I ordered a couple Amon Tobin CD's from my local library, Supermodified and Permutation. http://www.mp3.com/amon-tobin/artists/171652/songs.html For the last week, they've been in my car CD player almost constantly, spicing up my commute. Amon is a master of percussion, right up there with The Crystal Method. On top of the beats, he mixes the most impressive riffs of jazz horns, guitar, bass, flutes and effects. Many others have attempted this kind of electro jazz and fallen short, but he is about the best, IMO. - CW http://www.johnwinters.biz/
i'd classify him more under jungle or trip hop, kind of downtempo but i really enjoy his use of jazz samples.
DP/PR: You are both sorta right. Jazz is hard to classify, so is Amon Tobin. When I look back over the last 50 years of modern jazz, it has so much variety and rightfully so. After all, it was created as a reaction to conventional music. In two of Tobin's albums in particular, Supermodified and Permutation, he mixes in saxophone, base and guitar tracks that are clearly within the bounds of recent jazz explorations. These are not samples, I believe. Rather, like Crystal Method, he brings in virtuoso instrumentalists to collaborate with him in laying down the tracks. - CW http://www.johnwinters.biz/
