Jazz Corner - Jazz Samples In 90s Hip Hop

This side by side jazz / hip hop playlist came about as a result of an afternoon spent on the excellent whosampled.com website, looking up favourite artists. My main concern was the quality and variety of the jazz on show here, although I think the hip hop list has turned out pretty well too (I'm certainly no expert). If the sample used by the hip hop producers isn't immediately obvious, I've provided timings at the end of the notes on each track.

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1. John Coltrane - Acknowledgement (Coltrane) (from the album 'A Love Supreme') - Coltrane (ts); McCoy Tyner (p); Jimmy Garrison (b); Elvin Jones (d). Impulse!. 12/64.

A Love Supreme was the first Coltrane album I heard. In playing the record to death, I sometimes used to listen to each musician in turn. Elvin Jones' contribution fascinated me, perhaps because it took me so far from the classical music I knew and loved (there's a trick you can try here - turn your stereo balance all the way to the right to focus on the drums, and move Coltrane into the background). It's a pity Da Nuthouse replaced Jones with a slap-in-the-face snare, although it could perhaps have proved tricky to rap over that subtle polyrhythmic wizardry.

1. Da Nuthouse - A Love Supream (Da Nuthouse / Jahee / DJ Active) Fondle 'Em. 98.

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2. McCoy Tyner - Impressions (Coltrane) (from the album 'Trident') - Tyner (p); Ron Carter (b); Elvin Jones (d). Original Jazz Classics. 2/75.

Two former Coltrane sidemen revisiting a piece they must have played hundreds of times before. Coltrane's own versions tended to be more epic than this concise account - try this favourite recording from the 1963 Newport Festival. The Newport record has a very different feel from the classic quartet albums, thanks to the lighter, springier touch of Roy Haynes, sitting in for Elvin Jones. (The sample is a clever grab of a short phrase from Ron Carter's bass solo (3'03"). If you've heard the Black Sheep song, it leaps out).

2. Black Sheep - The Choice Is Yours (revisited) (McLean / Titus) (from the album 'A Wolf In Sheep's Clothing') Mercury. 91.

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3. Eric Dolphy & Booker Little - Mrs. Parker of K.C. (Bird's Mother) (Byard) (from the album 'Far Cry') - Dolphy (bclt); Little (t); Jaki Byard (p); Ron Carter (b); Roy Haynes (d). Original Jazz Classics. 12/60.

A fruity, knotty tribute to Charlie Parker's Mum. Jaki Byard: 'The song came out of my meeting her once. She's a very pleasant woman, and I began to think about how differently Bird turned out from the way she must have expected and hoped for when he was a boy.' Out To Lunch is the best-known Eric Dolphy album, thanks in part to that famous Reid Miles cover, familiar from the walls of bars and record shops that wouldn't dream of putting it on. I probably play Far Cry more often, largely because I'm a huge fan of Booker Little. Little plays a great solo here: beautifully put-together and (seemingly) effortlessly technically immaculate. Dolphy's solo still provokes and surprises, 45 years on. (The sample is another smart borrowing from a Ron Carter solo - bowed this time - 6'12").

3. Del The Funky Homosapien - Catch A Bad One (Del The Funky Homosapien / Casual) (from the album 'No Need For Alarm') Elektra. 94.

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4. Charles Mingus - Fables Of Faubus (Mingus) (from the album 'Mingus Ah Um') - Mingus (b); Willie Dennis, Jimmy Knepper (tbn); John Handy (as); Booker Ervin, Shafi Hadi (ts); Pepper Adams (bs); Horace Parlan (p); Dannie Richmond (d). Columbia. 5/59.

A portrait of the racist former governor of Arkansas, Orval Faubus, who did his very best to prevent the desegregation of schools in Little Rock, Arkansas, defying a federal court order (more here). In 1960, Mingus recorded another version, Original Faubus Fables, which has sung and spoken lyrics. According to the liner notes for this Candid release, Columbia wouldn't let Mingus record the words.

4. T-Love - What's My Name? (T-Love / This Kid Named Miles) (from the EP 'Return Of The B-Girl) Pickininny Records. 98.

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5. Clifford Brown - Yesterdays (Kern) (from the album 'Clifford Brown With Strings') - Brown (t); Richie Powell (p); Barry Galbraith (g); George Morrow (b); Max Roach (d); strings. Verve. 1/55.

