These two single discs are a collection of live recordings from San Francisco's "Up & Down" Club, home of acid jazz.
Acid jazz as heard here is probably best described as a funky, dancable music with includes elements of various styles: its roots steeped in jazz, but flavored with a lot of funk, soul and hip-hop. It's hot, city music, and it's insistent: it's not commercial, but is extremely energetic. It's nightclubbing music - not song so much as rhythm and movement. It's young but it's also very mature.
The bands playing on these Sessions include Hueman Flavor, the Up & down All-Stars (collaborations by some of the Clubs most popular artists), the Josh Jones Jazz Ensemble and the Josh Jones Latin Jazz Ensemble, the Will Bernard, Kenny Brooks and Charlie Hunter trios, The Dry Look and Alphabet Soup. A mix-and-match of musicians, some - like drummer Eddie Marshall and bassist Wiitala - playing in more than one ensemble and on both CDs.
The music is fun and exciting. And the musicians are true musicians - as jazz musicians usually are, whatever flavor of jazz they play. With hip-hop from Hueman Flavor and Alphabet Soup, and latin/salsa jazz from Josh Jones, this collection is an excellent introduction to "acid jazz".
