|
  Jazz T Interview
interview 0578 added 01.10.08 words:
Ryan Proctor
technical:
Spoon
As a founding member of Surrey’s Diversion Tactics crew, Jazz T has more than proven himself over the years as both a talented DJ and an astute producer. From the dusty-fingered beats of DT’s debut 2002 album “Pubs, Drunks And Hip-Hop” to the unapologetically raw tracks heard on T’s new solo project “All City Kings”, the former UK ITF DJ champion has consistently remained faithful to the true-school Hip-Hop blueprint he first discovered back in the 80s. This unwavering approach to his craft has led to Jazz working with a diverse selection of like-minded individuals, from Bronx-bred underground icon Percee P to gifted homegrown mic-wrecker Kashmere.
Currently keeping busy supplying the beats at London’s respected open-mic event End Of The Weak, Jazz T recently tore himself away from sifting through old sci-fi soundtracks for new sample material to talk about his new album, production techniques, and future plans.
It’s been six years since the release of the first Diversion Tactics album “Pubs, Drunks And Hip-Hop”. What are your thoughts looking back on that project?
We didn’t initially intend on doing an album at all. We’d dropped the original Diversion Tactics EP and had got together a tour with J-Zone and one of the guys who booked us for a show was Rob Luis from Tru Thoughts. Our manager passed him a copy of the EP and he was really interested in our music. Rob wanted to put us out as one of the first Zebra Traffic releases, and he already knew me from doing cuts on Mark B’s first EP with MCM and Big Ted.
After the tour we had a proper meeting with Rob and he told us that, at the time, he wasn’t really up for doing just 12” singles and EPs, he wanted us to do a whole album. So we really had to get it together. Fortunately, me, a guy called Optiv, who was from a drum & bass crew called Cause For Concern, and Zygote had all been making a lot of beats together for quite a long period of time. So we gave the beats to Chubby, Barron ACJ and Squeaky and then talked about the direction of the tracks.
We’d already been doing a lot of shows together so we had a strong chemistry as a group, but I’d say the whole album was kinda thrown together, but I think that gave the project a real spontaneous feel. I think when you plan too much it can take away from the natural vibe of the music you’re making. We never actually thought we’d ever have the chance to record an album, so a lot of energy went into “Pubs, Drunks And Hip-Hop”.
At what point did you make the transition from being a DJ to considering yourself a producer?
I started DJ-ing when I was 15-years-old. I originally lived in Watford, then I moved to Birmingham, then I came to Surrey. I had a couple of mates at school who had turntables, not Technics or anything, they were just straight-up hi-fi decks, but I got into DJ-ing through that.
I soon started doing pause-button tapes and multi-tracking using a couple of cassette decks, which is really when I’d say I first started trying to produce. At the time samplers and studios were extremely expensive, so I really had to work with the equipment I had. I’d say I was about 16-years-old when I actually started thinking like a producer in my head with the intention of going somewhere with the music.
 How would you say your production style has developed over the years?
The Diversion Tactics album was the result of fifteen years of being into Hip-Hop, so the sound of the album reflected the music we came up listening to. But if you listen to tracks like “Hong Kong” and “Yanking Off”, you can also hear the beginnings of the music we’re making now.
In terms of the beats, we’re still using breaks and always will use breaks. On occasion we’ll sample Zygote drumming, but we’re still using that live drum sound that you’ll find on an old break. We were heavy on the jazz tip on the first Diversion Tactics album, whereas now we’re sampling stuff from anywhere.
Obviously my production techniques have become more advanced, but we’re still working within that boom-bap true-school sound. We’ve got a lot better as producers and engineers and we’re able to do a lot more, so that’s apparent in our sound now. But the motivation behind the music is still the same.
You just mentioned that you’ll always sample from breaks in your music - how much is digging for old vinyl still a part of what you do?
Digging is still a very large part of what I do. Basically, whenever I see a record shop, I’m in there. I actually work in a record shop in Guildford, so I’m surrounded by records four days a week anyway (laughs). We’re lucky enough in Guildford to have two collectors record stores, which I spend a lot of time in, so we’re kinda spoiled. If there’s something that I know I want and I want it quickly, then I’ll buy it off the internet. But the excitement of actually digging for records and finding stuff no-one else has is still a big part of it for me.
