シカゴ・ハウスの巨頭Derrick CarterやGeminiから薫陶を受け、LAの伝説的レコード店Beatnonstopのスタッフとしてもシーンを支えたLance Desardi。中古市場で20,000円を超える高値を記録していた、西海岸ハウスの真髄が待望の復刻！

1990年代末、ダラスからLAへと拠点を移したLance Desardi。彼がJT Donaldsonと共に、シカゴでSpencer Kincy（Gemini）やDerrick Carterという本場の職人たちから直接学び取ったハウスの極意を形にしたのが、この『Jazz Salad EP』だ。ハリウッドのMelrose Avenueにあった当時の重要拠点「Beatnonstop」のコミュニティから生まれた本作には、当時の熱狂的なクリエイティビティが凝縮されている。

表題曲「Jazz Salad」は、同僚のJaime Gによるディープなラテン調のイントロから始まり、中毒性の高いグルーヴが一気に空間を支配する。その破壊力は、誕生から20年以上を経た現在もフロアを揺らすに十分な鮮度を保っている。一方、B面に収められた「Boing」は、Mark Farinaのプレイを彷彿とさせる深夜仕様のディープ・ハウス。DJツールとして重宝するボーナス・ビーツも収録されている。西海岸ハウス黄金期の空気感をそのままに、実戦でこそ輝く強固な一作。

A1. Jazz Salad
B1. Boing
B2. Boing Boom Shox

Dallas Native Lance Desardi arrived in Los Angeles alongside his roommate JT Donaldson sometime around 1999. At that time I was the head buyer & managing L.A’s largest independent dance music shop in the heart of Hollywood “Beatnonstop” on Melrose Avenue. We had just put out a double pack vinyl on Beatnonstop and a single on PCH feat. Myself & Cpen on both.

Lance & J.T were introduced to me by Chris Penny aka CPen who was also a Dallas transplant to L.A and as chance would have it they were both looking for jobs. The two had been sojourning in Chicago for about two years under the tutelage of Spencer Kincy aka Gemini and the House Mayor of Chicago Derrick Carter.

I hired them both and we soon became fast friends. I would lend them pieces of gear and keyboards etc to work on projects and suddenly we had this little community of producers and artist’s working on beats, bringing them into the shop for “show & tell.”

This created a healthy atmosphere of us all pushing each other to make songs for the labels. This is one of the reasons Seductive, Pacific Coast House & Pacific Traxx etc were started to house the different projects and alias’s of us at that time.

One day Lance showed up to work at the shop beaming from ear to ear a some pep in his step. Him and another co-worker Jaime G had gone into the studio that week and banged out “Jazz Salad.”
As soon as Lance slipped in the DAT tape and the track came thundering through the speakers with Jaime’s deep Latin intro I knew it was going to be a big tune in the underground. Such a groove and so infectious it is undeniable even today 20 odd years
later.

So nice to see it back out on wax and not at the hefty discos price tag of over a hundred quid! The flip side “Boing” is a deep late night groover that fits nicely into a Mark Farina style set with bonus beats to boot. Not to be missed. Classic.

Words above from Sam Robson of Pacific Coast House.