Dressing For Pleasure - Jon Hassell

Aug

8

Dressing For Pleasure - Jon Hassell

≡ Category: 1990s, Essential, Fusion |
≅ Written by: Michael Kydonieus

JAZZBO NOTES ESSENTIAL RECORDING

Rating:

The first jazz recording (that I know of) to make extensive use of hiphop rhythms and sampling, Dressing For Pleasure is also one of the most successful jazz/hiphop hybrids I’ve heard.

And it’s a real jazz record, too. Except for the samples and the programming, it’s group music, musicians playing off of each other. This isn’t music assembled in an editing suite with some solos thrown in.

The core band is Jon Hassell on trumpet and keyboards; Pete Scaturro on keyboards, drum machine, and electric bass; Brain on drums and percussion; Joe Gore on guitar; and BLK Lion on samples and programming. But there’s a small army of additional musicians, including Kenny Garrett on sax; Flea and Buckethead on bass, DJ Grand Shogun KB on scratches; and a ton more.

The end result is a rich, sultry, and sleazy vibe. Personals, one standout out of many, integrates pulses of nonfunctional harmony, looped and chopped processed vocals, and swooping acoustic bass. It’s kind of like Morcheeba or Massive Attack, but less mellow and more sophisticated.

You wait in vain for Dressing For Pleasure to repeat itself. Each tune has a new approach, a new feel, different techniques, and a different layering of musical effects and timbres. The only thing you can expect is that the soundscapes will be consistently dense and hip. If you listen to Dressing For Pleasure all the way through, it’s such an immersive experience, you may feel at the end like you’ve emerged from a dark cave into harsh sunlight, blinking to adjust your eyes.

The music on Dressing for Pleasure may not sound like Miles Davis’ electric groups during the early 70s, but Davis’ spirit hovers over these tracks in their fearlessness and dedication to exploring the bleeding edge of culture, which is about the highest compliment I could pay.

I should caution that while there is definitely improvisation involved on Dressing For Pleasure, the emphasis is on soundscapes and mood. If you have zero appreciation for hiphop, and your interest in jazz is limited to guys running bebop lines over rhythm changes, then you should probably not bother picking this up. More adventurous listeners will be richly rewarded.