Clifton Chase

Clifton "Jiggs" Chase born 1949, is a jazz-funk organ player, composer, and influential record producer from New Jersey, USA. One of the earliest known recordings is his organ playing on the 1967 Buddy Terry recording "Natural Soul" (Prestige Records), alongside Woody Shaw.

In 1976, he did a record date in New York as a side-man to tenor saxophonist Pharoah Sanders.

During the 1980s he was an in-house arranger and producer for Sugar Hill Records.

Although his name is not widely recognized, his ground breaking rhythm track sequencing on "The Message", by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five helped propel hip hop into the future. The stark synthesizer stabs echoing over the urban funk groove of "The Message" was the work of "Jiggs", who had been brought in to produce the track at the request of label boss Sylvia Robinson. The original demo of "The Message" was written by Ed “Duke Bootee” Fletcher, a session percussionist for The Sugarhill Gang who came up with the hook "It's like a jungle sometimes". Later in the production process, Robinson added lyrics penned by Melle Mel, who rapped on the track.

Alongside contemporaries Herbie Hancock and Afrika Bambaataa, "Jiggs" contributed to hip hop's acoustic to electronic transformation. Chase also received co-writing credit on the Sugar Hill hit "Apache", which contains one of the most widely sampled breakbeats in history. Additional credits include arranging "That's the Joint" by the Funky Four Plus One and "My Favorite Person" by the O'Jays. Chase was the in house producer/arranger at Sugar Hill Recording Studio and worked along with in house engineer Steve Jerome. Sugar Hill Recording Studio in Englewood, New Jersey where "Jiggs" did some of his best work, was destroyed in a fire in 2002.

Chase also co-wrote many 80's dance tracks with influential hi-nrg producer & composer Bobby Orlando including "Whisper To A Scream" by Bobby O, "You and Me" by The Flirts(#1 on the dance chart in 1985), "Saving Myself For The One That I love" by Oh Romeo, and "Motorcycle Madness" by Tony Caso. Many of the tracks he cowrote with Orlando were recorded at Sugar Hill Recording Studio with in house engineer Steve Jerome.