Guru's Jazzmatazz

Art Form: Music
Type/Genre: Rap/Jazz

I have definitely been "cooling" to Guru's Jazzmatazz lately. This album is really cool. Guru, the lyricist, raps over jazz beats on every track. The album is definitely antiquated, but I recently discovered it. The album features some of the most revered Jazz musicians including Lonnie Liston Smith and New Orleans' own, Mr. Branford Marsalis. My favorite song on the album is, Loungin' featuring Jazz musician Donald Byrd. I also like Transit Ride, in which Branford Marsalis is featured, because I can relate to it being from New York. For me, this album compiles a great group of songs that I would chime to while cruising down the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Drive at midday with light traffic.


Guru's voice is very smooth and rhythmic; it's comparable to Common's. Every song is pretty melodic and has a solemn feel to it. There's hardly any profanity or vulgarities which makes the album even more refreshing. Oh, and Guru's also from Brooklyn so that inclined me to like it even more. I think the album's intricacy is really innovative because of the mixture of jazz and rap, albeit there may have been other artists who have similar albums.

I'm definitely advocating for you to give this a listen. I've pretty much extolled Guru for the album and I think its a classic.