Tssm issue 67 digital issue

The Quintessential info provider for the Soul Survivor 1ST DEC 2016 - 31ST JAN 2017

ISSUE 67 THE FESTIVE ONE!

News, Reviews & Interviews Courtney Pine CBE, Gene Robinson (Breakwater), Eddy Grant and Phil Fearon

WHAT’S INSIDE? 3 FITZROY INTERVIEWS COURTNEY PINE 10 DARRELL’S FUNK BOX 12 ROLL CALL OF FAME: KASHIF 14 FITZROY INTERVIEWS GENE ROBINSON 18 ROLL CALL OF FAME: EDDY GRANT 20 RECORD REVIEWS 24 FITZROY INTERVIEWS EDDY GRANT 34 ROLL CALL OF FAME: ROD TEMPERTON 36 MIRA PARKES Soul Survivors Balkan & Worldwide correspondent Speaks to PHIL FEARON 40 FITZROY INTERVIEWS LEROY HUTSON 42 EVENT REVIEWS 46 WHAT’S GOING ON

Welcome to issue 67 the festive edition for December to January 2017. It’s been an eventful year to say the least both in and outside the soul surviving music world that has had some kind of effect on us directly on indirectly. Since the beginning of 2016, we have lost some major musical players, namely David Bowie, Maurice White, Prince and Billy Paul. In the last 2 months since our October and November issue both Kashif Saleem and Rod Temperton unfortunately left this plane and more recently Robert “Big Sonny” Edwards of the PIR legendary quartet The Intruders. So it’s really been thus far a Rick Holmes ‘Remember To Remember’ 2016. Outside in the worldwide arena there has been more ‘Scandal’ like Ultranate than Christine Keeler 1963 sexploits.

Firstly, here in the UK, we are still experiencing the pending ramifications of a Bob Marley mass ‘Exodus’ and upset with Brexit. More recently in the USA presidential election on a reversed 9/11, 11/9 2016 there is a real life Gil Scott Heron 1975 prophesied season of ‘Winter In America’, with the advent of the president elect Donald Trump. Some people are seriously wishing they could be beamed up by Star Trek’s Scotty to experience David Bowie or Dexter Wansal’s depicted ‘Life On Mars’.

ISSUE 67

It is essential to note that all artwork, adverts and listings must be confirmed and sent in to fitzroy@ thesoulsurvivorsmagazine.co.uk before 9th January 2017 in order to meet the graphic designer and print 3 week preparation. This will ensure that the magazine for February and March is ready and out on the street ahead of 1st February 2017.

Thanks in advance. The Soul Survivors Magazine Team!

However bringing things back ‘Down To Earth’ like The Rimshots and dealing with the immediate Monk Montgomery ‘Reality’, issue 67 has some very interesting soul surviving distractions. You will truly be ‘Eddycated’ reading the early life of Guyana’s prodigal musical son, Edmond Montague Grant aka Eddy Grant, a featured interviewee and subject for one of our Roll Call Of Fame honours.

Like a zephyr from the ‘westsyyyyd’, not Compton USA but Westbourne Grove London UK, ‘Courtney Blows’ his Dizzy Gillespie like cheeks on his ‘Journey To The Edge Within’ as the innovative saxophonist Courtney Pine CBE. Ahead of their pending UK dates in January 2017, Breakwater’s Gene Robinson shared some of his ‘Time’ reflecting on the groups impact from 38 years back. Balkan Correspondent Mira Parkes spoke with pioneering ex Hot Waxx, Kandidate, Proton and Galaxy soul outfit’s Phil Fearon, about his 40 plus years ‘Fantasy Real’ experiences in the music business. The Roll Call Of Fame gets ‘In The Mood’ to showcase both the late Kashif and ‘Star Of A Story’ Rod Temperton, the ‘Lucky Fellow’ LeRoy Hutson and the ‘Message Man’ Eddy Grant. There are plenty useful adverts within the quintessential ‘info provider for the soul survivor’ of events happening over the festive season right up to June 2017. The Soul Survivor Awards is booked with an amazing live act premiering their united skills as ‘The Brit Funk Association’. Consisting of members of Beggar & Co, Light Of The World, Hi Tension, Central Line and Brassroots, they will be performing their reputable hits and tracks that inspired them. Check the advert and get early on the case like Columbo for your tickets 17th February 2016 at Under The Bridge Chelsea SW6. I’ll take this opportunity to wish you an enjoyable festive season Universal Robot Band ‘Christmas Disco’ and a very prosperous MJB ‘Happy’ New Year 2017.

Suite 013, 986 Garratt Lane, Tooting Broadway, London SW17 0ND E: fitzroy@thesoulsurvivorsmagazine.co.uk M: 07956 312931 C fitzroy.facey C Fitzroytheoriginalsoulsurvivor C TheSoulSurvivors MSoulSurvivors1 Page 2 - Issue 67

Thanks to Alexis Maryon for the Courtney Pine photo and Jane Bonotto Campbell for Courtney Pine photo. Thanks to Pauline Grant organising for organising Eddy Grant interview and supplying his photo’s, Anna Benson for Event Review photo’s. Thanks to JM for arranging Gene Robinson interview. Thanks to all the advertisers, Darrell S, Mira and Dez Parkes, Barry King, Anna Benton, Ayshea Scott for graphic design and Scarbutts for printing, Thanks to Jason, Ian Soul Provyder and Ronniee C for their distribution ...Fitzroy

All adverts are placed in good faith and The Soul Survivors Magazine take no responsibility for any issues arising from the use of those who have advertised.

All dates are correct at time of going to print – please check with venue or promoter if unsure.

All rights reserved 2006 - 2016 © The Soul Survivors Magazine

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Fitzroy interviews

IMAGE BY ALEXIS MARYON

“It came to a point in my career that I was selling more records than any other artist in the UK but I couldn’t get a record deal.”

Courtney Pine

Probably like Carlsberg, Courtney Pine’s famed golf ball cheeks to saxophone playing is likened to that of the late Dizzy Gillespie trumpeting characteristic. A pioneer in fusing jazz, funk, soul, be bop, hip-hop, reggae and drum and bass into your face, is the trait that has carried him whenever ‘Courtney Blows’. Even though he is a mild mannered man as horn playing Superman, Courtney has ruffled the feathers of the jazz police, with his political incorrectness and non-conformist ‘Ragamuffin Stance’. The ‘who’s who’ list of artists he’s played with and the plentiful countries he has toured, has more variety than what’s been seen at London Palladium. Providentially this previously not transcribed interview was done in January 2014 ahead of a Jazz Cafe session. So it’s apt with his pending December 2016 ‘House Of Legends’ dates, that we do this now. With that good old fashion Jamaican ‘Kingstonian Swing’, read on how Courtney consistently does his thing!!

Hi Courtney do you remember me Sir? Of course, we met last outside the Tabernacle seeing The Breakfast Band.

Ok nice one. You were born in March 1964, the same year as me, in west London. I read somewhere that you reside in Harrow?

I lived near Ladbroke Grove near the Harrow Road, Westbourne Grove area. I tend to tell journalists that it’s Paddington but it’s not quite Paddington.

Ok, so where did Harrow come into the equation?

That was much later when my parents moved to Kingsbury near Wembley and I ended up living in Harrow with my wife.

So how was life growing up until your teenage years, where I

believe you were mesmerised at your first concert after seeing Freddie Hubbard?

Yeah man it’s the first gig I remember, growing up in a onebedroom apartment, in an area that was pretty run down and my parents had a gram. (Fitzroy: “Yeah, I remember them.”) The records had an A and B-side and you used to stack them up. It was a great rallying ground with my family because uncles and aunties would come by and check on each other, and exchange data on what was going on in the area.

I remember when the music played I would hold on to the side of the gram to experience the music vibrations. Later on I preferred listening to the B-side instrumental Ska cuts, and discover the jamming musicians like Ernest Wrangling.

So this music sowed seeds in my head that this music served the Caribbean community. I discovered also it was their improvisation of jazz and it set the template for what was to come from me later. With Frank Tontoh my best friend and a thesoulsurvivorsmagazine.co.uk

drummer at the age of 15, we tried to get in to see Freddie Hubbard at Ronnie Scotts. They gave us what they thought was the worst seats, which was behind the drummer. But for two 15 year old wanna be musicians, for us, it was the best seat. Freddie Hubbard came on and he changed my life.

