- Soulful house music born from jazz-funk and '70s psychedelia.
- In interviews, Chicago icon Anthony Nicholson often says he doesn't consider himself a house producer because of the genre's limiting range. Instead, he describes his work as an abstract combination of various styles that include jazz, R&B and soul. This diverse palette is tangible on his latest release for The Jazz Diaries, a two-track EP that's a whole lot more than just house music.
On the lead single, the Clairaudience label boss dishes out serious groove through a funk-driven rhythm section, warm kick drums and glistening peals of electric piano. The record takes many elaborate swerves and detours, moving from heady synths to raw disco in a way that channels Nicholson's collaborator Ron Trent.
"Future Black Fusion," meanwhile, adds elements of psychedelic rock and layered percussion into a rolling bassline that work the body into a slow sweat, the kind that accumulates after slow gyrations, rather than a head-to-toe workout.
“I try to create this music with the intentions of inspiring a soloist to deliver an honest performance when they're playing on the track," Nicholson said in a press statement accompanying the release. "The arrangement sets the tone." Spaciously composed in a way that allows each layer of keys and drums to climax, his latest EP is just begging to be performed live.
Tracklist01. DirtyDiscoJazzFunk
02. Future Black Fusion