Stetsasonic - Talkin’ All That Jazz

And so tonight we go back to 1988, whence Stetsasonic released ‘In Full Gear’ (and just by looking at the album cover above, wouldn’t you agree that, wow, yes, they are in full gear?), and the best track on the album was (and is) entitled “Talkin’ All That Jazz”. Their DJ, Prince Paul, produced one of my favorites, De La Soul’s ‘3 Feet High and Rising’.

So anyway, the song defends the art of sampling the music of others, and includes a trumpet sample by Donald Byrd. Kudos to whoever can peg the actual song. Googling “Talkin’ All that Jazz sample” didn’t do it for me. Dang.

But, it’s the beat that’s always done it for me on this tune. Stet was one of the first rap groups to use a live drummer. Again, I wish I was musically articulate enough to expound on the technical details of this beat, but all I have is: “goldang it sounds goooood!” Maybe my drummin’ buddy Richard can help. 4-4 beat? 2-4? Hell if I know, but it sounds good.

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