DJ Jazzy Jeff

• 1. Introduction

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  DJ Jazzy Jeff once described his childhood infatuation with DJing to author Paul Stenning. "At summer time block parties I wouldn't be the one dancing, I sat where the DJ was set up, watching him. Even when I would go to other block parties in other neighborhoods I was still infatuated with the DJ. He was the guy that played music that everyone in the neighborhood loved. You might not have known his face, you might not have known his name but he was the guy that made everyone move," he said. He was only ten years old when that fascination began. That fixation on the person behind the turntables would carry Jeffrey Allen Townes a long way from a handful of city blocks. What turned a boy watching from the sidelines into a Grammy winning performer, a face on television, and an in demand producer? And why, decades after his most famous duo ended, does he still keep turning up at Will Smith's side?

• 2. A Reputation Before A Record Deal

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  Jeffrey Allen Townes was born on the 22nd of January 1965, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Raised in the area, he built a reputation and a following as a local school and block party DJ. Alongside DJ Spinbad and DJ Cash Money, Townes is credited with popularizing the transformer scratch. He also took the stage name DJ Jazzy Jeff, sometimes shortened simply to Jazz. One of his first recorded appearances came with the Korner Boyz on Street Artz Records, on the songs "Bust the Move" and "The Saga of Roxanne." Those tracks featured the Philadelphia rappers MC Parry P and Grand Tone. The instrumental behind them was called "Jazzy Jeff Scratch," released in 1985. That same turntable work soon put him on stage as one half of a new duo with Will Smith.

• 3. A Grammy And Five Hundred Dollars

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  In 1989, DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince won the first Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance, for the song "Parents Just Don't Understand." The duo had already built a run of gold and platinum albums and singles through the late 1980s and into the early 1990s. At the moment he accepted that Grammy, DJ Jazzy Jeff went home in tears, with just $500 in his bank account. It was a stark reminder that a historic award did not yet come with a matching paycheck. "Summertime" turned out to be the group's most successful single, peaking at number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. That song also earned DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince a second Grammy Award. That same success would soon carry Jazzy Jeff from the recording booth onto a weekly television set.

• 4. Playing Jazz On Television

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  When Will Smith branched into television with the sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Jazzy Jeff went along with him. He played a character simply named Jazz, written in as Smith's best friend on the show. In the show's first season, Jazz appeared only as a recurring character, then became a regular shortly afterward. In those early seasons, Jazz and Smith's character always greeted each other with a signature handshake. It combined a mid five swing, a point back, and a snap, with both of them shouting the word "Pssh." One recurring gag had Jazz physically thrown out of the Banks family house by Uncle Phil, played by James Avery. He would let out a comical guttural scream as he was ejected, and the show usually reused the same footage of the gag. Occasionally, though, the producers filmed new footage of the ejection instead. Jazz also carried an unrequited crush on Hillary Banks, the character played by Karyn Parsons. Long after the sitcom wrapped, that same instinct for showing up in someone else's story would shape much of his work behind the scenes.

• 5. Behind The Boards At A Touch Of Jazz

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  After DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince broke up, Townes rebuilt his career as an R&B, soul, and neo soul record producer. He founded the A Touch of Jazz production company in his native Philadelphia. Among the artists he helped develop were Eric Roberson, Jill Scott, and Musiq Soulchild. His credits also extended to Eminem, the Roots, Raheem DeVaughn, Darius Rucker, Talib Kweli, Floetry, and Rhymefest, among others. Despite building that career of his own, Jazzy Jeff never fully stepped away from the partner who made him famous in the first place.

• 6. A Friendship That Outlasted The Duo

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  Jazzy Jeff and Will Smith remained close friends and kept teaming up now and then, on stage and in the studio. Townes produced some of Smith's songs and performed on tracks such as "So Fresh" and "Potnas." He also appeared in Smith's music videos for "Will2K" and "Freakin' It," and occasionally joined him at live concerts to produce DJ scratches. On the 2nd of July 2005, DJ Jazzy Jeff performed alongside Smith at the Live 8 concert in Philadelphia. Smith, in turn, credited him by name in his own music, including "Comin' to the Stage" from the album Lost and Found, and "Potnas" from Willennium. In 2008, Townes performed with Smith at the premiere of Smith's film Hancock. Five years later, in 2013, the pair performed together on The Graham Norton Show. In August 2017, DJ Jazzy Jeff and Will Smith performed two shows together in Europe. One was the MTV Summerblast Music Festival in Croatia, and the other was the Livewire Festival in Blackpool. Those overseas shows were only a small part of a solo touring and recording schedule that kept growing on its own.

• 7. Beyond The Turntables

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  His 2007 album The Return of the Magnificent brought together an unusually wide mix of collaborators. Old school and new school artists appeared on it, including CL Smooth, Big Daddy Kane, and Pos from De La Soul. Method Man, Peedi Peedi, Rhymefest, and Raheem DeVaughn joined them. Peedi Peedi's contribution was a remake of "Brand New Funk." That same year, he appeared alongside Rhymefest in a video directed by Konee Rok, filmed in his own home recording studio. In 2009, DJ Jazzy Jeff released a mixtape titled He's the King...I'm the DJ, made in honor of the late Michael Jackson. That same year, he was featured as a playable character in the video game DJ Hero, which also included some of his original mixes. In 2010, DJ Jazzy Jeff teamed up with Mick, formerly known as Mick Boogie, to launch the Summertime: The Mixtape series. New volumes have been released every summer since. By 2013, he had released Vinyl Destination, a web series documenting more than a hundred of his DJ shows around the world. That same year, he also appeared as the lead interview in Paul Stenning's book Success - By Those Who've Made It. In 2015, he performed the scratch overdubs for the film Straight Outta Compton. In 2024, DJ Jazzy Jeff went on tour with New Kids on the Block as a supporting act. He appeared alongside Paula Abdul on The Magic Summer Tour. The following year, in 2025, he was announced as one of the remixers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup theme, representing Philadelphia. That international spotlight sat alongside a quieter life he had already built back home.

• 8. Family In Philadelphia

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  On the 31st of July 2010, DJ Jazzy Jeff married Lynette C. Jackson in Jamaica. The couple later had two children together, a son named Pleasant and a daughter named August. From an earlier relationship, he also has two sons, Cory Townes and Amir Mitchell-Townes. Cory Townes works as a DJ, while Amir Mitchell-Townes works as an actor and musician. Tucked into his catalogue is also an album recorded for Sony Records in 1998 that never saw release. Not every chapter of his career made it out into the open.