Phil Fearon from Galaxy, so there was that hybrid of talented musicians. When was your first recording?

I guess it was with a reggae band Clint Eastwood and General Scientist called ‘Stop That Train’. I think I did some sessions before for Mad Professor, but I was in the studio for various artists from the age of 16.

When were you first credited though?

I think that was ‘Stop That Train’ on Greensleeves and then I did ‘Rat Race’ for Hi Tension (Fitzroy: “That was around 1984.”) and various other sessions. Then in 1987 I got the opportunity to record my own album.

Yes I bought, ‘Journey To The Urge Within’, which was the first British jazz album to make the top 40 (Courtney: “Apparently.”)

The track that brought you attention from many people and that brought attention to your future style was your version of the Real Thing’s ‘Children Of The Ghetto’ featuring Susaye Green formally of The Supremes. How did you manage to get her on to the recording?

You were initially in a few reggae bands including Inerty Rockers right?

Yeah, but what I grew up with was jazz funk and soul. I used to follow Robbie Vincent at Flicks in Dartford, and travel all over to clubs and all dayers. But when I got to a certain age at around 15, I wanted to play music and my sister’s baby’s father, for want of a better term, took me to a club one Saturday, where I was literally auditioning bands. He’d ask me if I liked how they sounded and one of them was Powerline, a jazz funk outfit. (Fitzroy: “They did ‘Double Journey’.”) That’s right, so I ended up playing in Powerline and Inerty Rockers whose drummer I had gone to school with.

They were backing lots of the reggae stars who’d come to perform from Jamaica. Through my friend Frank Tontoh I ended up playing with Hi Tension and I was really busy plus, I was still at school. I was playing in three bands going up and down the country learning my trade in being a musician.

There wasn’t really that stigma of me being a reggae or a soul head, as I was just playing as much music as I could get my hands on. I must admit I was more into the jazz funk and soul and that was my outlet at the weekends when I’d go out. But it was the reggae that gave me the work so I became known as a reggae saxophonist.

Clearly growing up around west London, Hi Tension come from around that way, and then there was Ray Johnson and Lester Batchelor from Atmosfear. (Courtney: “I went to school with Lester’s brother, we were in the same class.”) Then there was Page 4 - Issue 67

I was doing shows in pubs in Brixton and getting together as many musicians as I could playing jazz. I started getting record company interest and the only one who said I could do what I wanted was Island Records. Due to their history with Bob Marley and Caribbean music I went with them. They brought over an American producer Michael Cuscuna and we put some tracks together, but I felt that there was something missing. I liked the group The Real Thing and on the flip side of ‘Can You Feel The Force’, I think it was, was this beautiful song ‘Children Of The Ghetto’. I had no idea of the political implications of the song as it spoke to my heart and my soul.

I wanted to put it on my record to make a statement of where I’m coming from. At the time people didn’t understand who I was and my background, because I had jazz, funk, soul and reggae influences. It was, at the time, unique to the media who hadn’t seen someone like me, who wanted to play jazz wearing a beret from the reggae world. So this raised a few eyebrows and the song almost didn’t happen when the original vocalist pulled out. Roy Carter who’s known for his work with Central Line was called in and he really wanted the record to happen, because he understood where I was

IMAGE BY JANE BONOTTO CAMPBELL

coming from. He said he knew a woman from The Supremes who was living here in the UK. I’d never heard of her but he said he’d bring her to the studio and that if she sounded great we could use her and it would be my call in making that final decision. We used the Battery Studio where Sade recorded her album in Willesden and Susaye came in and smacked it, along side a fast latin version of a Chick Corea track ‘You’re Everything’ that never got released. Even though her resume was mostly soul, she co-wrote ‘I Can’t Help It’ with Stevie Wonder for Michael Jackson’s ‘Off The Wall’ album (Fitzroy: “Ok”). She’s a great songwriter who didn’t need to sing and had a child living in London, but she came down to the studio and totally claimed the track. What I liked about her was that she was willing to perform live with the band and share the vision of making straight ahead jazz, which wasn’t the rule of thumb at the time. I’m glad I made that choice as I was in a position to make other types of records, but I stuck with my plan because it was unique at the time.

One thing I’ve noticed with you, is that you’ve never been backwards in coming forward in how you feel about your culture, consciousness and humanitarian value. I can imagine that your beret being more associated with the reggae culture, was a conflict of interest to some in the jazz world and that did go against you?

Yes it has been very interesting, as my thing has been about practicing and researching. I wasn’t there as a fashion icon. I’d practice for 8 hours and then play with the masters and there is no bluffing. Guys in the reggae world found me interesting as they couldn’t complain that I couldn’t play my instrument or that I wasn’t serious about it. A lot of the DJ’s and MC’s questioned why I was playing jazz. I didn’t know at the time that the guys who instigated and were the architects of reggae and ska, were actually jazz musicians. The jazz world had no idea that the Caribbean musicians went to the USA, and

inspired the jazz musicians in jazz music. Jazz is influenced by so many forms of music and there is a guy called Jellyroll Mortin, whose mother is from Haiti. Oscar Peterson’s mother is from St Kitts so both have the Caribbean connection. I understand the lack of exploration and realisation of that connection coming from a root of Africa. Knowledge is power and there is enough out there for us to research and see. The best jazz musicians who went over the edge such as Miles Davis, their experience was very wide.

A couple of albums later, your third album which I bought called ‘The Visions Tale’ I still enjoy ‘Raggamuffin Stance’ and ‘No Greater Love’ (Courtney laughs: “Oh, yes!”) you were making some straight ahead jazz but also an extension of that jazz fusion movement, after jazz funk around the mid 1980’s resurgence.

We are talking IDJ dancers Steve Williamson, Orphy Robinson, Cleveland Watkiss, Julian Joseph. We are all black British Caribbean first and second generation young men and women, who are now positioning ourselves in the industry as either DJ’s dancers or musicians. So this whole migration is evolving from our jazz funk and soul and reggae routes and forging the connections between us much later. What I found interesting was seeing you on stage with IDJ’s Jerry Barry, Marshall and Gary Nurse whom I’ve know for years as fellow west Londoners’s, at the Nelson Mandela event at Wembley. To see all of you together was inspiring, so what was that like?

That is one my ultimate moments. Firstly it was around the corner in Wembley from my manor so it was like a home gig. There were a lot of things going on that divided us in terms of who and what bands were involved. My stance was, even though I was selling lots of records it should be a unified stance. So I called Steve Williamson and IDJ as a collective that knew each other, but it was at a time where people tried to divide us. They had no idea that Steve and I would be riding night buses going from jam to jam, for a whole year thesoulsurvivorsmagazine.co.uk

learning our craft and that we were tight as friends. Doing that show I remember being invited down for the sound check at 12 midday, which never actually happened, and we didn’t even get a dressing room or anyone say good morning to us. I was blown away at being at the event and appearing with USA artist Bradford Marsalis and looking at stars like Whitney Houston. Stevie Wonder was due to play at 6pm and we had missed our allocated time, so we just thought we’d be there to just enjoy the concert, and not thinking we were gonna play. For some reason Stevie Wonder’s people left his software for his sync cloudier at the hotel and they needed to go back and get it. Lenny Henry turned to us and suddenly said ‘You’re on now’! We’d been sitting there all day twiddling our thumbs, watching everything and next thing we’re on stage. This is 6pm peak time and for some it would be frightening, but we came out guns blazing, it was amazing. On stage with me was Steve Williamson, the late Harry Becket, Ernest Morley who’s gone as well, and Mark Mondisierre. We went into overdrive and they had to pull us off that stage. Lenny Henry had to goad us off the stage because were so full of venom, after the way were had been treated all day. We would have paid to play on that gig and we played our arse off to prove a point. It was very liberating for me because the audience appreciated what we all did, as I don’t remember anything like being booed or having things thrown at us on stage. It was a unification of our dancers and jazz musicians who showed the public that we can work together. Also jazz from the UK could be represented and could support the great Nelson Mandela. I’ve got so many memories of that day with Whitney Houston performing and Whoppee Goldgerg running on stage to congratulate her with some security pushing Whoopee over. Whoppee Goldberg got up from the floor and wanted to fight these big 6’4 security guards. It was such an amazing day and I’ll never ever forget it.

I remember watching that and it was a humbling moment because I used to dance with Jerry. I wasn’t in his league but could hold my own. Seeing all of you up there dressed up in suits, dancing and playing instruments, it was a wow moment.

