SP Gillespie by Eddou XL

Eddou XL presents SP Gillespie. The album is the first fruit of Eddou XL's typically separate career pursuits. Marrying packaging design with dynamic sound manipulation, Eddou XL presents an 11-track project derived from the intersection of his creative pursuits. The dense concept project is a sensory bomb punctuated by the sage wisdom of esteemed trumpeter and musical icon Dizzy Gillespie.

Endowed with a vulnerability and depth that could find it regarded as the crown jewel of Eddou XL’s discography in years to come, SP Gillespie is a complete rendering of the artist authoring the music –– from his subject matter expertise and perspective to unique cultural identity –– for the very first time.

SP Gillespie translates the creative processes and artistic purpose of Eddou XL –– a man crystallizing his ideas and identity through found sound and striking visual cues –– in a visceral way. What statements Eddou XL does not make overtly, Gillespie (making them on his own behalf decades before) offers for him. The words and cadence of Dizzy Gillespie speak to the beats that they are paired with in a dance of rhythmic sensibilities that create a conversation between the men, as artists trading across the void.

The name of the album came before the music for SP Gillespie, part of which was drafted on the MPC-3000. Those demos (and others) were later filtered through the Boss SP-404 sampler and pieced together in Reaper where a collection of tracks took shape. Eddou XL pairs this production with archival clips of Dizzy Gillespie's 1972 WTMJ-TV interview with radio host Jim Peck and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Music professor Jon Boggs. Gillespie's commentary is a meditation on his artistic and spiritual evolution as an architect of bebop and convert of the Bahá’í faith.

Interview segments find a home in crisp, expansive loops. The music, while tonally brash and adventurous, is more nuanced and evocative than Eddou XL's early 2021 excursion Refreshments. SP Gillespie dives deeper into the experimental side of XL’s work as an improvisationalist versed in the gut punch of a proper kick drum and sample flipping sleight-of-hand. Ideas introduced in miniature on his 2019 album No Mistakes In Jazz and the 2020 Loops DELUXE [Beat Tape] are expanded and integrated for the first time on SP Gillespie.

The dirty drums and vinyl crackle prized by producers of all stripes are the glue that keep each cut sufficiently aligned with the gritty aesthetic of classic hip-hop. A seasoned ear for blending effects with archival elements like the urgent signal staccato of news bulletins and the musings of a jazz great elevate the release to the high ground of glitch virtuosity. It is there, at the summit of his sound, that we meet Eddou XL in person for the very first time.

Eddou XL is a beatmaker, producer, and longtime cratedigger based in California, where he lives with his wife and daughter. He continues to learn and grow as an artist while pushing the boundaries of his craft. In his work, the beatsmith synthesizes elements of '90s boombap, underground (backpack), lofi, and a touch of the LA beat scene into a style that is uniquely his own.

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