It is a rare trick to be both popular and cutting-edge, a trick that the DJ unit United Future Organization has pulled off with aplomb. In the quicksilver world of club music, it is even more unusual for a dance event to last one year, much less ten. "Jazzin' " celebrates its 10th anniversary this month and has continued to be the standard for the jazz-inflected club vibe dubbed "acid jazz."
Since "My Baby Loves Jazz (My Baby Loves Me)" flooded European dance floors in 1993, the trio of Raphael Sebbag, Tadashi Yabe and Toshio Matsuura has captured the forward thinking, cosmopolitan buzz of Tokyo in their classy original releases.
Musicians dislike labels, and UFO is no different, yet the "acid jazz" moniker suits them. UFO has a deeply rooted sense of jazz history combined with an equally deep sensitivity to the dance floor. A UFO set is entertainment, but as they pick their way through obscure Latin cuts, adding a touch of a jazz classic revved up, perhaps, by a house rhythm, it is also an education.
Their eclectic, sleek style means that "Jazzin' " is one of the few Tokyo dance events at which adults (and in the Tokyo club scene, this tends to mean anyone over the age of 20) don't feel completely out of place. UFO has matured, but they are still as fresh as ever.