Remember we were not playing commercial music. It was underground scene music from Dingwalls or going back to Crackers. It showed that it could be done and also have an impact on people. Let’s not forget, if it wasn’t for that Stevie Wonder mishap we wouldn’t have gone on. Sometimes people forget the things we’ve had to endure and overcome to get to where we are. When I was signed to Island I was being promoted like a pop star and the battle continues, albeit Light Page 6 - Issue 67

Of The World, Omar and anyone who comes from our corner.

We were not supposed to achieve this success, not just in the UK but also worldwide. We are spoken about in USA, Japan and all over, look at the success of Loose Ends and Soul II Soul.

Moving onto the 90’s and speaking of Soul II Soul, how did you get to record “Courtney Blows” with them?

That was really bizarre because I got a call at 2am in the morning from Jazzie B asking me to record with him at Mapel room in Kilburn.

I just got out my house and went to the studio. As I recall Mica Paris, Ruby Turner and Jane Eugene from Loose Ends were singing on this track, and they needed an eight bar solo. They hadn’t voiced the track yet and Jazzie said to me to put my signature on the track. So I called on the spirits and came up with a melody and did a solo. It was very akin to what I did in the reggae world, like a dub plate kind of approach. I went on a tour for three months and when I came back I heard people telling me about a track I did with Soul II Soul. I thought it was an eight bar solo but when I heard it, it was just me on the sax from top to bottom. I don’t know if they ever released the version with Mica, Ruby and Jane on it, but my version was a B-side. It was really nice because of the connections from the different styles of music we all derive from.

What’s good is that you’ve worked with so many different people throughout different points in their career, whether they were here before you or just coming into the industry. (Courtney: “Yeah.”)

I remember Dj-ing at charity concept called ‘We Will Rise’ at The Jazz Cafe around 1996. Juliet Roberts was one of the guest vocalists and she announced ‘I’m going to bring my brother on stage, and he’s a bit shy so please give him a warm welcome.’

No one knew who she was talking about and you came on stage playing your horn and everyone cheered. (Courtney: “Yeah that was funny.”) You’ve worked with Juliet on ‘Children Hold On’ and ‘Life Goes Around’. Unbeknown to you on your cut ‘Psalms’ the bass player Wayne Bachelor was my school chum at high school. (Courtney: “Oh you know Wayne! (Courtney laughs) You know he’s gone to America?”) Yeah and I’m proud that he has done well.

I DJ’d for you many times at The Jazz Cafe in the 90’s when you had DJ Pogo as part of your live band set up.

COURTNEY PINE House of Legends

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“Don’t Turn Around”, “Shine”, “Warrior Charge”

Courtney Pine was once hailed as British jazz’s saviour….he still is’ - The Independent WEDNESDAY 28th & THURSDAY 29th DECEMBER 2016

LONDON, JAZZ CAFE

ALEXANDER O’NEAL

“30 YEARS OF HEARSAY” TOUR 2017

LONDON, UNDER THE BRIDGE SATURDAY 18 MARCH 2017

LONDON, RAH RAH ROOM TUESDAY 02 & WEDNESDAY 03 MAY 2017

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I remember being mesmerised by how you gave him a spot and he would somehow create the melody of ‘7 Minutes Of Funk’ by The Whole Darn Family, by manipulating the pitch control on the Technique 1210’s. He’d be scratching some notes off a completely different record and I was flabbergasted at how he could do that.

He worked with you on the ‘Modern Day Jazz Stories’ album, so what was it like to work with DJ Pogo, the legendary Eddie Henderson, Cassandra Wilson and the amazing 4Hero, whose remix of ‘I’ve Known Rivers’ is unbelievable?

(Courtney laughs…) The connections are a lot deeper.

Juliet Roberts was my first heroine, as I used to watch her at school assembly as a Rutherford Boy, and she used to sing on stage. It was my first wow moment and that inspired me, so I’ve always had that soft spot for Juliet and she’s my big sister. If I get into any legal problems I can call her and she hooks me up. It came to a point in my career that I was selling more records than any other artist in the UK but I couldn’t get a record deal. I don’t know if it was a change of times in the 90’s or what, but someone from America approached me to make an Acid Jazz record. I didn’t want to let him down as Acid Jazz had finished at the time, but I advised him of the drum and bass jungle vibe. He had no idea but he just wanted an Acid Jazz type vibe. I had this idea from working with IDJ of working with DJ’s and the hip-hop sound. I was at the time doing my apprenticeship in learning how to play jazz on the bandstand. I noticed at one point that the audiences were yawning, and even I was yawning because you can only play certain tunes all the time. I started researching 4hero’s work and what drum and bass, hip-hop sampling, sequencing and getting into technology involved. I worked with an amazing producer called Sparky who introduced me to DJ Pogo, who is not a traditional musician, but he has a kinship. Even though he’s on turntables and I’m on sax and we come from different worlds, on stage we are from similar backgrounds. Pogo being an open-minded person was able to converse with jazz musicians. It was a huge risk but I decided to go to America and make this record and they were a bit skeptical. I explained about coming from a club background and if we got Eddie Henderson and Cassandra Wilson involved, we could remix the tracks. They gave me a free hand and that album became

one of the albums of the year. It gave me the opportunity to believe that I can do something that no one else was doing.

When we toured the project it was so raw that in Europe, men started walking out when Pogo started doing his solo. The women however stayed and kept bobbing their heads to the beat. It was a moment of revelation because it is still possible to find musical shapes in this day and age.

A year later every single country in Europe followed suit and had a DJ in their band on stage. In America Roy Hardgrove came and jammed with us at the North Sea Jazz Festival and he did his record, so I’ve got that idea in my head that I was the first to do it. It’s now happening regularly up until now with Robert Glasper, but remember I was doing this in 1996.

Yeah I remember it so well because at one time when I was doing the four nights DJ-ing for your gig. I went upstairs into the Jazz Cafe restaurant to watch DJ Pogo do that because it blew my mind. (Courtney: “Yeah I hear you.”)

To read the rest of the Courtney Pine interview in full The amazing bit was that he could do it in a band concept and subscribe via www.thesoulsurvivorsmagazine.co.uk there was a science that went with it.

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You did a track called ‘Power To The People’ in 1992 and it was pre Bradford Marsalis experimenting with hip-hop jazz.

Yeah, but we must remember that the Americans are inspired by the same things like Herbie Hancock. In America there are people that only like straight ahead jazz in certain clubs and you have to wear a suit and tie to get in. I had the exclusivity not to that and had I’d gone to America, I wouldn’t have been able to make the records that I have. So when Bradford makes those kind of records they are not classed as jazz but as funk and soul records. Here we just want to make music and could call on others like Lynden David Hall and just create music.

You mention Lyndon who you did ‘Lady Day and John Coltrane’ with, but did you hear the UK Garage mix of that?

There were a few mixes flying around. The guy Chris Roberts in America asked who was going to release this material, and I suggested Talking Loud Records. It was funny because this

was the time that I couldn’t get a record deal and Talking Loud already had 4hero and Roni Size on his label. Gilles being a DJ was more interested in people making beats than playing an instrument, but he was forced to put out my music and they did what they could.

IMAGE BY ALEXIS MARYON

So let’s talk about the House Of Legends project. I really like the vibe of it which embraces lots of different cultural influences and it remains conscious.