I'm not a massive fan of Neal Hefti's soupy string arrangements on this record, but I'll listen to Clifford Brown play anything. A friend once gave me a minidisc of Brown practising, and even that is pretty compelling. For more of Clifford Brown in ballad mode, try the marvellous record with Sarah Vaughan), set down a few months before With Strings.

5. KRS-One - MCs Act Like They Don't Know (KRS-One / DJ Premier) (from the album 'KRS-One') Jive. 95.

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6. Ornette Coleman - Lonely Woman (Coleman) (from the album 'The Shape Of Jazz To Come') - Coleman (as); Don Cherry (pkt-t); Charlie Haden (b); Billy Higgins (d). Atlantic. 10/59.

Coleman's name still strikes fear into the hearts of some, although The Shape Of Jazz To Come is nowhere near as forbidding as they might suspect. Of course, it's the idea of 'free jazz' that puts people off, but, at this stage (1959!), the freer elements are housed within a sequence of often lyrical compositions, and the solos are concise and beautifully constructed. (This is one of the best bits of hip hop sampling I've heard. Combined with a more hip hop friendly beat, taken from Rusty Bryant's Fire Eater - 8'21", Haden and Higgins play their part in a great rolling groove).

6. Aceyalone - Human Language (Aceyalone / Mumbles) (from the album 'A Book Of Human Language') Project Blowed Records. 98.

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7. Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - Stretching (Williams) (from the album 'Reflections In Blue') - Blakey (d); Valerie Ponomarev (t); Bobby Watson (as); David Schnitter (ts); James Williams (p); Dennis Irwin (b). Timeless. 12/78.

Art Blakey's distinguished jazz finishing school ran from the mid 50s until the late 80s - the list of alumni is pretty staggering. The Jazz Messengers stuck to a tried and tested musical formula, offering hot, hot solos driven by Blakey's volcanic drumming. This later effort maybe lacks some of the energy of the great 50s/60s Messengers records; even Blakey himself is relatively restrained, while the slick recorded drum sound doesn't really suit. Still, every Jazz Messengers record is worth hearing. I particularly enjoyed altoist Bobby Watson, who, like so many other Messengers, went on to make his own fine records (here's the opening track from his 1990 album Post-Motown Bop).

7. De La Soul - Oodles Of Os (Prince Paul / De La Soul) (from the album 'De La Soul Is Dead') Tommy Boy. 91.

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8. Miles Davis - Miles Runs The Voodoo Down (Davis) (from the album 'Bitches Brew') - Davis (t); Wayne Shorter (ss); Bennie Maupin (bclt); Chick Corea, Larry Young (el p); John McLaughlin (g); Harvey Brooks, Dave Holland (b); Charles Alias, Jack DeJohnette, Lenny White (d); Jim Riley (perc). Columbia. 8/69.

In 1969, Miles Davis took a large band into the studio, and recorded hours of improvised music. Davis and producer Teo Macero then assembled Bitches Brew by cutting and splicing until they had what they needed. The final product still fills two CDs, though you can now buy a four CD set containing much of the music that was discarded. For me, Voodoo is one of the more successful tracks - a classic slow funk groove, that was bound to be plundered by hip hop producers at some point. If you've got 14 minutes, it's well worth listening to the whole thing, just to check out what these musicians could do.

8. Lootpack - Frenz vs. Endz (J. Brown / R. Jimenez / Otis Jackson Jr.) (from the album 'Soundpieces: Da Antidote!) Stones Throw. 99.

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9. Charlie Parker - A Night In Tunisia (Gillespie / Paparelli) (from the album 'Bird Symbols') - Parker (as); Miles Davis (t); Lucky Thompson (ts); Dodo Marmarosa (p); Arvin Garrison (g); Vic McMillan (b); Roy Porter (d). Rhapsody. 3/46.

A Night In Tunisia is one of Dizzy Gillespie's lasting contributions to the repertoire. Here, from 1953, is a classic, much longer version, featuring Gillespie himself (compare and contrast with the young Miles Davis). These Tunisias sent me to the shelves for a couple of favourite versions by other artists on this playlist. Here is the 1960 edition of the Jazz Messengers, and here is an inspired Clifford Brown at a music shop jam session in 1956. The outrageous Messengers version features a superhumanly pumped up Art Blakey, and includes wild closing cadenzas from Lee Morgan (Blakey: 'Get mad!') and Wayne Shorter.

9. Gang Starr - Manifest (Gang Starr) (from the album 'No More Mr. Nice Guy') Wild Pitch. 89.