Ohbliv and I Made a Smooth Jazz Playlist

Welcome to Curious World, our new collaboration with Old Soul Music.

Mar 12, 2024

If you want to support Micro-Chop you can follow me on Spotify and subscribe to the newsletter and YouTube channel. You can also buy me a coffee.

Ohbliv is a producer’s producer. His first beats were pause tape recreations of songs like “Lyrics To Go” by A Tribe Called Quest. He makes DIY anthologies from blog and magazine articles, including his own Jay Dee/Dilla “study guide.” Fat Beats’ selected him to be a part of their esteemed Baker’s Dozen instrumental album series. And he used a Roland SP-404 sampler as a central part of his production process long before the 404 was a global phenomenon.

In addition to being an extremely gifted and prolific producer, he is generous with sharing his vast knowledge of many genres and eras of music. His Song of the Day was a staple of his Twitter account for several months and his NTS Radio show is an essential part of the station’s lineup. Check it out and you’ll find an endless archive of lesser-known heaters like this 1978 Lenny White track.

Having interviewed Ohbliv several times and listened to many of his NTS mixes, I’m always impressed by his ability to hear things many of us miss. Whether it’s the songs he samples or the songs he shares, he pulls gem after gem from albums that are often dismissed, forgotten, ignored, and overlooked. Sure, he knows the classics and staples heralded by “serious” record collectors, but he’ll also sneak a song from Stanley Clarke’s Passenger 57 score into one of his NTS sets.

I was beyond excited when I connected with producer and Old Soul Music label owner L'Orange - who I’ve been doing some behind-the-scenes work with - about the opportunity to curate a smooth jazz playlist with Ohbliv a few months back. Ohbliv recently signed with Old Soul and just dropped his first release for them Life Infinite. In addition to Ohbliv, the label’s roster includes an exciting lineup of talents like blu, Chuuwee, J-Live, Jeremiah Jae, Quelle Chris, Skyzoo, STLNDRMS, and many others.

Ohbliv and I decided to keep the playlist format simple and focus on smooth jazz and adjacent tracks, mostly from the ‘80s and ‘90s. L'Orange provided the name Curious World and the sleek design for the playlist. Ohbliv selected tracks 1-9 while I chose 10-18.

I had so much fun putting together my picks and listening to Ohbliv’s. My personal favorite from my half of Curious World might be “Circumstance” - the lead song from Wayman Tisdale’s 1995 debut album and Motown release Power Forward. The late Tisdale led a fascinating life, which included a successful 13-year NBA career playing power forward and an 8-album discography that demonstrated his deft abilities on bass guitar. “Circumstance” sounds like it could fit right in on a modern beat tape release as he melds bass, a talk box, chopped and screwed vocals, piano keys, and several other elements effortlessly.

Sadly, Tisdale died in May of 2009, just five months after Anna Clemmons wrote a moving profile about his brave battle with cancer for ESPN.

Though I’d already been exploring smooth jazz before Curious World, immersing myself in the genre for several days was an eye-opening experience. Smooth jazz isn’t always taken seriously by pursuits, but there’s so much good stuff waiting for people to dig through.

Whether you’re listening for sample material or listening to listen, I hope you’ll take some time to sit with Curious World. It’s only on Spotify for now, though we may recreate it on other platforms at a later date.

Enjoy. And let me know what you think about our selections in the comments.