Jazz-House

The fusion of house rhythms and jazz atmospheres is a difficult style to pin down, most likely because so many artists have been influenced by jazz that it undoubtedly colors every house production ever put on wax. Also, the methods of Jazz-House producers vary widely, from simply translating the atmosphere in an electronic setting (Swayzak, Herbert, Kevin Yost, Jazzanova) to attempting a synthesis of electronics with jazz soloing (Innerzone Orchestra, St. Germain, Spacetime Continuum, As One). Jazz-House is more of a way to identify artists caught between the polar extremes of mainstream house/techno and ambient/intelligent electronic music. Larry Heard, the first great house producer, was also the first to layer his productions with jazz-based chords and atmospheres. Thanks in part to his continuing influence, dozens of producers began looking back to jazz heroes like Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, and Lonnie Liston Smith for inspiration. Perhaps the epitome of jazz-house's emphasis on a global-village community is Nuphonic Records, a British label home to productions by New Yorkers (Blaze, Ten City, Joe Claussell), Chicagoans (Free Chicago Movement, Roy Davis, Jr.), and a Japanese act (Natural Calamity) as well as several Brits (Black Jazz Chronicles, Faze Action, Soul Ascendants, Idjut Boys). 

Related Styles: House, Acid Jazz, Garage/House, Electro-Jazz, Ambient Breakbeat.