Starting with the basics: Jaro has always loved music with Soul.
“Soul in general has the creative potential to run its course through an entire musical spectrum, dissolving boundaries from one genre to another. Soulful Beats & Visionary Sounds have shown up in various parts around the globe, usually residing under psychedelic sub-genres like Jazz Funk, Soul Jazz, Afro Funk, Afro Jazz, Psych Rock, as well as entirely new hosts within the Electronic realm…”
Starting out in his early teens as a Hip-Hop Dj, Jaro helped throw parties in local community halls, forming sound systems with his friends. Later he would install his first permanently assembled PA system into a popular warehouse location known simply as its physical address: 421 Meredith (a 6,000 square ft location which later became the Emerald Media Cafe).
“It was totally underground for the city, nobody had much money at the time so we went off a shoe-string budget. But sometimes limitations are part of the overall harmony that is achieved when things are being created. We always catered to straight up music lovers who didn’t mind a ‘rough around the edges’ aspect to our warehouse parties and after-hour club events. Some Deejay’s maintain that its all about making people dance, but my friends and i would also try to stay true to our roots, focusing on the soul and musicality of our chosen beats and rhythms.” Jaro later went on to host a weekly club residency called Piecemeal at legendary nightclub The Night Gallery with various Dj’s + Vj’s on rotation for a full-spectrum weekly audio/visual beat feast {click for pics}.
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Jaro owned and operated a record shop located in Calgary, Canada known as Phonics Records for numerous years which acted as a springboard for creativity and bringing people together.
“Phonics was a great spot for aspiring Dj’s and promoters to connect together in a casual environment of crate digging. I met a lot of people involved in the entertainment business with all sorts of motives and intentions, so it was easy for me to sift out who was really in it for the right reasons and which people i wanted to collaborate with at the time. I was always open to new concepts and ideas coming from fresh young minds regardless of how much experience they had under their belt. You can spend years practicing at home and by the time you hit the street with your talents you are way ahead of every other person sporting conventional experience in the business. I was always more interested in what others had passionately dedicated their lives to rather then how they had made money from it. People spend a lot of time on things that don’t necessarily generate any money and in truth spend money directly out of their own pockets in order to witness and experience a little heaven outside of their own head; it’s how we all get started in the beginning.”
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Back to the future, Jaro has stepped off the beaten path and is beginning to utilize the internet in order to sculpt and define himself as a conceptual Deejay and performer.
“A lot of my compilations and mix trilogies are not very radio-friendly nor do they necessarily fit in with the current underground club culture. I guess you could say my beats are catchy in an unconventional way, but you need vision to see and hear that, which is unfortunately a rare thing these days. But on the brighter flip-side, many folks are now growing bored of the usual fanfare and are beginning to discover a more dynamic, psychedelic (boundary-dissolving), musical spectrum as a whole. Who knows where it’s all going? Our culture/society is expanding exponentially due to a sudden technological growth and that may help allow things to bloom in new unexpected creative ways.”
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Visionary Sounds by Jaro:
i) Soul Jazz (mixing an assortment of Psychedelic Soul Jazz hits)
ii) Jazz Funk (mixing early Electronic Soundtracks, Library and Television Jazz Funk)
iii) Minimal House (mixing a variety of electronic Minimal House sounds)
iv) Afro Dub (mixing Jamaican Dub with Nigerian Afro-Beat influences)
v) World Jazz (mixing an assortment of Visionary World Jazz)
vi) Afro Roots (compiling an array of African Roots Musicians)
vii) Soft Rock (mixing contemporary Soft Rock hits)
His current focus includes working on a continuum of recorded material presented for commercial release as well as offering a few Net exclusives – preview his latest Soft Rock, Jazz Funk and Soul Jazz mix trilogies.
Also visit his current hobby blogs: Galaxy Meme {exploring spacey memes & cute pet photos}, Little Soul Flower {psychedelic doodle series}, and his Facebook page {daily status updates}.
