WHO IS THE JAZZHOLE?

While the acid jazz movement kicked off in London clubs during the mid ‘80s, that phenomenon of mixing jazz and hip-hop eventually reached Stateside by the early ‘90s in a wave of bands including Digable Planets, Guru and Jazzmatazz, Groove Collective and others. One of the groups to emerge on the scene in 1994 was Jazzhole, an evolving collective of many of New York’s most accomplished live and studio musicians. While Jazzhole’s roster has changed since their self-titled debut, the band’s core songwriting and production trio Warren Rosenstein, Marlon Saunders, and John Pondel has not. 

Maryland native Saunders is the group's main vocalist. Influenced by both gospel and R&B recordings at an early age, Saunders attended the Berklee School of Music, where he discovered his love of jazz. Saunders eventually found himself singing with such notables as Bobby McFerrin, Michael Jackson, Nine Inch Nails, Billy Joel, Michael Bublé, Stevie Wonder and Sting. Saunders has also released two outstanding solo recordings, Enter My Mind and A Groove So Deep: The Live Sessions. 

After working on early acid jazz classics such as Soho's Hot Music and the CFM Band's Jazz It Up, Brooklyn-born keyboardist Warren Rosenstein reached out to guitarist John Pondel (Uncle Festive, Kombo) and Saunders, and the three recruited a number of friends who became recurring guests vocalists and soloists over the next 30 years: rappers Lord KCB (Us3), Ahmed Best (Star Wars, Stomp), Jack Ruby Jr. (Toasters, son of reggae producer Jack Ruby), Ronnie Russ, vocalists Michelle Lewis (Cher, Amy Grant, Todd Terry), and Rosa Russ.

Jazzhole's current release, Moonlight Mile, was the culmination of a road trip that started in Woodstock, making stops in NYC and Nashville, and ended up in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Peter Levin (Greg Allman, Blind Boys of Alabama) joined Jazzhole bassist David Inniss and drummer Mark Robohm in tracking at Fame Studios, while trumpet legend Randy Brecker and tabla master Prabhu Edouard added overdubs from remote locations.

The jazz / soul / hip hop excursion features the singles
“Love...Life...”  (Lord KCB), “Moonlight Mile” (Marlon Saunders) and “Damn I Miss NY” (Michelle Lewis, Rosa Russ and Marlon Saunders).

Marlon Saunders
John Pondel
Warren Rosenstein
Lord KCB
Dave INniss
Mark Robohm
Michelle Lewis
Rosa Russ

Ahmed Best
Ben Bierman
David Binney
Billy Baker
Naren Budhakar
Randy Brecker
Carl Carter
Freddie Cash
Michael Cohen
Scott Colley
Vincent Chauncey
Julio Acosta
Kaissa Doumbe
Kevin DiSimone
Mark Gross
Peter Levin
Peter Mark
Gary Pozner
Jackson Petty
Scott Petito
Ronnie Russ
Jack Ruby Jr.
Lindsey Webster
Lucia Iman
Alan Sanders
David Sancious
Keith Slattery
Daniel Sadownick
Mazz Swift
B. David Whitworth