9. Tinsel Town Listen
10. Vanston Place (Oo Am)

Ronny Jordan's Website

Get Ronny Jordan - The Quiet Revolution at Amazon
Posted by aj at 7:44 PM 5 comments
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Ronny Jordan - The Antidote (re-up)


One of the acid jazz movement's most prominent guitarists, London-born Ronny Jordan is widely credited with returning the instrument to its rightful place as a major force in modern-day jazz; despite outcries from purists, few other artists of his era proved more pivotal in knocking down the long-immutable boundaries of contemporary black music.

The son of a preacher, Jordan's early musical history was rooted in gospel; his first public performances were with gospel groups, but the outbreak of Brit-funk during the early '80s led him to begin exploring other avenues of music, culminating in a fascination with jazz. A self-taught guitarist, his early influences included Charlie Christian, Wes Montgomery, and Grant Green, and when hip-hop began to take off, Jordan started exploring ways to fuse jazz and rap together.

Ronny signed his first record ideal with Universal Island in July 1991, and started work on his debut release, the Antidote. The rest as they say, is history. Ronny "crossed over" instantly with his first release, the first ever international jazz guitar pop chart hit, Miles Davis’s "So What" which was completed on the same night Miles Davis passed away."The Antidote" became a global smash not just because of "So What" - which became the definitive Acid Jazz tune - but also because of his signature tune "After Hours" - the first and most important smooth jazz guitar classic which introduced Ronny to the US market.

01. Get to Grips
02. Blues Grinder
03. After Hours (The Antidote)
04. See the New
05. So What
06. Show Me (Your Love)
07. Nite Spice
08. Summer Smile
09. Cool and Funky

Ronny Jordan's Website

Get Ronny Jordan - The Antidote At Amazon
Posted by aj at 6:24 PM 10 comments
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Ronny Jordan Quartet - So What En Vivo

Posted by aj at 8:34 PM 0 comments
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Pieces Of A Dream - Acquainted With The Night



British acid-jazz guitarist Ronny Jordan opens and closes Acquainted with the Night, this 12-song commemoration of Pieces of a Dream's silver anniversary.

Discovered by fellow Philadelphian Grover Washington Jr. when the band members were in their teens, the rhythm section does the late sax great proud with inspired guest shots by tenor men Kenny Blake and the ubiquitous Gerald Albright.

But Acquainted with the Night seems to really be the coming-out party for pianist James Lloyd. He wrote or cowrote three-fourths of the songs, and his maturity as a producer and soloist is evident, particularly the haunting "Trance." He also shines with Albright on "Off the Hook," which they definitely are.

The only odd blemishes on this otherwise worthy smooth-jazz celebration are the two vocal selections, both of which are inexplicably Diana Ross covers, featuring a surprisingly ineffective and seemingly unaffected Maysa from Incognito on "Upside Down," and a raw attempt at hip-hop on the theme from the 1970s movie Mahogany.

01. RU Ready
02. Night Vision
03. On That Note
04. Upside Down
05. Off The Hook
06. Brand Nu Start
07. Acquainted With The Night
08. Theme From Mahogany
09. Saxitude
10. Trance
11. Picture This
12. Silver Dreams

Pieces Of A Dream Website

Get Pieces Of A Dream - Acquainted With The Night At Amazon

dl in comments...
Posted by aj at 6:47 PM 3 comments
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Ronny Jordan - The Antidote


One of the acid jazz movement's most prominent guitarists, London-born Ronny Jordan is widely credited with returning the instrument to its rightful place as a major force in modern-day jazz; despite outcries from purists, few other artists of his era proved more pivotal in knocking down the long-immutable boundaries of contemporary black music.

The son of a preacher, Jordan's early musical history was rooted in gospel; his first public performances were with gospel groups, but the outbreak of Brit-funk during the early '80s led him to begin exploring other avenues of music, culminating in a fascination with jazz. A self-taught guitarist, his early influences included Charlie Christian, Wes Montgomery, and Grant Green, and when hip-hop began to take off, Jordan started exploring ways to fuse jazz and rap together.

Ronny signed his first record ideal with Universal Island in July 1991, and started work on his debut release, the Antidote. The rest as they say, is history. Ronny "crossed over" instantly with his first release, the first ever international jazz guitar pop chart hit, Miles Davis’s "So What" which was completed on the same night Miles Davis passed away."The Antidote" became a global smash not just because of "So What" - which became the definitive Acid Jazz tune - but also because of his signature tune "After Hours" - the first and most important smooth jazz guitar classic which introduced Ronny to the US market.

01. Get to Grips
02. Blues Grinder
03. After Hours (The Antidote)
04. See the New
05. So What
06. Show Me (Your Love)
07. Nite Spice
08. Summer Smile
09. Cool and Funky

Ronny Jordan's Website

Get Ronny Jordan - The Antidote At Amazon

Download link in comments...
Posted by aj at 6:45 PM 3 comments
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What is Acid Jazz?

Acid jazz (also known as club jazz) is a musical genre that combines elements of soul music, funk, disco, particularly looping beats and modal harmony. It developed over the 1980s and 1990s and could be seen as tacking the sound of jazz-funk onto electronic dance/pop music.

The compositions of groups such as The Brand New Heavies and Incognito often feature chord structures usually associated with Jazz music. The Heavies in particular were known in their early years for beginning their songs as catchy pop and rapidly steering them into jazz territory before "resolving" the composition and thus not losing any pop listeners but successfully "exposing" them to jazz elements in "baby steps".

The acid jazz "movement" is also seen as a "revival" of jazz-funk or jazz fusion or soul jazz by leading DJs such as Norman Jay or Gilles Peterson or Patrick Forge, also known as "rare groove crate diggers".