i remember a few years back when he played some festival up in Canada (Montreux, i'm thinking)...and if i remember correctly, the crowd was expecting one kind of show from him and he served up some sizzling jazz tinged music that night. could anybody re-tell that story please? thanks

It was sometime after he meet Larry Graham, agent of the devil, and succumbed to the evil forces of this insepid spawn.

as early as the sound 80 sessions. a couple of the instrumentals are jazzy.

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

You're right... I had the chance to listen to those and it surprised me when I first heard them. Prince has had some jazz influence for a long time. Probably inspired in part by his father.

Snap said:

so for those of ya'll who think that he's just gotten into this jazz-flavored streak, you are sadly mistaken. he's been on it on & off for years now.

i know he's been dabbling since even before he signed with WB, and kind of putting side material for years, (Madhouse projects), but when did he kind of really embrace the whole jazz persona and start molding the bulk of his newer music around it and start to rework past songs into jazzier arrangements? Even on The Tonight Show, he opted to pull that great Ballad of Dorothy Parker out of his ass and show the world he was a pretty good musician.

probably somewhere between the parade and lovesexy eras...that's kinna roughing it there, cuz he'd do it on and off around that time period.