Jazz Fest main attraction Carl Craig tests the boundaries of now

by KRISTA

If you take a look through the program for this year's Jazz Fest, you may find yourself asking why the organizers bothered to include the term "jazz."

Those who consider themselves to be the true aficionados of the lost sound of jazz music from the golden age scoff at the inclusion of things like blues, Algerian rap-rock and (gasp) electronica. However, when I consulted my rather bulky and tattered Funk and Wagnall's Dictionary, I found that jazz by definition is "loosely, any contemporary popular dance music." I figure that lays to rest any debate over what should or should not be considered jazz these days.

The orchestra inside you

"The concept of the Innerzone Orchestra is a lot like Miles Davis in the '70s," Craig explains to me over the phone. "It's spiritual and heady, but it's groovy too." Craig plucked the project's name in part from the film Naked Lunch, and the Interzone that the main character found himself stuck in. He changed it to Innerzone and added the orchestra.

"It's the orchestra in your mind, the one-man-band you have inside of you. Every form of music needs someone to test the boundaries of now, and what we want is to redefine people's concepts of jazz and electronic music."

And apparently this is also what the organizers of this year's Jazz Fest want. "They (organizers of the Jazz Fest) contacted me and told me that they didn't want something traditional, but that they were looking for something different."

Carl Craig has always been at the forefront of innovation in terms of techno and electronic music. He sprang from the same beginnings as other Detroit masters like Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson, but pushed his productions beyond the realms of the traditional 4/4 dancefloor techniques. His first release with Innerzone Orchestra, 1992's drum-crazy "Bug in a Bassbin," received some attention from his North American peers but was considered groundbreaking in the U.K. There, it was picked up and caned by breakbeat-cum-drum & bass DJs like Fabio and Grooverider, who praised it for its intricate drum patterns and rhythms.

"It wasn't meant to be that way," laughs Craig, when I mention how much that one song shaped the sound of drum & bass. "But I'm happy that it was interpreted that way. It's like that, you know, if people don't understand today, in two or three years they'll catch up."

33 1/3 evolutions

Craig's 1995 Landcruising LP is another example. It confused critics to no end with its bizarre combination of soundtrack-style tracks and electronic experiments because it was such a departure from his previous works, like his pseudonym the Paperclip People's "Throw" and "The Climax." Confusing mostly because here was a techno artist releasing an album of non-dancefloor-oriented music.

"This is evolutionary music. This is art," Craig says. "I'm fighting to save everything to do with experimentation in music. Music is such a commodity these days, always about the money and never about the art."

In August, Craig and the Innerzone Orchestra will release their album Programmed, which Craig is confident "will change the face of what I've done until now." The tracks range in influence from hip hop to soundtracks to jazz to ballads to industrial and beyond, and the group will showcase a few of them when they perform their live show on the main stage on Tuesday, July 6, complete with six dancers, a string quartet and a pair of percussionists.

"It's going to run through a lot of styles. It's all based on improvisation, on the spiritual side of music. Some of the grooves are real trance-like, building up, others are really raw." And just how well does he hope it goes over with the thousands who will likely be in attendance for the live gig? Craig is confident. "I have no expectations at all. If people are into opening their minds a little then I'm sure they'll have a great time."

With A-Trak and Kid Koala on the DuMaurier stage (Ste-Catherine and Jeanne-Mance) on Tuesday, July 6, 9pm, free. Also at the Savoy on Saturday, July 3 (see sidebar)