Mark de Clive-Lowe and I recently had an email conversation about Jazz, the new Jazz, electronic music, and his big transition to the U.S. He shared with me a couple of his recent magazine interviews and some additional thoughts and reflections. This is part one of that conversation.

In an interview with a Norwegian magazine, Mark mentioned, “I went back to New Zealand for three years after Berklee, and it wasn’t until then when Jungle was happening that I really started to get into electronic grooves – it was still all live without any programming or production, but the concepts were exciting me a lot. Jungle to me was a definite part of the Bitches Brew lineage – not necessarily taking it further, but definitely keeping it moving in a current, contemporary context.”

This idea that Jungle was in some way descended from the music of Miles Davis was pretty fascinating, so I asked if he would elaborate…

“By the time Jungle came about, electronic beats and programmed loops were common place in club music – I remember long ago playing in a club in New Zealand where the room next door was DJs, and our room was Funk/Acid Jazz. Now and then I’d go next door to check out the DJs, and it would be Trance or Acid, neither of which resonated with me or made any sense to me. Then I heard Jungle. It had the sonics of electronic music but with the organic feel of the half time against the double time. They were flipping the breaks like Art Blakey tripping on acid soloing for James Brown. It had none of the monotony of what I’d been hearing in club music up to that point, and the way it fused electronic and organic influences was a breath of fresh air. Soundscapes, drum breaks, heavy b-lines – it had everything. As the music evolved and there was the intelligent and jazzy off-shoots, you could hear the potential in the form. After a few years it got watered down into 2-steppy Drum and Bass, but for a minute there, the vibe was there and it was so real. Jungle was definitely what attracted me back to club music and DJ culture.”

More from this conversation is on the way…

Related:
Interview with Mark de Clive-Lowe