I like the bit at the back where you say if you really wanna know (Fitzroy laughs) when you break down the records and their meaning. At first I didn’t read the meanings, but they made sense as I had already guessed what a lot of them actually meant. Your saxophone style reminds me of Dizzy Gillespie, partly because of the way you freestyle, and secondly because of your famous golf ball cheeks. (Courtney laughs: “That’s true.”) I like the sombre vibe of ‘A Tale For Stephen Lawrence’ as an instrumental that needs no words to describe the poignancy of the song. I also like ‘Kingstonian Swing’ (Courtney: “So now you understand my relationship between ska and jazz?”) Absolutely. I also like the steel pans.

afro rhythms on the planet. (Courtney: “I agree, oh man…”)

So I had to see them live. Back in the day there were a few records that had that steel pan sound like Modern Sound Corporation’s ‘Safari’ (Courtney: “Yeah, I’ve got that.”), ‘Trinidad’ by John Gibbs Band, Grover Washingt on’s ‘Little Black S a m b a ’ and Ralph McDonald’s ‘The Path’. You’ve borrowed a couple of riffs from Stevie Wonder’s ‘Sir Duke’ on ‘Samuel Sharpe’ and The brass stabs of James Browns ‘Ain’t It Funky Now’ on ‘Ma-Di Ba’, but all in the mix of a Caribbean calypso vibe so I commend you. I liked the tracks you did for Nelson Mandela who passed a few months later, ‘Claudia Jones’ and ‘The Song Of The Maroons’ as part of the concept especially with the breakdown.

working with these musicians they took Catch Courtney Pineanyone atlikedTheit butJazz Cafe the score to somewhere better than I expected. I put it out on my own label and it was voted the best record of the year Wednesday 28th & Thursday 29th by the jazz critics. IDecember pinch myself because 2016 I think they may Lots of that was where I grew up, initially in the Notting have made a mistake, and they are gonna call it back. I’ve Hill gate area and the influence of thehis Carnival, as Europe’sOfnever had such an accolade before. The more of a personal with House Legends project biggest carnival. Doing this album was scary because I didn’t statement you make the more it reaches people and you see know how the jazz heads would take it. A lot of them don’t know that the Caribbean sound and musicians influenced jazz. There’s a man from Grenada, Leslie Hutchinson who has a picture of him running around New Orleans with Duke Ellington. There are plenty of others who left the Caribbean Islands aspiring to playing with American jazz musicians and they in turn inspired and influenced other musicians.

Caribbean music is not just reggae or ska, there are different elements from Cuba, Trinidad and Guadeloupe, and the steel pans are important. I found a legendary musician from the Breakfast Band who was actually in Trinidad when I called him to play on the album. Luckily when he came to London we were able to record his contribution on the album As you were talking I remember at the start of the conversation that we spoke about bucking up at The Breakfast band gig, I was gonna ask you if their sound influenced you at all. Their album was so unique at the time and I loved ‘LA 14’ which for me is one of the most innovative UK and worldwide jazz funk disco calypso

You know there is a point of departure where I didn’t care if

that when I toured with this album. I’m really satisfied with this record.

So you have dates at The Jazz Cafe in December for a couple of dates and I think it’s time for you to plug the gig.

The Jazz Cafe has always been a fantastic spot for me. I’ve seen them change the carpets a few times over the years and it’s a wonderful place. The Jazz cafe is one of the best venues in Europe and have the best line up of acts that are innovative. It’s one of the best standing up venues where the people are there to have a good time. So playing this music at the Jazz Cafe is like a dream come true.

Speaking of accolades you have an CBE. Yes, I think they made a mistake and are going to ask for it back. For the palace to recognise us from our generation means a lot our work has been underground and it’s amazing that someone from the palace has heard about what we are doing and recognises it. thesoulsurvivorsmagazine.co.uk

There’s a saying, ‘blink and you’ll miss it’. Well I blinked and by the time the blink was finished it was December! Where has the time gone? As Soul Survivors we are all very well aware that life is going by like a runaway freight train.

Well, here we are again and I’d like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a funky New Year. So, 2016 wasn’t too shoddy was it? To be honest I feel like the year has gone past and I haven’t done anything or been anywhere. That is until I really think about it.

At the tail end of last year, and too late for the December/January 2015 issue, I got my ass down to Nells Jazz & Blues for one of my all time favourite artists, Don E. It was the launch of his Future Rare Grooves 2. When an artist has Elisha Laverne, Hanlei, Terri Walker, Omar and Natasha Watts for support, then you know that you are in the right place.

The year started off with the ultimate Soul weekender in the shape of Blackpool Luxury Soul. There’s nothing bad that can ever be said about this event. Just the perfect way to get the year started.

This very magazine turned 10 years old and each and every publication just gets better. The interviews are always on point and have me searching the web for any records that come up during the discussions.

Moving into the month of May and I was lucky enough to find myself at the brilliant Soul In The Algarve. Eleven years and going strong.

With May out of the way I was looking forward to CampSoul in August. If you want to know what I think about this event, then grab a copy of issue 66 where I give a very succinct review. FYI, I loved it.

Jamie McGreals’ London Soul Cruises continue to set the standard for boat-based bashes. Proper sound system, 2 floors to dance on and a music policy that leaves you wondering why every day of the week can’t be like this. Talking of things that only happens twice a year and that’s ‘Another Sunday Afternoon at Dingwalls’. Jazztastic!

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Another little event that probably slipped under most peoples radar is an excellent soiree called the Cotswold Park Weekender. An event to dance and keep warm to in February.

A regular function that has really caught my attention, and has never failed to deliver, is Bruk Up in Birmingham. A night of brilliance for those of us that love Broken Beat, held at the Hare & Hounds in Kings Heath.

In April I got my tickets to see Dego & 2000 Black live in concert.

Jazz, Boogie and Broken, I was in absolute heaven. Live acts like these really are the backbone of Black British Music and it chokes me up with pride when I’m there.

Musically it was a very rich year. But when is it never a rich year? My musical tastes are wide and varied and every time I heard a piece of music it immediately became my all-time fave. Here are just a handful of aural delights that have given me pleasure during 2016.

Vol. 1: The Renaissance Begins - The British Collective Petawane - Love Soldier Happiness. Pt 2 - Eli Escobar What Am I Here For? - The DangerFeel Newbies (NDATL vocal) Danny Krivit edit) Our Time - The Doggett Brothers Private Wax vol:2 - Various artists I Get High - Blu James Doug Gomez Merecumbe - Elegua Geometry - Dave Hollister Don’t Stop (let it go) - Dego & 2000 Black American In Chelsea - Sir Piers #Dwts - Steve ‘Stone’ Huff Off The Christmas Card List - Tathum, Mensa, Lord & Ranks.

Radio shows are a plenty and it’s a pleasure to be spoilt for choice.

And the podcasts........blimey, where would I start?

We have a great year ahead of us. Enjoy yourselves, eat, drink and be merry to excess and look after you and yours xx

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Soul Survivors

Roll Call of Fame Born December 26th 1956 Michael Jones did not have the best upbringing in family life. He was living with various foster families in various homes in Brooklyn USA, and although he had good and bad memories, it was all he knew and he considered his childhood a normal one. It didn’t stop his determination in learning to play instruments in his pre teen years before he, as a fresh-faced teenager and through an act of fate whilst he was homeless, became the latest exciting new edition to the group BT Express. He played moog and synthesisers as well as writing ‘Time Tunnel’ and ‘Sunshine’ for BT Express.

He was heavily influenced by Joe Zawinal of jazzrock fusion outfit Weather Report and recorded on 3 albums before he left BT Express to begin session work. His name change to Kashif Saleem FITZROY & KASHIF transpired during the making of his last album with BT Express. It actually means providentially ‘discover and inventor’. Under his name Michael Jones he wrote tracks for The Fatback Band and Bill Withers. After a short spell with Tony Aitkin And Future 2000, via an introduction of sorts from Soulmusic.com’s David Nathan, Kashif secured some live performance work with Stephanie Mills. Kashif also liaised with Morrie Brown and Paul Laurence as part of a production outfit Mighty M Productions, working with Melba Moore, High Fashion and various other 80’s production. He practically revitalised Evelyn Champagne King’s career writing and producing ‘I’m In Love’, ‘Love Come Down’, ‘Get Loose’ and ‘Spirit Of The Dancer’.

He also help to launch Howard Johnson’s solo career after he left the group Niteflyte with ‘So Fine’ and ‘Keeping Love New’ circa 1982. As a pioneering multi instrumentalist and producer Kashif released his own solo debut self titled Kashif on Arista. With so many great songs including ‘I Just Gotta Have You’ and ‘Help Yourself To My Love’, it was his ode to his jazz routes ‘In The Mood’ that would really showcase his ridiculous talent. He was head hunted to write and produce George Benson’s ‘Inside Love (So Personal)’ which has an amazing story to its impromptu creation.

Kashif was instrumental in launching the career of a young Whitney Houston as well as working with Dionne Warwick and Al Jarraeu. After a few albums at Arista Kashif left and ventured elsewhere after working prolifically in the music industry. He set up a foundation for foster children as he was brought up in that system himself and wrote an important and influential book “Everything You Better Know About The Music Industry”.

