Disjam

The Hamburg acid-jazz troupe known as disJam increasingly slanted their instrumental talents toward the electronica and trip-hop crowds. Formed in the early '90s, the band came together around keyboard player <a href="spotify:artist:1XZQRJdShJ9tYNGAwrUESF">Ralf Petter</a>, bassist Sascha Panknin, percussionist Oliver Schumacher, guitarist Volker Kurnoth, and reed player Ole Janssen. The collective soon became popular on the continental acid-jazz scene, and recorded their self-titled debut album in 1995 (it also earned American distribution through Instinct's This Is Acid Jazz series). Gradually shedding instrumentalists as the focus turned to electronic music and dance-jazz fusion, disJam recorded three albums for Yo Mama, often with help from vocalists (the 1996 album Phuturing the Poetry of Lemn Sissay was a collaboration with Sissay, a Manchester poet). In 1998, the band -- basically down to a trio of Panknin, <a href="spotify:artist:1XZQRJdShJ9tYNGAwrUESF">Petter</a>, and Schumacher, plus new addition Christoph Kähler on vocals (occasionally) and guitar -- signed to Shadow Records and released Return of the Manchurian. Once again distributed in America, disJam returned in 2000 with Hybrid Honey. ~ John Bush, Rovi