Electro-jazz evolves to include many more shocks

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2007

MONTREAL (AFP) — An increasingly popular scion of jazz that sprouted in the late 1990s, electro-jazz is undergoing a profound and promising mutation, several of its apostles displayed this week at the Montreal jazz festival.

"I believe electro-jazz, in its purest form, is stagnating," said Laurent Saulnier, an organizer of one of the world's biggest annual music festivals.

Artists "have picked it up and experimented with it, pushing it to new levels," he said in an interview with AFP, pointing to Brazilian disc jockey (DJ) Amon Tobin and Britain's The Cinematic Orchestra.

"I think jazz in order not to become stale and static has to move, has to accept contemporary technology and society and culture to actually be relevant," commented Jason Swinscoe, leader...