Photo: Hanno Endres
Jazz music of all kinds has inspired, intrigued, and mesmerized us since the early 1900’s. We can follow a clear timeline of jazz evolution from just before the 1920’s to today. The hard question is, where is jazz going today? To answer this question we will be looking at a modern jazz orchestra called Club Des Belugas. Club Des Belugas perform a style called Nu Jazz. Nu Jazz, like many jazz subgenres, can be quite hard to categorize and remains impossible to pin down.
Club Des Belugas orchestration is very reminiscent of the big jazz bands of the 30’s – 60’s where the arranger and bandleader orchestrates the many artists who comprise different versions of the same band. Club Des Belugas is really less of a single band than one would initially notice. They have many orchestration combinations, from a full ten or more piece band (depending on guest appearances) to a smaller sextet, quartet, and many solo opportunities for both members and frequent guests.
Maxim illion is the founder, bandleader, producer, arranger, keyboardist, bass player & programming director following a mold left behind by arrangers and talent scouts of the 30’s – 60’s, much like Fletcher Henderson in style and arrangement.
Members
Full Band
Sextet
Quartet
Guests
NU-HISTORY:
Club des Belugas started their career in 2002 with their first album “Caviar at 3 a.m.” In 2003 the 12″ vinyl release “Hip Hip Chin Chin” and “Gadda Rio“ became number 1 of the German Club Charts. Eight studio albums, six singles/EPs, a two CD live album and live DVD have been released up to 2014.
In 2010 the band was nominated at the Spanish Jazz Awards in 2 categories: “best live act” and for their 5th album “Zoo Zizaro” as “best jazz album”. Between June & September 2007 the Club des Belugas Quartet performed 89 gigs in China. Since 2007 the band has performed more than 280 live concerts all over the world.
Club des Belugas is on the progressive edge of jazz, specifically Nu Jazz, without being solely influenced by the past or modern electronic music. They somehow find harmony between past and present within this fusion of jazz genres. Club des Belugas is currently one of the leading Nu Jazz bands in Europe, perhaps in the world. They combine contemporary European Lounge & Nu Jazz Styles with Brazilian Beats, Swing and American Black Soul of the fifties, sixties and seventies using their unique creativity and intensity.
What is Nu Jazz?
- Nu Jazz Styles
- Nu jazz is a genre of contemporary electronic music. The term was coined in the late 1990s to refer to music that blends jazz elements with other musical styles, such as funk, soul, electronic dance music, and free improvisation.
- Also written nü-jazz or Nu-Jazz, it is sometimes called electronic jazz, electro-jazz, electric jazz, e-jazz, jazztronica, jazz house, phusion, neo-jazz, future jazz or Jazz-hop and electro-lounge.
- Nu jazz ranges from combining live instrumentation with beats of jazz house, exemplified by St Germain, Jazzanova and Fila Brazillia, to more band-based improvised jazz with electronic elements, such as that of The Cinematic Orchestra, Kobol, and the “future jazz” style pioneered by Bugge Wesseltoft, Jaga Jazzist, Nils Petter Molvær, and others.
- Nu jazz typically ventures farther into the electronic territory than does its close cousin, acid jazz (or groove jazz), which is generally closer to earthier funk, soul, and rhythm and blues.
- Groove & smooth jazz artists such as the Groove Collective, and Pamela Williams blur the distinction between acid jazz and Nu Jazz.
- Nu jazz can be very experimental in nature and can vary widely in sound and concept. The sound, unlike its cousin acid jazz, departs from its blues roots and instead explores electronic sounds and ethereal jazz sensualities.
- Nu jazz “is the music itself and not the individual dexterity of the musicians.” Often, nu jazz blends elements of traditional jazz texture with that of modern electronic music and free improvisation, thus, the music can truly evolve into a multitude of sounds and can vary greatly from artist to artist.
- Nu jazz has its roots in the use of electronic instruments in production in the 1970s work of such luminaries as Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, and Ornette Coleman. Hancock’s early 1980s work with Bill Laswell, in particular, such as the album Future Shock, anticipated the style in its incorporation of electro and hip-hop rhythms. Beginning in the late ’80s, many hip-hop musicians worked in the jazz rap style—among them, Gang Starr, The Roots, A Tribe Called Quest, and Nas. Also in the 1980s, many house musicians took inspiration from jazz, particularly post-bop and jazz funk.
- In the mid-1990s and early 2000s, musicians from the downtempo scene, St Germain, DJ Takemura, Perry Hemus and Jazzanova among them, began to delve more deeply into jazz. In the same period, intelligent dance music producers —most famously Squarepusher and Spring Heel Jack, and later London Elektricity and Landslide— took a similar interest. Techno musicians, such as Laurent Garnier, Carl Craig and his Innerzone Orchestra project, have also touched on nu jazz. Some figures from the digital hardcore and breakcore scenes, notably Alec Empire, Nic Endo, and Venetian Snares, have explored a harder, noisier variant on the style. A decade later, some dubstep producers, such as Boxcutter, also explored electronic jazz.
- While still embracing the traditional forms of jazz, pianist Bugge Wesseltoft and trumpeter Nils Petter Molvær are known for their improvisational nu jazz style. The Cinematic Orchestra is also known for incorporating a traditional jazz band while fusing electronic elements into their music production. St. Germain, a purveyor of nu jazz music, has sold 1.5 million copies of his Tourist album.
Nu Jazz Influences
- Brazilian Beats
- Styles influenced by African, European and Amerindian forms.
- Unique and original styles such as samba, bossa nova, MPB,sertanejo, pagode, tropicalia, choro, maracatu, embolada (coco de repente), Mangue Bit, funk carioca (in Brazil simply known as Funk), frevo, forró, axé, brega, lambada.
- Contemporary European Lounge
- a type of easy listening music popular in the 1950s and 1960s (though not called “lounge” until much later). It may be meant to evoke in the listeners the feeling of being in a place, usually with a tranquil theme, such as a jungle, an island paradise, or outer space.
- Swing
- Swing came from the phrase ‘swing feel’ where the emphasis is on the off–beat or weaker pulse in the music (unlike classical music). Swing bands usually featured soloists who would improvise on the melody over the arrangement. The danceable swing style of big bands and bandleaders such as Benny Goodman was the dominant form of American popular music from 1935 to 1946, a period known as the Swing Era.
- American Black Soul of the fifties, sixties and seventies
- Originated in the United States in the 1950s and early 1960s. It combines elements of African-American gospel music, rhythm and blues and jazz.
All of the above information condenses down to just a snippet of information on Nu Jazz and what it takes to become Club Des Belugas. I could continue on for days with explanations and examples. Modern Jazz remains the melting pot of musical inspiration it has been for years. One could continue to study this amazing artform for a lifetime and still find new information and inspiration. Personally I have been inspired by so many Jazz artists and I am very happy to know that the genre continues to break new ground every day, continuing this creative cycle and paving the way for aspiring creatives.
Works Cited
“A Flourish of Jazz”, Time Magazine article, including mention of the use of electronics in jazz fusion.
“Club Des Belugas.” Club Des Belugas. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Mar. 2015.
Definition from Sergey Chernov, June 7, 2002, in The St. Petersburg Times
Melissa Ursula Dawn Goldsmith, “Lounge Caravan: A Selective Discography,” Notes 61, no. 4 (2005): 1060.
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