He made a few independent solo albums including UK label Expansion and in 2014 after a long hiatus did two UK dates at Jazz Cafe London and the Luxury Soul Weekender in Blackpool Jan 15. Having seen him perform his last two UK dates unbeknown to them, many were shocked at Kashif’s passing in 2016. I was fortunate to interview him in the magazine and meet him both after his Jazz Cafe and Luxury Soul appearances and he seemed like a very down to earth and happy individual. His accolades are too much to mention but he will go down in history as a true pioneer of technology and quality music provisions.

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“Another band on our label at the time called GQ had a big hit with ‘Disco Nights’ and that’s where the label put their money.

Most who heard us were impressed with our album but Arista didn’t treat us as we deserved.”

Fitzroy interviews

Gene Robinson

Ahead of their much anticipated appearance at The Blackpool Luxury Soul Weekender in January 2017, we were able to ‘Work It Out’ and speak with Gene Robinson, lead vocalist of the well respected group Breakwater. Hailing from the Soul Survivors ‘City Of Brotherly Love’ Philadelphia, the O’Jays ‘Message In The Music’ was their ethos despite not signing to the local legendary Gamble & Huff PIR label. Producing two classic albums of ‘cult diction’ proportions, many remained disillusioned at the group’s premature demise after two albums between 1978 and 1980. Thirty plus years later we get to see there is ‘No Limit’ to the continuing talents of the group who are now reformed and performing again and ‘Release The Beast’.

Growing up in the ‘City of Brotherly Love’, Philadelphia, what were your influences picking up a trumpet and at what point did the original line up assemble at high school in the 1970’s?

The other tenor saxophone player whose not with us currently lived on the same block as me, we were introduced to music very early at elementary school. Around the fourth or fifth grade the school made some instruments available for those who wanted to learn and I was introduced to the trumpet. I wasn’t thinking about being a musician as Ihad more or less given it up by the time I got to middle school. My friend had gone to school in another part of town and he met a lot the guys in the band there and he asked me if I wanted to play trumpet with them. So that’s how that started.

May I ask, as a young group in Philadelphia what was the social climate like, as it is evident in the group’s songwriting that you had specific messages in your music?

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That’s an interesting question as it was the 1970’s and things were changing socially and looking better. We were listening to Earth Wind & Fire, War, Mandrill and Carlos Santana and not listening to mainstream music at the time. We were influenced by their musicianship. I actually grew up a few blocks away from Ronnie Tyson when he was in The Temptations and his brother Dave was in The Manhattans group, so music was all around me. Philadelphia was a mecca for great musicians so it was easy to form a band.

What were some of the few choices you went through before deciding on the name Breakwater, as I believe at least one of them was Synergy?

Purely by accident, in fact the first name was Change Reaction.

Our drummer’s brother was in the group ‘Weather Report’ and we were basically going through names in the dictionary and I know that sounds corny, looking for interesting names and we stumbled across and stuck with name Breakwater.

OUT NOW ON EXPANSION RECORDS NEW BREAKWATER ALBUM COMING SOON – “NECESSARY BUSINESS”

BOTH CLASSIC ARISTA ALBUMS ON ONE CD WITH BONUS MIX

And catch Breakwater live in the UK for the VERY first time:

LONDON 6TH JANUARY – BROOKLYN BOWL BLACKPOOL 7TH JANUARY – LUXURY SOUL WEEKENDER

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Most people reading this will wonder why you never got a record deal with PIR Records in Philadelphia with Gamble & Huff. Even though it’s evident that you have a more soulful jazzy route to your music, there were other acts like Dexter Wansal and Instant Funk who had that fusion who were signed to PIR, so why didn’t that happen for Breakwater?

You know I really can’t answer that question but I think at the time we wanted to go outside of what was happening and prevalent in Philly. We were a little more different from what Gamble & Huff were used to and we were totally selfcontained, where as most of the Gamble & Huff acts had their music written by Gamble & Huff or their staff writing or co-writing the music. Dexter Wansal was an anomaly in that camp and they let him do his thing, but generally Gamble & Huff gave the direction of the music that came out of the camp. I think that’s why we never signed with them.

How did you get your deal with Arista?

Clive Davis came along and gave us the right kind of financial deal and license to do what we wanted, working with one of his staff Rick Churchoff. Rick wasn’t the producer we initially wanted to work with but the ones we did were not available and we were impatient in wanting to get things done. I liked the way he co-produced the album but the label didn’t market us very well. This happens to so many artists especially when it comes to the numbers game. There was another hot band on our label at the time called GQ who had a big hit with ‘Disco Nights’ and that’s where the label put their money.

Most people who heard us were impressed with our album but Arista didn’t treat us as we deserved.

Talking about the first album, it was a remarkable debut album that was quite advanced at the time, in particular ‘No Limits’ which sounds more like a early 1980’s moog boogie based track as opposed to a 1978 cut written by Grey & Hanks.

Interesting you mention that as Clive Davis likes to have his hand in your work in some kind of capacity and he asked us to record two or three songs that we did not write. This was odd for us as we were always self contained. We did two of the three songs, the other was ‘That’s Not What We Came Here For’. ‘No Limits’ was a nice style thing to do and we didn’t mind doing that as it suited out style.

How did you become the primary lead vocalist?

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I naturally started off on trumpet and our drummer, who was a great singer, was singing lead when we used to do covers.

Our manager came to this decision as I was doing background and sharing lead because I was standing in the front of band being in the horn section. When I got into music I loved to sing more than actually playing the horn, so with the band I split singing lead and eventually I couldn’t do both so I ended up as lead vocalist. I played horns on the first album and some on the second album.

Do you remember a group from the UK called Hi Tension? (Gene: “No I Don’t.”). Ok the reason I ask is that the track that I love off that album and more so than the more popular ‘Say You Love Me Girl’ from the second album, which are both really popular in the UK is ‘Work It Out’. It’s got a Caribbean feel to it, very similar to the Hi Tension track ‘Peace On Earth’. The lyrics of ‘Peace On Earth’ also were a socially conscious message track (Gene: “Ok, right.”). Both records came out in 1978 (Gene: “Ok, I’ll check that out.”) ‘Work It Out’ typified the ethos of the Philadelphia ‘city of brotherly love’ theme, but why was ‘You Know How I Feel’ the follow up to ‘No Limits’ above ‘Work It Out’ which I felt personally was a better track?

I’m not sure if the release in the UK is the same as the USA. In Philly ‘Work It Out’ was getting played first. I liked the song but I didn’t think it would be the song that would break us. I felt we needed to get the dance people first and then get them with the socially conscious and ballads. My favourite song was ‘Do It Till The Fluid Gets Hot’ as it’s more snatching. ‘Work It Out’ didn’t make as much noise here but in Philly ‘Do It Till The Fluid Gets Hot’ makes the place jump when the DJ plays it. I do love singing and performing ‘Work It Out’.

The baddest track on that album for me is ‘Feel Your Way.’ (Gene: “You really think so?”) Absolutely.

What’s interesting about that record is that it has full lyrics with verses that you do not hear. (Fitzroy: “Wow.”). Not sure who made the decision to take the lyrics out and put some synth lines in and we just sang the chorus. But since we’ve got back together we’ve been performing it with the lyrics so I’m not sure how it’s going to go down when we do it in January 2017. It’s still cool, funky and gets very jazzy and we open with that song because like the lyrics say “Come into our world of music.”

The 2nd album ‘Splashdown’ came two years later and I felt it was a superb follow up. The production seems to have evolved naturally and in particular on ‘Splashdown Time’ and ‘You’ reminded me musically and vocally of Cameo. (Gene: “Yeah I can see that.”) ‘Release The Beast’ was more of a funk rock and sampled by Daft Punk.

Yeah that’s an interesting story. We weren’t together when that deal was made and there were three or four songwriters on that song. Kae was still playing with other artists even though we’d broken up and he made a deal with Daft Punk who sampled our track. Those of us who contributed to writing it did get our share of that but I’m not sure what kind of deal he made personally. It was a good thing for us because it revived us with people finding the sample via YouTube. It made people interested in what we were doing and to come and see us perform. It really helped and I’d like to meet those guys as we could do something else with them.

Off that second album the big club anthem was ‘Say You Love Me Girl’ which you co wrote, 65was re released as part of a 3 track 12” in the mid 1980’s with ‘Work it Out’ and ‘No Limit’. ‘Say You Love Me Girl’ has both an underground and a commercial appeal over here in the UK.

