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Nu jazz is an umbrella term coined in the late 1990s to refer to music styles that blend jazz textures and sometimes jazz instrumentation, funk, electronic dance music, and free improvisation^[1]. Also written nu-jazz or NuJazz, it is sometimes called electronic jazz, electro-jazz, e-jazz, jazztronica, jazz house, phusion, or future jazz.

" Nu Jazz is to (traditional) Jazz what punk or grunge was to Rock. [...] The songs are the focus, not the individual prowess of the musicians. Nu Jazz instrumentation ranges from the traditional to the experimental, the melodies are fresh, and the rhythms new and alive. It makes Jazz fun again. " -- Tony Brewer, at All About Jazz

Historically, Jazz music has incorporated electronic instruments in production even as early as Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock. In the early 90s, jazz music began to embrace production of music with electronic instruments, thereby fusing together a traditional and modern sound, and thus emerging Nu Jazz onto the electronic music scene. The sound of Nu Jazz can be described as jazz music with a slow tempo from about 65-100 B.P.M. generally alongside an ambient beat, and usually little to no vocals are involved. Nu Jazz music rhythms and melodies can often be repetitive in nature. Nu Jazz can also be referred to as Jazz Fusion or Electro-Jazz.

Like the terms electronica and jazz, nu jazz is a loosely defined umbrella musical style. It ranges from combining live instrumentation with beats of jazz house (exemplified by the French St Germain, the German Jazzanova and Fila Brazillia from the UK) to more band-based improvised jazz with electronic elements (such as that of the The Cinematic Orchestra from the UK, the Belgian PhusionCulture, Mexican duo Kobol, nu jazz improvisation collective, the Norwegian "future jazz" style pioneered by Bugge Wesseltoft, Jaga Jazzist, Nils Petter Molvær, and others). It is a term sometimes ascribed to Squarepusher's music.

Nu jazz typically ventures farther into the electronic territory than does its close cousin, acid jazz (or groove jazz), which is generally closer to earthier funk, soul, and rhythm and blues, although releases from noted groove jazz artists such as the Groove Collective and Chris Hale blur the distinction between the styles.

Nu Jazz is often associated with Ninja Tune, as the majority of Nu Jazz artists are often signed with this music label.

• Broken beat
• Gamm (record label) (a label which has released many nu-jazz records)
• Rinneradio
• Groovera
• Japanese jazz

• "The Birth of Nu Jazz", short article by Tony Brewer, January 2002, at All About Jazz

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