DJ Jazzy Jeff

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DJ Jazzy Jeff, 2002

DJ Jazzy Jeff (born January 22, 1965 in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania ; real name Jeffrey Allen Townes ) is an American DJ and record producer . He is responsible for the development of key scratch techniques and, together with rapper and actor Will Smith, forms the influential hip-hop duo DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince .

Career

Townes' father died when he was ten years old himself. At the age of fourteen, he began to put on records from a family environment, mainly inspired by jazz and soul , and in the years that followed he gained regional fame. In the 1980s he invented the technique of chirp scratching , and he also made the first recording of a transform scratch . In 1986 he won the New Music Seminar's DJ Battle for World Supremacy . A year earlier he had met Will Smith.

As DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, they released five commercially successful albums between 1986 and 1993, which established the popularity of hip-hop in the mainstream . In 1989 they received the first ever Grammy in the Rap category for the song Parents Just Don't Understand . The following year Townes founded his own record label, A Touch of Jazz , named after a song of the same name on their debut album. Between 1990 and 1996 he made a recurring guest role on the sitcom The Prince of Bel-Air , which starred Smith. While Smith began a solo career, Townes subsequently focused on working with other producers on his label, but continued to work with Smith on his albums. Together they appeared on July 2, 2005 at the Live 8 concert in Philadelphia and on June 30, 2008 at the premiere of Hancock in Los Angeles .

DJ Jazzy Jeff in Dallas, England on June 11, 2011

The A Touch of Jazz producer team , which also included Dre & Vidal , worked on the albums of Jill Scott , Musiq Soulchild and Floetry , among other things , and was thus instrumental in the development of neo-soul . One of their songs, Butterflies , landed on Michael Jackson's album Invincible . In 2002 Townes released his first solo album, The Magnificent . Five years later, The Return of the Magnificent followed with guest appearances by Big Daddy Kane , Method Man and Cardinal Offishall, among others . His scratches can be heard on albums by Slum Village , The Roots , Little Brother and Talib Kweli .

Discography

Albums

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
R&B R&B
2002 The Magnificent R&B73 (4 weeks)
R&B
2007 The Return of the Magnificent R&B55 (3 weeks)
R&B

More albums

  • 2010: This Way (album sampler) (with Ayah)
  • 2011: Back for More (with Ayah)

Compilations

  • 2005: The Soul Mixtape
  • 2010: DJ Jazzy Jeff Presents Jeff's in the House, Volume 1 (17 mp3 files)

DJ mixes

  • 2004: In the House
  • 2004: Scion CD Sampler V.10 - The Indie Labels (with Peanut Butter Wolf )
  • 2004: Hip-Hop Forever II
  • 2006: Hip-Hop Forever III
  • 2009: He's the King, I'm the DJ ( Michael Jackson in the Mix)
  • 2010: Summertime - The Mixtape (with Mick Boogie)
  • 2011: 2011 DJ Jazzy Jeff's Playlist and Christmas Bells (2 CDs)
  • 2012: Summertime Vol. 3 (with Mick Boogie)

EPs

year Title
album 		Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements
(Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
UK UK
2002 The Magnificent UK88 (1 week)
UK

More EPs

  • 2002: The Magnificent
  • 2006: The Return of the Magnificent
  • 2007: The Return of Hip Hop

Singles

  • 2002: Break It Down (feat. J-Live)
  • 2002: Rock wit U
  • 2002: For da Love of da Game
  • 2002: How I Do (feat. Shawn Stockman )
  • 2002: My Peoples
  • 2015: A Touch of Jazz

swell

  1. ↑ taz.de : "From the sample to the feet" , August 30, 2002
  2. ↑ a b Interview from 2002 with DJ Jazzy Jeff ( memento of the original from October 6, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.jazzyjefffreshprince.com
  3. ↑ a b "Made From Scratch" from citypaper.net ( Memento of the original from October 6, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , August 13, 2002  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.jazzyjefffreshprince.com
  4. ↑ Information on the Chirp Scratch , June 21, 2002
  5. ↑ Information about the transform scratch , June 25, 2002
  6. ↑ AOL : "Smith raps with Jazzy Jeff at the 'Hancock' party" ( Memento of the original from August 11, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , July 2, 2008 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / at.aol.de
  7. ↑ Discography of the label A Touch of Jazz ( Memento of the original from February 28, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.jazzyjefffreshprince.com
  8. ↑ a b Chart sources: UK US

Web links

personal data
SURNAME DJ Jazzy Jeff
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Townes, Jeffrey Allen (real name); Townes, Jeff
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American DJ and record producer
DATE OF BIRTH January 22, 1965
PLACE OF BIRTH Philadelphia , Pennsylvania, USA