I enrolled into tech school and studied IT, which I still do. We knew we had something magical and when Kae passed we all started talking at the funeral. We noticed that Cameo and Kool & The Gang was having a revival so we decided to get back together and have some fun. The crowds were really great when we performed. I had never stopped experimenting musically and have my own studio from when I got married as it was still a passion for me and I loved to do it. So in 2008 when Kae passed it all started again with five of the original eight. We added a guitar and some horns as the tenor saxophonist Vince Cornell didn’t want to get involved so I needed more help on that and the vocals to reproduce what we did. We added a female vocal which gave us a cool look and she dances like a nut on stage but she sings beautifully and we all sound great.

That’s really amazing to me to hear you say this as we’ve been told that this is the case.

My personal favourite off that album is ‘Let Love In’ (Gene: “Ok.”) mainly because it has a fellow label mate Don Blackman flavour. In fact I play three tracks together, Esperanto’s ‘All Good Things’, then Don Blackman’s ‘Never Miss A Thing’, followed by ‘Let Love In’ and they sound like the same record but different takes. Were you a fan of Don Blackman?

I’m ashamed to say I don’t know him.

Wow! No, you must do! He was on the same label as you around the same time as your second album. He worked with Weldon Irvine, Bernard Wright, and Marcus Miller and was part of that Tom Browne ‘Jamaica Funk’ sound.

What can we expect to hear from Breakwater at Blackpool?

It depends on how much time they allow us to play. We gonna do some of the newer things that we tried to release. The writing process is different now needing a lot of patience and stepping back unlike when we had one main writer which was Kae. We are a lot older now but we are hot on delivering quality.

long as you do ‘Feelinterview Your Way’, ‘Splashdown To read the rest of the GeneSoIt Robinson in Time’, full‘Work Out’, ‘Say You Love Me Girl’ and ‘No Limit’, they’ll be happy.

Did he have a single? subscribe via www.thesoulsurvivorsmagazine.co.uk For sure and when we do ‘Feel Your Way’ it’ll be dedicated to Yes ‘You Ain’t Hip’ and he also did ‘Hearts Desire’. (Gene: “That last one sounds familiar.”) (Fitzroy plays Gene ‘You Ain’t Hip’) (Gene: That’s funky reminds me of Prince). (Fitzroy also plays ‘Never Miss A Thing’) (Gene: “Oh yeah, I hear it now for sure, it’s totally in the same vein.”) What’s scary is that you were both on the same label and had albums come out the same year.

What was the turning point as to why the band and Arista parted company?

It was nothing really special other than a natural progression of things. We were coming of age and having families or getting married as musically it didn’t look like it was gonna happen. We tried negotiating with the label and tried other things but by then we disbanded as other people wanted to get on with their lives. There was no bad split or animosity.

you. (Fitzroy: “Thank You.”)

Who is actually featured in the line up now?

Myself, Gene Robinson on vocals, Steve Green on bass and vocals, Jimmy Jones drums and vocals, Greg Scott Horns and vocals, John Bradock congas and percussion and they are original members. Then the new people are Adrian Aje vocals, my son Wes Robinson keyboards, Bart Flinch guitar, Brian Gilpatrick trumpet, Marcell Bellinger, Mark Scott trombone.

Gene thank you, very nice talking to you.

My pleasure and I can’t wait, I’d be on the plane tomorrow.

Thanks Fitzroy. thesoulsurvivorsmagazine.co.uk

Soul Survivors

Roll Call of Fame Like Carlsberg Eddy Grant is probably one of Guyana’s favourite exports and legendary sons.

Eddy became a founder member of the pioneering and reputedly first UK multicultural pop rock and soul band, The Equals. Eddy wrote much of the Equal’s material as well as other material for other artists like The Pyramids and owned his own label, Torpedo Records. The label was instrumental in championing what was to become known as ‘skinhead reggae’ at the height of its late 1960’s popularity.

Despite having an unexpected serious heart condition in January 1970, which put him out of commission for a while, Eddy recovered and evidently left the Equals. Against much resistance Eddy built his own studio and acquired an independent record pressing plant. As an FITZROY & EDDY GRANT independent black artist, this was unheard of. With the edition of his own studio, Coach House and his own independent label, Ice, Eddy Grant became a central hub for struggling artists, producers and musicians to use his facilities. Around 1976, Eddy recorded The Equals album ‘Born Ya’ which released what was to become a revered underground funk classic in the 1980’s ‘Funky Like A Train’.

Eddy’s first album on Ice Records circa 1977, ‘Message Man’ shows the early roots of Eddy’s trademark dread locks on the front cover. It hosted Eddy’s cultural observations in ‘Cockney Black’ and one of his finest Afro Caribbean productions, ‘Hello Africa’. Multitasking Eddy, was now showcasing soca and calypso music on his Ice label with UK and Caribbean distribution outlets. He released the universal all time ‘every West Indian household must have a copy’ 12” of ‘Sugar Bum’ on his Ice label in 1978. In 1977 and 1978 Eddy recorded both the innovative pre-early 1980’s electro boogie space synthesised ‘Timewarp’ and the funky reggae bullet ‘Walking On Sunshine’’ (re-vamped

by Rockers Revenge in 1982). Curating his own distribution deals Eddy’s social commentary classic ‘Living On The Frontline’ becomes a worldwide hit. It sets the template for disco dub bass rhythms that followed suit later like ‘Can’t Get Enough Of Your Love’ and ‘Do You Feel My Love’.

In 1980 his ‘My Turn To Love You’ becomes an underground club boogie anthem, and by 1982 Eddy releases more universal hits ‘I Don’t Wanna Dance and ‘Electric Avenue’. Eddy’s Frontline Orchestra had success with ‘Don’t Turn Your Back On Me’, with an underestimated jazz, funk instrumental ‘No Entry’. Eddy made a huge impact with his political message via ‘Gimme Hope Jo’anna’, and travelled around the world including touring South Africa, Europe and Eastern Europe. Eddy recorded a song ‘I Wanna Show You Belgrave’ about the country now known as Serbia.

In October 2016 Eddy was asked to officially turn on the lights for the newly redeveloped Electric Avenue market in Brixton. Eddy is 68 and has had half a century making history as the renegade ‘Cockney Black’ who loves and helped his ‘Neighbour Neighbour’, at a period when ‘Nobody’s Got Time’, and supported his black music community other than himself the ‘Message Man’.

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thesoulsurvivorsmagazine.co.uk

Record Reviews We give a winter warming welcome back to the music review pool to KFP Enterprise’s Barry King who has contributed heavily to these festive season presents on offer record reviews. Featured is a black Beatle Mania homage, some ill Brazilian skills from the famous Rio trio, some smooth southern funk and soul and a slice of Afro Danish ensemble tasty treats. Throw in a smidgen of social consciousness and a dash of Gil Scott Heron questioning of ‘Is That Jazz?’ and see how this musical mulled wine suits ya taste buds

Tony Minveille Presents ‘Into Something’ Volume 2 This is a diverse jazz album that experiments with neighbouring musical genres with a touch of panache.

You’d be forgiven mistaking ‘Add The Bassline’ for an Eric Roberson groove, it’s that slick. The live drum and bass and broken beat elements of ‘Whole Other’, ’Never Ending’ and ‘Willow Of Winton’, conjure up intricate and wonderful influences of 4hero meets Chick Corea. Representing the ladies Carmen Lundy sounds elegantly seductive on a bossa tinged ‘Everything I Need’, whilst Melissa Mcmillian breathes a spellbinding zephyr like vocal on an infectious jazzy soul groove. More diversity is showcased on a jazz, rap, hip-hop menagerie of ‘Vibrations’ and on the contrasting journalistic up-tempo instrumental ‘Quasar’. Throwing a slight spanner in the works check out the Curtis Mayfield influenced slow and funky hustler’s tale of ‘Numbers Runner’. Definitely something worth getting into.

Plunky Juju Jazz Funk Plunky is the renowned saxophonist of the afro funk ensemble Oneness Of Juju famed for the much sampled ‘African Rhythms’ and ‘Every Way But Loose’. This album is laced with jazz funk soul, spoken word and at times elements of go-go with universal togetherness messages. ‘Moving Forward’ and ‘This Is Our Time’ carry more of a nice and easy melodic ‘steppers’ formation dance template. There are a few elongated tracks ‘One Love One Us’, ‘Seize The Time’, ‘Plastic’ and a very tranquil ‘Wisdom Peace And Love. They either fade out then fade back in or start again for the part two and all have plenty instrumentation and vocal messages of peace and love and awareness. In contrast check out ‘Nu Juju Drum Song’ an ode of Afro percussiveness tinged with Roy Ayers and Fela Kuti ‘Africa Centre Of The World’ themed majesty. In support also is a ferocious bongo frenzied and lazy sax instrumental ‘Afro Future’.

