acid jazz
what it is
Acid jazz (also known as club jazz) is a musical genre that combines elements of soul music, funk, disco, particularly looping beats and modal harmony. It first developed in America in a simplistic form from artists such as Sonny Stitt who infused funk, gospel, jazz, and other popular genres with a recurring backbeat. In the UK it developed over the 1980s and 1990s and could be seen as tacking the sound of jazz-funk onto electronic dance/pop music for the UK.
✦ start here: albums
✦ who's making it, level by level
level 1 · mainstream
the pop everyone knows
level 3 · one step out
cult favorites and indie darlings
level 4 · further
art pop, hyperpop, and the underground
level 5 · all the way
deep experimental
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questions
What is acid jazz?
Acid jazz (also known as club jazz) is a musical genre that combines elements of soul music, funk, disco, particularly looping beats and modal harmony. It first developed in America in a simplistic form from artists such as Sonny Stitt who infused funk, gospel, jazz, and other popular genres with a recurring backbeat. In the UK it developed over the 1980s and 1990s and could be seen as tacking the sound of jazz-funk onto electronic dance/pop music for the UK.
What are good acid jazz albums to start with?
Try Emergency On Planet Earth by Jamiroquai, Amateur Girlfriends Go Proskirt Agents by Xploding Plastix, Doo-Bop by Miles Davis, and Man With a Movie Camera by The Cinematic Orchestra.
Who are some women making acid jazz?
musicisforgirls.com/genres/acid-jazz/girls lists women, non-binary artists, and bands with women making acid jazz, from mainstream to underground.
genre notes from last.fm listeners · artists and albums from last.fm, updated 2026-10-20