Track Listing

1. Ruffneck Jazz
2. Panacea
3. Singles Party
4. Jolla
5. On the Strip
6. Freestylin'
7. Lite Bake
8. Texas Twister
9. Who's Gonna Be the Junkie?
10. Outerlude

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11585 in Music
• Released on: 1997-04-29
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com
If you were digging around for an aural answer to the question "What is acid jazz?" you could probably do worse than Greyboy's Freestylin', a loose-limbed and breezily funky affair that could serve just fine as a blueprint for the entire genre. Released in 1993, Freestylin' predates the success of the Greyboy Allstars and Karl Denson (whose tenor sax is heard here on one track), but it's basically the same recipe. Featuring a mix of sampled drum loops and live musicians, Freestylin' rides one idea all the way through its 10 tracks, but that idea holds enough sway to keep the disc engaging and satisfyingly funkified. Greyboy layers fat hip-hop drum loops underneath Harold Todd's tenor sax and flute and Marc Antoine's guitar on "Ruffneck Jazz" and "Panacea," and then proceeds to do just that for most of the rest of the disc. The highlight, "Who's Gonna Be the Junkie?," boasts Karl Denson on sax, Derek G. on bass, and Gary Wing on drums, and cooks up a '70s blaxploitation soundtrack head of steam, foreshadowing the direction the Greyboy Allstars would later investigate so fruitfully. --Ezra Gale

Customer Reviews

Landmark Work
In the mid - 90s "acid jazz" was the new buzz word in music. Like most categorizing terms acid jazz was more than a little ambiguous. It seemed that any album that could approximate the faintest notions of groove, jazz or 70s retro dance music would be worthy of the title of "acid jazz". And to make matters more confusing "acid jazz" soon evolved via "trip-hop" into a form of house music that unfortunately embodied little groove and even less "jazz". Not being a critic I have the luxury of not having to define this great albeit fleeting form of music. But in my opinion "Freestylin'" combines all the greatest aspects of early/mid 90s "acid jazz". A prolific body of work has been released under the guise of acid jazz but to me this one album could probably stand on it's own as the definition of this genre. This album combines the funkiest, most organic sounding beats with soloists who lend a jazzy feel to the tracks. These two elements, unremarkable in their own right are combined in nearly perfect proportion to produce one of the most groovy, good - feeling albums I have ever heard. This is not an album that simply is an example of that short lived music "acid jazz". "Freestylin" IS acid jazz. And for those of you looking for an introduction to this funky era in recent music, look no further.

GREAT!
I walked into a record store a few years ago, found an employee who knew something about Acid Jazz & asked him to recommend an album. Without hesitation, he walked to Greyboy. And without heistation, I recommend it to you!

Freestylin' has a great sound - it's jazzy, it still sounds brand new, it's a little funky, it's upbeat, it's just about a toe-tapper. You'll find yourself singing along - even though there are no vocals. I had people over for drinks and played Freestylin'; everyone wanted to know what it was. An unknown gem, that's what!

By the way - Greyboy & the Greyboy Allstars are not the same. I went to the Fillmore and learned that the hard way!

One of the best new jazz albums out there
This is one of Greyboy's best albums. It is full of light hearted flute riffs and amazing sax. Smooth hip hop beats tie everything together and keep your party rollin'. Everyone will be asking where you got this awesome album.