jazz musician; guitarist
Personal Information
Born on November 29, 1962, in London, England.
Career
Guitarist; credited as a pioneer of acid jazz; released the albums: The Quiet Revolution, 1993; Bad Brothers, 1995; Light to Dark, 1996; A Brighter Day, 1999.
Life's Work
Down Beat magazine called Ronny Jordan "one of acid jazz's early instrumental heroes." Jordan was one of the first guitarists in the early 1990s to fuse open jazz improvisations with funk and hip hop rhythms. The experiment offended jazz purists, but the resulting "acid jazz," spread quickly from London to New York, San Francisco, and across the United States. Although the record industry was slow to catch on to the movement, and the purists rejected the new formula, Jordan's 1992 debut album The Antidote, became one of the most popular records to emerge from London's acid jazz scene. "I'm not a hard-nosed jazz purist," Jordan told Guitar Player, which may have been the understatement of his career.
Self-Taught Guitarist
Jordan was born in 1962 in London, England. His parents were of Jamaican descent. A self-taught guitarist, Jordan first picked up the instrument at the age of four, and was playing live shows at the age of 15. He was exposed to gospel groups like the Soul Stirrers and Andrae Crouch. Jordan's first public performances were with gospel acts in and around London. His father, a minister, disapproved of his son leading a musician's life. To appease him, Jordan went to college and earned a business degree. Before devoting himself to his music full-time, Jordan worked "straight" jobs for many years.
The outbreak of British funk during the 1980s inspired Jordan to start exploring different types of music beyond his gospel roots. At some point, he developed a fascination with jazz. His influences included Charlie Christian, Wes Montgomery, and Grant Green. Although Jordan loved jazz, he was also fond of 1970s funk groups like Sly & The Family Stone, Parliament/Funkadelic, and Tower of Power. "I was split down the middle," he told Guitar Player.
Jordan started experimenting after college and combined his two loves, jazz and funk. When hip hop began to take off, he started incorporating that into the mix as well. Jordan's experiments resulted in the song "After Hours," on which he played all of the instruments. This single was one of the first recordings of the music genre that would come to be known as "acid jazz."
Acid Jazz Gets a Name
The term "acid jazz" applies to a style of music created by disc jockeys in London. The music recreated sounds from the 1970s era, complete with the "wah-wah" guitar and Hammond organ that exemplified the work of artists such as Roy Ayers and Donald Byrd. However, Jordan believes that it is impossible to recapture that old sound. "So rather than calling my music acid jazz," he told Guitar Player, "I refer to it as 'music for the head and feet.'" Jazz purists hated the new sound. They believed that jazz should not be fused with funk, hip-hop, rap, and R&B. In an interview with Guitar Player, Jordan counted contemporary jazz musician Wynton Marsalis among his critics.
Initially, record companies showed no interest in producing acid jazz recordings. "After Hours" was rejected by several British record companies. After Jordan recorded a compelling reworking of legendary jazz artist Miles Davis's classic "So What," the attitudes of record company executives began to change. Jordan took Davis's cool sense of jazz improvisation and updated it with hip-hop rhythms. His version of "So What" became a hit on London's underground music scene. Jordan soon landed a record deal with Island Records, and released his debut album, The Antidote, in 1992. The Antidote was influential, and the acid jazz movement began to spread. Jordan also found success when he teamed with hip-hop artist Guru on 1993's Jazzmatazz, Volume 1. Jordan's guitar work was featured prominently on the record, and it became a best seller. Jazzmatazz brought acid jazz into the mainstream, and made it a viable genre. In 1995, Jordan appeared on Jazzmatazz, Volume 2.
By the time that Jordan released his follow-up to The Antidote, the popularity of acid jazz was beginning to wane. Down Beat magazine credited his 1994 release, The Quiet Revolution, for it's guest appearances by hip-hop artists Guru, Dana Bryant, and vocalist Fay Simpson. It also noted that, without the hip-hop rhythms, Jordan's music "goes limp." In 1995, Jordan released Bad Brothers, which contained remixes of his earlier work. Although critical response to the album was lukewarm, Jordan continued to perform before enthusiastic crowds throughout North America, Europe, Japan, Australia, and Southeast Asia.
Signed with Blue Note
In 1999, Jordan signed a new contract with the legendary jazz label Blue Note. His Blue Note debut, A Brighter Day, was released in March of 2000. The album explores many styles of music, including trip-hop, bossa-nova, and the sounds of Brazil and India, and pays homage to British acid jazz. "I really feel this record is giving me the first opportunity to show all that I can do," Jordan remarked in his Blue Note biography. On one track, Jordan teamed with one of his heroes, Roy Ayers, on a new version of Ayers's classic "Mystic Voyage." A Brighter Day was recorded in New York City, and featured many local musicians. "This album has a more organic feel to it than anything I've done before," Jordan noted in his Blue Note biography. "The energy of the New York musicians was very conducive to what I wanted to do in taking my music to the next level."
Although Jordan understands the criticism he gets from jazz purists for mixing a new formula, he has a different historical outlook. "Remember, jazz started out as street music," he told Guitar Player. "Benny Goodman, Charlie Christian, and Django Reinhardt were the '30s equivalent of rave and house. Their urban feel was very close to what hip hop is today. They're both based in reality."
Works
Selected discography
- The Antidote, Island, 1992.
- The Quiet Revolution, 4th & Broadway, 1993.
- Bad Brothers, Island, 1995.
- Light to Dark, Fourth & Broadway, 1996.
- A Brighter Day, Blue Note, 2000.
Further Reading
Periodicals
- Guitar Player, February 1994, p.23.
- Down Beat, January 1994, p.49; January 1997, p. 58.
- Additional information for this profile was obtained from the " Ronny Jordan Homepage, http://www.ronnyjordan.com (May 13, 2000); and the entry on "Ronny Jordan," from AMG All Music Guide, http://www.allmusic.com (May 13, 2000).
— Brenna Sanchez
