Hefner - An Evening With Hefner (Inertia) INERT-08 1998

Time has not been kind to that whole nu jazz / future jazz scene from 10 years ago. With way too many releases, a lack of quality control and a dubious seriousness to the whole scene, it has all but disappeared today and is lovingly referred to by most of my friends as 'jazzy pish'. Saying that there are a few artists and releases that supersede any such put downs. Obvious examples are The Cinematic Orchestra and Jazzanova, but the likes of Hefner and his releases on Inertia are equally timeless.

Hefner was one of these artists who came from the jazzy drum'n'bass scene but developed a more soundtracky vibe that reached its peak with this release. Back round this time I was DJing on Tuesday nights at a bar in Glasgow's west end and this was the perfect backdrop. In fact, back then my wife and I ran a website that included an extensive article on Inertia. Will & Chris from the label were great in helping us get it together as their label didn't have a website of their own at the time. In today’s terms it was basic stuff but this was back in the days when streaming audio was big news.

Since then it seems like they all got washed away by the changing tides of the music industry and the download culture. Hefner and label mate Victor Malloy (his real life brother) pushed for a more commercial sound to no avail and it was all over for the label by 2004. Hefner is now going under his real name Lee Jones and has since re-established himself more on the minimal techno front. Can't say I've checked this stuff out.

Note - Have ripped Parts 1 & 2 as one track as they merge together.

A1 An Evening With Hefner Part 1
A2 An Evening With Hefner Part 2
B1 Actionslacks
B2 An Evening With Hefner Part 3