Well it’s been some time since I posted here. Life has been particularly busy, which has left me with little time to keep this blog updated. Throughout this period I’ve still found time to listen to lots of great Jazz, both new and old, so lots of topics for future posts.
I recently pulled a copy of Incognito’s 1981 album ‘Jazz Funk’ out of the archives, and gave it a good listen through. For those not familiar with the group, they’re a British band with an extensive history in both the UK Acid Jazz movement, and more recently found fame in the popular House music scene with their remixing skills. Their reputation in the Acid Jazz scene goes back some way, and are also well known in modern music through their collaborations with Masters at Work, Roger Sanchez and David Morales; who are accomplished DJs and producers in their own right.
Incognito have a huge list of past members with famous artists such as Jocelyn Brown, Carleen Anderson and Paul Weller known to have worked with the group. The perennial frontman Jean-Paul ‘Bluey’ Maunick has been a constant force in Incognito, leading the band since 1979. The band’s debut album ‘Jazz Funk’ came at a time when the Jazz Funk scene in the UK was on a high; since that time other genres have overshadowed the style and brought new sounds into the Modern Jazz and Smooth Jazz scenes. Then again, you can’t take away that feeling that you’re listening to one of the ‘sounds of the time’ and the music conveys a time and place somewhere in the emerging Jazz Funk scene in 1981.
The track ‘Summer’s Ended’ is one of my favourites from the album, fantastic 80s funk bass, rhodes piano, and exactly the style of drum rhythms that you’d expect from a 1980s Jazz Funk group; syncopated staccato snares and ride cymbals. Check it out and see what you think.
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