| Clever Jeff | |
|---|---|
 | |
|
Birth Name |
Jeff Jones |
|
Origin |
Oakland, California, USA |
|
Genre |
Hip hop, Jazz rap, Alternative hip hop, Conscious hip hop, West Coast hip hop, Underground hip hop, Deep house |
|
Occupation |
Rapper, singer, lyricist, arranger, producer, multi-instrumentalist |
|
Years active |
1993 - present |
|
Label |
Qwest Records, Reprise Records, No Joke Records, Fatius Walker Records |
|
Associated acts |
Lloyd Jones, Greg Bell, Angelo Luster, Mike Marshall, Superstar Quamallah, Cool King Asaad, Defari, Dave Ellis, Maya Simone |
Clever Jeff (born Jeff Jones in Oakland, California, USA) is an American rap recording artist, singer, songwriter, arranger, and multi-instrumentalist. Also known as Cool Clever Jeff and Mr. Dong, his eclectic musical taste (jazz, R&B, soul, funk, and rap, among others) can be attributed to the acts whose music he listened to growing up, such as Roy Ayers, Parilament, and Earth, Wind, & Fire. His mother was also involved in music as a singer and his uncles were musicians. He would partake in jam sessions with his family in the living room. He first tried his hand at writing his own rhymes in his late teens. He is talented as a freestyle emcee and as a singer equally. It was in 1993 that he was discovered by Quincy Jones, who offered him the deal of signing with his label, Qwest Records. Clever Jeff's debut album, Jazz Hop Soul, was released the following year. Although it may not had been quite one of the more commercially successful albums of 1994, it still gained critical acclaim and produced some regional hits. Because it not only focuses on samples, the album also contains some playing of organic, live instruments as well, since Clever Jeff is a consummate artist. In 1999, he was featured alongside Cool King Asaad and Defari on the track, "Civil Mics", from Superstar Quamallah's Don't Call Me John EP. A few years later, Qwest Records folded, the remainder went to Warner Bros. Records, and Clever Jeff was left without a label. But he soldiered on, managing the make, promote, and release further albums through his own label he founded, Fatius Walker Records, beginning with 2002's Soul Searching. Street Therapy followed a couple years later. After a decade long absence, he returned with 2014's God Quality, which found him collaborating with Mike Marshall, Dave Ellis, and Maya Simone. The next year, he dropped The Adventures of Jeffar Jonsei. 2018 saw the release of Truth Be Told and his latest album, Organic Intelligence, surfaced in 2020. In addition to his rap material, he has also cut three volumes in his House of Clever album series, which focus on deep house. To this day, he continues to be independent without any mainstream support and hasn't looked back towards that since.
Discography[]
Albums[]
- 1994: Jazz Hop Soul
- 2002: Soul Searching
- 2004: Street Therapy
- 2014: God Quality
- 2015: The Adventures of Jeffar Jonsei
- 2018: Truth Be Told
- 2020: Organic Intelligence