Artists
R&B singer Carleen Anderson was introduced to music at an early age, as both her parents toured throughout the '60s and '70s with the great James Brown.
Mississippi-born Jhelisa Anderson grew up singing in church. With her father on the piano and organ, the family toured throughout the American South, performing in churches and gospel events.
Arrested Development is a progressive rap collective whose positive-minded hip-hop incorporates blues, soul, funk, and other forms traced back to Africa.
By mixing house and jazz together in a tall glass of dance-driven downtempo, Martin Iveson's Atjazz project mined the rare experience of listening to laid-back music in the foreground.
Atmosfear's most significant contribution to disco was the slightly loony Dancing in Outer Space, a track that has remained popular with underground disco fanatics since its release.
Their self-effacing name to the contrary, Average White Band was anything but — one of the few white groups to cross the color line and achieve success and credibility playing funk.
Once one of the most visible and winning jazz vibraphonists of the 1960s, then an R&B bandleader in the 1970s and '80s, Roy Ayers' reputation is now that of one of the prophets of acid jazz.
The duo of Mark Blissenden and Andrew Burdall specialize in earthy breaks and ambient atmospheres, more slanted toward the instrumental edge of acid jazz.