A return to 'Guru's Jazzmatazz,' a seminal moment in the fusion of hip-hop and jazz

The early '90s were a fertile time for the fusion of jazz and hip-hop, with outfits including A Tribe Called Quest, Digible Planets and Us3 blurring the boundaries between the genres. Into the mix stepped Guru, the Gang Starr frontman. Thanks to DJ Premier, Gang Starr always had an inspired jazz sample in their back pocket. With the release of Guru's Jazzmatazz, Vol. 1 in 1993, the monotone rapper took things a step further. He brought in progressive-minded jazz vets including Donald Byrd, Lonnie Liston Smith and Branford Marsalis to play behind Guru's rhymes. There were four Jazzmatazz volumes all told, but Vol. 1 remains the best. A new three-record vinyl set from Universal's Urban Legends imprint packages that record with an album of instrumentals and another of bonus tracks, along with a photo booklet. Guru died in 2010, but in a good sign of just how jazzy Jazzmatazz is, the instrumentals have aged the best.