Included are live versions of ‘Moving Forward’ and the funky ‘Drop’

Lee Fields Special Night This is “simples” like the “Compare The Meerkat” advert as consummate classic southern soul album. Lee Fields with the greatest of ease fits comfortably on every groove albeit a ballad, mid-tempo or upbeat funky production. It’s predominantly an all aspects of love album of self-explanatory emotional feelings.

Elements of Percy Sledge and Syl Johnson pleading bluesy vocal style lies within ‘I’m Coming Home’ and ‘Work To Do’. Lee’s looking for the perfect love in ‘Never Be Another You’ and ‘Loverman’ is a perfect slice of hip-hop sampling funkiness. Lee is his own man with that southern sound championed by the late James Brown so you can’t help but hear hints of that ‘honky tonk’ James Brown’s ‘Money Won’t Change’ in the social messaged ‘Make The World’. The instrumentation is nothing short of first class and crystallised straight out of that 1970’s era. With a melodic funk ‘Precious Love’ to finish you won’t be disappointed if you love that old soul.

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Azymuth Fenix Far Out Records Welcome to first album in four years since the passing of Azymuth’s Jose Roberto Bertami with new keyboardist Kiko Continentino. Retaining their ill skills, you hear that ‘Fly Over The Horizon’ rising synth strings theme on both ‘Villa Mariana’ (De Tarde) and (Pela Madrugada) as intro’s and outro’s sonically seduce you. The familiar bass slaps of Alex Malheiros with accompanying handclaps and vocoder brings much attention to the up-tempo titled ‘Fenix’. Much slower but equally funky check out the tantric melodiousness of ‘Nephthunians’. Typically from the Azymuth of old for the dancers listen to the infectious ‘Papa Samba’ featuring Ivan Conti’s ‘Brazilliant’ drums skills. Very much like ‘Jazz Carnival’ with disco bassline and boo’s ‘Batacuda Em Marte’ is energetic accompanied by some Herbie Hancock esq vocoder influences. ‘Curumba’ is a traditional percussive instrumental with some eerie dynamic strings and bringing the tempo down Kiko Continentino solos on ‘Rio Doce Kiko’. Worth the wait!!

Intruders Save The Children BBR 48 Hours after the announcement that Robert ‘Big Sonny’ Edwards had sadly passed, I received this extended CD in the post. I love this album for so many reasons, but mainly for these superhero ‘Fantastic Four’ harmonising voices. This features two covers, an amazing interpretation of Gil Scott Heron’s ‘Save The Children’ and Paul Simon’s ‘Mother And Child Reunion’. There is sheer brilliance delivered on ‘I Wanna Know Your Name’ and such an endearing quality on the classic ‘I’ll Always Love My Mama’ sampled notably by Raphael Saadiq’s ‘Get Involved’. Do not skip past ballads ‘Memories Are Here To Stay’ and ‘Teardrops’ or the very soulful ‘Hang On In There’ Of the 4 extra bonus tracks you are in for a treat with the Tom Moulton extended 12 inclusion of ‘I’ll Always Love My Mama’ and my ultimate Intruders favourite ‘(Win Place Or Show) She’s A Winner.’ It would be rude not to intrude on this album… Seriously…

The Definitive Collection Grover Washington Jnr BBR Despite a no show from ‘Sausalito’, ‘Hydra’, ’Little Black Samba’ and ‘Paradise’ this Grover selection is still worth checking out. From his Kudu collection experience ‘Inner City Blues’, ‘Loran’s Dance’, the classic ‘Mister Magic’ and the dark, mysterious and ‘saxy’ ‘Black Forest’. Enclosed is one of his faster fusion bullets ‘The Sea Lion’ and his alternative instrumental version to Lena Horne’s vocal of ‘It Feels So Good’, written by Grover’s percussionist and song writing pal the late Ralph McDonald. Sampled heavily in hip-hop with the classic Creed Taylor production is another magnificent and moody gem ‘Knucklehead’. Nice to see a cheeky collaboration from Eric Gales ‘Multiplication’ album namely ‘Morning Glory’. CD 2 features more collaborations but starts which a the brilliant live recording of ‘Summer Song’. Would have been sacrilege not to include ‘Just The Two Of Us’ with Bill Withers, ‘Let It Flow (For Dr J)’ or ‘Winelight’ or for that matter a collaboration with label mate Bob James, namely ‘Brighton By The Sea’. Featured are three from Grover’s 1981 Elektra album, the titled cut ‘Come Morning’, a cover of Bob Marley’s ‘Jamming’, and the beautiful ‘East River Drive’. Grover’s versatility is highlighted with special guest Patti Austin on ‘The Best Is Yet To Come’ and a more straight ahead jazz number with Kenny Burrell ‘Asphalt Canyon Blues’. Touching on the electro jazz production like so many of his contemporaries Grover explores with a quite funky ‘Summer Nights’. To close ‘Soulful Strut’ gets a hip-hop jazz treatment from his 1996 album of the same name. Very enjoyable for Grover fans.

Raheem DeVaughn and Wes Felton ‘The Great Debate’ This is a welcome return from two of Washington DC’s finest, sound like Super heroes right ?! Well think of Marvin Gaye and Gil Scott Heron joining forces on an album. Check out ‘Praying Prayers’, ’Build And Destroy’, ’Still Searchin’ and ‘F**k The Police’ are my favourite tracks. The revolution has just been vocalised...BK

Super Duper Love Mainstream Hits And Rarities Kent Although I recognise a handful of this featured labels artist’s and titles much of this compilation was a welcomed education for me. Starting with Sugar Billy’s superior original to Joss Stone’s decent cover of ‘Super Duper Loving’, track to is Afrique’s classy cover of Manu DiBango’s ‘Soul Makossa’. There is plenty diversity be it ballads, slow funk, early disco or southern soul. Two of the funkier soul cuts include Prophecy’s ‘Whatever’s Your Sign’ and a Black Ivory sounding Eleventh Commandments’. I’m quite enamoured by some of the creatively written story telling ballads like ‘Does She (Sleep On My Side Of The Bed)’ and the sexually enticing Sugar Billy’s ‘Freak And You Shall Find’. More sex and soul comes courtesy of Doris Duke’s ‘Business Deal’ and Little Richard sings the blues emphatically on a deceptive ‘Try To Help Your Brother’. The Dramatics sound exactly like their name on an orchestrated ‘Feel It’ and the finale is an intriguing and sensual ‘I Need You Back Home’. Complied by Tony Rounce this is good quality vintage stuff!!

Ty feat. Seanie T - ‘Baby Love’ I always support the UK musical artists in all forms. This track has been placed on the film ‘Brotherhood’s’ soundtrack and is from a forthcoming album from Ty entitled ‘Work of Heart’ on UK label Tru-Thoughts. A bounce flavoured slice of Hip-Hop produced by Drew Horley for the ladies. I’m digging this…BK

Let It Be Black America Sings Lennon, McCartney And Harrison (Ace) Compiled by Tony Rounce, listen to a few esteemed African Diaspora soul R&B, jazz and rock and soul artists ‘Come Together’ and interpret alternative version excursions, composed originally by Lennon McCartney & Harrison of The Beatles. Out of the 23 worth checking are Aretha Franklin’s almost ‘Think’ delivery of ‘Elenor Rigby’ and a funky The 5 Stairsteps’s breakbeat version of ‘Dear Prudence’. Already familiar versions of EW&F’s ‘Got To Get You Into My Life’ and Nina Simone’s ‘Here Comes The Sun’ make it into the first top ten listings. Representing Motown is a classy orchestrated Mary Wells ‘Do You Want To Know My Secret’ and a funky Four Tops ‘The Fool On The Hill’. Isaac Hayes’ long Rotary Connection sounding ‘Something’ and Bill Wither’s church tambourine vibe ‘Let It Be’, conclude a return back to some ‘Yesterday’ Beatles memorabilia.

