New JJFP?

[Hero1]

Last year, Jazzy worked on his long time buddy Will Smith's fourth solo release Lost & Found. The album features production and scratches from Jazzy Jeff. Not too long ago, the pair were hanging in Jeff's studio and putting down some tracks together.

There was nothing specific, Jazzy Jeff explains. "The best music is what you do without a purpose. The music that made us popular in the first place was done without a plan. Once you start throwing darts at a specific target, then you lose. It could be for a Fresh Prince reunion album, it could be a track for my solo album or for Will's album."

Jazzy Jeff

by Christie Eliezer

At 41 years old, Jazzy Jeff Townes is as possessed and obsessed as he was when he was 24, when hip hop made him a millionaire. In his A Touch of Jazz studio in its new offices in Philadelphia�s Delaware Street, not a move is wasted. He�s �time skilling�, as Americans say. �Philly made me sound the way I do,� he says. �Know what happens to great comedians who leave their hometown which gave them their stack of great stories and one-liners? They stop being funny.�

He�s currently working on his second solo album, The Return Of The Magnificent which he�s trying to get done by the end of August so it can be out for Christmas, In the next few weeks, he�ll be DJing in Beijing, Singapore and then will do three club dates while he�s in Australia to appear at the inaugural Urban Music Awards in Sydney.

�I�m bringing my portable studio with me,� he enthuses. �If I find someone, I�ll get �em in my hotel room to get a track down.�

Jazzy Jeff is a big fan of the Australian hip hop scene. �The last time I was here, it had a purity and enthusiasm that the American hip hop scene used to have. That�s back in the days when mixers would perform live. Now it�s about the commercialism and who makes the money. In Australia, it�s still regarded as an artform and very open.�

Last year, Jazzy worked on his long time buddy Will Smith�s fourth solo release Lost & Found. The album features production and scratches from Jazzy Jeff. Not too long ago, the pair were hanging in Jeff�s studio and putting down some tracks together.

�There was nothing specific,� Jazzy Jeff explains. �The best music is what you do without a purpose. The music that made us popular in the first place was done without a plan. Once you start throwing darts at a specific target, then you lose. It could be for a Fresh Prince reunion album, it could be a track for my solo album or for Will�s album.�

Is he surprised that Will still has his feet on the ground? �Not at all, we�ve been friends for a long time. I know the person he is. We�re both blessed. You don�t take it for granted to be in the position that we are in. He wanted to be a movie star, I wanted to just do music. We�re lucky to have that level of success we dreamed about.�

Much of their success with Middle America was that neither of them were confrontational or made their (white) audiences uncomfortable. Townes, born January 22, 1965, grew up in West Philadelphia in a musical household. The �hood was predominantly black, but in the Townes house, they played jazz, urban and white rock. At his DJ stints, he�ll switch from rap to Nirvana to old skool soul.

�If it moves me, I�ll play it. Why put it in categories, you confuse people. If you go into a store looking for an Aerosmith record, look under �A� not �rock pop� or �glam metal� or whatever.�

At 10, Townes was practising spinning records in the family basement, and then spinning at parties. By the time he reached John Bartram High, he was already playing block parties. He instinctively knew which music got a party moving, and mastered scratching techniques, powering it with strong percussion. �Damn but he was fast,� says Schoolly D, an early rival.

Says Jazz, �Every neighbourhood had its own djs, so there�d be this rivalry when the djs got together. It was a great place for kids to check out to see what other dj talent there was. You had to finish by midnight. But you had such a good time, that sometimes cops would come on down, and sometimes they�d close you down.�

In 1985, Jazzy�s regular MC was ill so some wiseass called Will Smith came on the mic. The chemistry was instant, they shared the same humour. By the next summer, they�d released their first single Girls Ain�t Nothin But Trouble as DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince. It was the first hip-hop song to sample a TV show theme, I Dream of Jeannie and it soon began to chart. That year, Jazzy took out the championships of the DMC New Music Seminar while their TV series made their stars.

The duo�s debut album Rock The House saw Jazzy Jeff�s invention, the �chirp scratch� to make it sound like a bird. The track A Touch of Jazz was one of the first times hip hop flirted with jazz, which they�d follow up on their third album And In This Corner on which the single The Groove featured a remix with Grover Washington Jr.

In 1990 Jazzy Jeff set up A Touch of Jazz to develop new producers and djs as James Poyser and Vikter Duplaix.

In 1998, Jazzy Jeff signed a solo deal with Columbia Records He recorded an album with artists such as Masta Ace, wack rapper #2 and De La Soul. Unfortunately, Sony shelved it, wanting something more commercial. It was the first time that wack rapper #2 was to be in the studio.

�He was and is very talented, very sure of himself. He hasn�t changed, except he�s got more popular. I reached out to him, I thought he was the most incredible MC I�d ever heard.�

While DJs go into showmanship (Cash Money for instance will scratch with his nose or a butt cheek), but Jazzy Jeff is just about the music. �My whole aspect is, if there�s 2000 people, only 600 can see me. I need to do something that will please all 2,000 not those near me. I love DJing, it keeps me sharp!�

Catch DJ Jazzy Jeff along with Mad Skills tonight at Brown Alley.

haha Christie Elizer wrote half of her article from my ****.. its kool tho its in the local street mag here in melbourne so I know I hand a hand in that :kool:

[Mike]

we can only hope!

how old is this artice??

[bart5]

Thats great news. Thanks for sharing dude.

[Hero1]

how old is this artice??

a few hours haha

[Luigie]

Thanks for postin dis :2thumbs:

[WesSyde]

nice article tim thanks for sharin that

[ash trey]

New JJFP? So its confirmed that new music has been made?

[JumpinJack AJ]

I've been listening 2 old school Hip-Hop all day...this is the perfect thing 2 read at the end of the day!! It's gonna happen...it's gonna happen!! Give it tyme!!

[Da Brakes]

This is great! Thanks for the read Tim!

[Turntable]

I allso think its gonna happen.

[TooFresh]

:woot: :woot:

[KevTastic]

I've heard eneough hopefull interviews. This one may sound the best but its still down to whether or not it'll get released at all.

Lets sit on this one, had enough let downs in the past to be getting my hopes up again

[viber_91]

I've heard eneough hopefull interviews. This one may sound the best but its still down to whether or not it'll get released at all.

Lets sit on this one, had enough let downs in the past to be getting my hopes up again

:word:

[Lerkot]

Obviously somethings gonna happen. Just exactly what is hard to tell.

[Jonny 5]

sounds class to me... even if Jeff just puts it out over his myspace it will be bloody amazing! You gotta find out for us when you see Jeff tomoro Tim!