Where do you stand on the debate surrounding producers downloading material to sample from the internet rather than going out and digging for it the traditional way?
A lot of people just haven’t got the patience nowadays. A friend of mine who makes drum & bass was telling me the other day how he’s just downloaded thirty gigs worth of samples. I’m of the attitude that I’ll always dig, so personally I don’t download stuff to sample. I’ll always sample from either live instruments that we’ve recorded or breaks that we’ve found. I won’t limit myself from only sampling from vinyl though, because if you find something on CD that’s worth sampling you should do. But at the end of the day, if you’ve got skills, whether or not you’re able to go out and dig shouldn’t really hold you back.
Is there a particular idea or concept behind your new album “All City Kings”?
Well, a lot of people don’t really know who I am and I’ve never really pushed for people to know me on a certain level. I’m not the type of person to boast about what I’m doing, so I’ve always kinda been in the background doing my thing. I felt that maybe it was time for people to know a bit more about Jazz T and for me to develop myself more as an artist.
I wanted to use the new album to showcase the artists I’ve worked with in the past, either through producing or touring as a show DJ. So that’s why you hear everyone on the album from Percee P and Tim Dog to Kashmere.
“All City Kings” was a way of me showing what I’ve achieved in my career so far while also making a tight Hip-Hop album and defining myself as an artist in my own right as opposed to just being known as a DJ.
How much input did you have on the lyrical direction of each track?
To be honest, I just let everyone do their own thing really. I felt that the tone and sound of the project had already been set by the beats I’d chosen to use. Because I’d already worked with everyone on the album previously, I was confident that I could let them all do their thing and it would come out the way I was hoping it would.
Considering the mainstream popularity of Hip-Hop today, have you even been tempted to take your music in a more commercial direction?
I make music because I love music, but at the same time I also make records to sell records. Now, in terms of me making something that’s formulated to appeal to the masses, it just wouldn’t work. When it comes to making pop stuff that the masses love, that’s a skill in itself, so even if I tried to produce those type of records I really don’t think that I could do it.
Although a lot of people knock the more commercial stuff, to make something that appeals to everyone across the board does take something. So I don’t think that’s a direction I could ever go in, not just because it’s not something I believe in, but also because it’s a skill I don’t think I have.
Plus, I think producers who do flit between whatever’s trendy at a particular time cut their shelf-life as they end-up not really standing for anything, as they alienate their original fans and the newer fans are only interested for a short time until the next trend comes along.
What advice would you give to young producers getting into the game today?
I’d definitely suggest that they take the time to study music and listen to what’s come before them as that can only have a positive effect on their own production. I also think any young producer should spend some time digging, looking for breaks and old records, not necessarily to limit themselves to only sampling from vinyl, but just to have that experience. Also, as a producer you really need to have a picture in your head of what you want the end result of a track to sound like. It’s no good going into making a track with absolutely no idea of where you want to go with the music.
An obvious question here, but if you could produce your ultimate posse cut, which artists would you want to collaborate with?
I won’t mention any of my own guys as they’re obvious choices, so we’ll leave them out for the time being (laughs). But I’d definitely have Bionic of London Posse on there, Kool G. Rap, Godfather Don, Freddie Foxxx, Roots Manuva, EPMD and MF Doom. I think that’d be a nice little line-up.
So what’s next for Jazz T?
The plan with Diversion Tactics has always been to do another album and we’re now about halfway through recording the new project. It’s sounding nice and I’m really happy with it. All the tracks are done so now Chubby’s just working on the lyrics. We were trying to get the album out this year, but then Chubb started writing for another Bobba Fresh project, so we’re looking at next year now.
Me and Zygote are doing a project with Kashmere, which as a piece of music is some next level business. We’re also doing a Boot compilation, as a lot of the singles that came out on the label have never been released on CD. So we’re putting out an album that will include previously released Boot tracks from artists like Robot Boy and HUG, plus some unreleased stuff from Kashmere, Verb T and Louie G.
So right now, I’m definitely staying very busy.
Too many plans there to keep on top of so you best stay tuned to Jazz T's myspace link below to find out when all those projects are dropping...
-
Ryan Proctor
Related Links:
 
|
