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 Ralf Petter, 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, Petter, 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.