Marcus Machado-’29’ This is someone who we need to keep our eyes on. Marcus deliveries a very stylish lead guitar heavy project. There are 6 tracks on this EP. DJ Spinna remix on New Thangz, I got into a tune called ‘Code Black’ feat Sandra St Victor also ‘Reverse The Time’, Electric Fire good rock soul! ...BK

Omar ‘Love In Beats’ (Freestyle Records) Scratch Professor and Omar have certainly produced an evolutionary album of digital, technical and analogue mastery with ‘Love In Beats’. Omar manages to secret an equilibrium of sonic perfection. Working with various featured artists his fusion and collaboration with Robert Glasper and Ty on ‘Vicky’s Tune’ kick starts the album perfectly. The feminine energy of Natasha Watt’s, Mayra Andrade’s amazing duet via ‘De Ja Vu’ and Floacist’s time travelling presence on ‘Feeds My Mind’ most certainly equals the ying to Omar’s yang. Love Leon Ware’s duet on a weird and wonderful stringed ‘Gave My Heart’, alongside Omar’s still very impressionable, distinctive and unique vocal tones. There is a quintessential hip-hop soul with moog bass and enchanting triangle vibes within ‘This Is The Way’ and that mid tempo latin bossa soul Omar has conquered exceptionally on ‘Hold Me Closer’. Basically just buy the album it’s full of quality beats. Out January 2017

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KutiMangoes ‘Made In Africa’ This is an interesting plethora of Danish and African transitional influences with indigenous ‘afrobeat’ horn traditions, yet retaining a European big band sound. With intermittent African dialect the KutiMangoes showcase their adulation for sounds championed by the late great Fela Kuti. It’s mostly an instrumental album but with vocals ad-lib chants and interaction on varying up, mid and down tempo rhythmic afrocentric beats. Examples of the up-tempo cuts include ‘Ouagadougou’, ‘The Ship Will Sink’, ‘BIC’ and ‘Adjoa’, the latter with an almost afro meets salsa and very lively sing-along vibe. There are more tribals sounds like the short and sweet ‘M’ba’ and ‘Red Rain’ that echoes the ambience of tropical raindrops and a softer brass presence. There are very melodious trombone sax and trumpet solos and together as a brass ensemble, there is an audible clarity and synergy. Musically this is an enjoyable and well worth a purchase album.

Park Avenue This is a EP coming at you right from the Bay area, Elijah Baker aka EB (vocalist and bass player) known for his work with Tony Toni Tone, Lucy Pearl and Alicia Keys, just to name a few. Please look out for soulful and funky tracks by Raphael Saadiq, Too Short, Monet, Silk E and EB. Also if you’re a gospel fan watch out for Elijah’s father, Rev Baker’s Gospel EP. Produced by Raphael Saadiq and Elijah Baker. ...BK

KFP-Enterprise Global Session Vol 1 Compiled

By Barry King KFP’s consultant Barry King compiled these 15 fresh millennium beats. Daru & Rena’s ‘Melody’ is a rough rugged and raw metallica beats piece of badness, whilst Raphael Saadiq’s signature is all over ‘Good Feeling’ with Too Short and Silk E’. Oregon pioneer Tony Ozier improvises on a USA meets UKG 4 floor banger ‘Wish & Breath’ produced by Jaymoezart. Neco Redd’s ‘Queen Heroin’ is a powerful conscious spoken word black woman homage delivered over James Brown’s ‘King Heroin’ instrumental. Park Ave deliver with an infectious up-tempo GQ ‘Disco Nights’ meets Brass Construction ‘Movin’’ influenced ‘Just Dance’. Check these millennium hip-hop soul crushers, a very smooth Jaymoezart singing ‘Let Me Ride’, Raheem DeVaughn and Felton’s conscious and empowering ‘Build And Destroy’ and an atmospheric ‘Fantasy’ feat Jimi James. Maimouna Youseff covers Bob Marley’s ‘Guiltiness’ and chart topping number Taihisha’s ‘Love’ broken beat bomb is destined to explode. Marc Mac’s killers include, a Patrick Adams textured boogie instrumental Nu Era’s ‘Cynthonia’, and a Foreign Exchange with Phonte on an ‘Astral Travelling’ ‘Take A Trip’. For the boogie heads the Roy Ayers ‘Running Away’ influenced R&R Orchestra’s ‘Meaningless’ is a must. KFP ‘Keeping You In The Loop’ get this Free Download 19th December 2016 via http://www.kfp-enterprise.co.uk

Maimouna - ‘Metamorphosis’-single Digging this single, produced by Kash & Eric G. Nice bit of Hip-Hop Soul. MuMu Fresh brings you more of her life lessons via the good music she makes. She is one of the featured artists on KFP-Enterprise Vol 1.

Please watch out for her album coming to us in 2017 ...BK

Common - Black America Again (ARTium Def Jam) From his ‘Windy City’ of Chicago, Common blows a huge gust of powerful rhymes aimed primarily towards those folks of a fellow Chicago legend, Curtis Mayfield ‘We Who Are Darker Than Blue’ hue. The titled ‘Black America Again’ paints a ‘hiphopocalyptic’ current status of the African American experience assisted by the 8th wonder Stevie. Common’s respect for a woman continues from his previous ‘The Light’ classic via ‘Love Star’ featuring the beautiful vocals of Marsha Ambrosius, and ‘Unfamiliar’ feat PJ. His social commentary subjects include a father and son prison scenario via ‘A Bigger Picture Called Free’ feat Bilal, and an empowering homage to powerful sisters in ‘The Day Women Took Over’. Unselfishly Common gets spiritually metaphoric with John Legend on the ‘Rain’. To finish his love and respect for his father’s guidance in ‘Little Chicago Boy’ and his haunting reminder of still being mentally physically and spiritually shackled told in ‘Letter To The Free’ show Common still has that ‘6th Sense’ in story telling. Powerful hip-hop with soul!! thesoulsurvivorsmagazine.co.uk

IMAGE BY ANNA B

Eric Clapton said “Wow I’ve heard of a guy who plays the way like you do”. I said, “No one plays this kind of way man. I have learnt from the best”. He said, “Yeah I’ve heard of a guy and his name is Jimi Hendrix”

Fitzroy interviews

Eddy Grant

It’s difficult to highlight the ‘Eddycation’ you have missed out on, if you don’t ‘Know The Ledge’ like Eric B & Rakim of Edmond Montague Grant aka Eddy Grant. His foundation in the UK and worldwide pop vernacular is often a very understated one, often reverted to being a one dimensional pop reggae artist. However if there is one man whose vision as a ‘Message Man’ was to not only spread the gospel but fuse various musical genres into an explosive melting pot and seriously cook on gas, it was Eddy. For half a century Eddy has been ‘In The Thick Of It’ like Brenda Russell as an unselfish pioneer, mentor and multicultural artist who at one time was probably considered being just another troublesome ‘Cockney Black’. Eddy shared his humble beginnings with me as we took a walk one Throwback Thursday afternoon speaking about some of his “good god we gonna walk down to” ‘Electric Avenue’ memories.

“Oi!” I know you were born in 1948 in Guyana in Plaisance, so how was early life before you came to the UK in 1960 aged 12?

I had a very interesting young life in Plaisance. I went to school there in a place called Linden, which is a bauxite town. My uncles were fundamental to the development of the bauxite industry in Guyana. Linden was previously called MacKenzie and my father and his two brothers ended up there. Solidarity, family or whatever, we have a very strong family unit. As a result of that, I started my education very, very young. By five years old I started primary school. There was a system, that by the time you got to 10 or 11 years old, there was a scholarship to be able to go to what was the prePage 24 - Issue 67

eminent education institution in Guyana, which was Queens College. Now Plaisance was considered at the time to be country, although it was 6 miles away from Georgetown, so I attended the Methodist school there. I got into the education race at 5 years old, and by the time I was 8 and half years old, I’d reached the top of that system. As you can imagine I was pretty sharp, as I took the education very seriously. Between 8 and a half and 12 years old, before I came to England, I had nothing to do, as I’d reached the top of my schooling and I was too young at 8 and a half, to get to the next secondary education level. I did nothing in a formal educational sense, but I learnt a lot of things, like how to do masonry and carpentry. I hung around with big men who were the experts

in those fields in my village. I got what I would consider a singular education, and in mixing with the older people, I got a view of the world that no other 8 or 10 year old had in the village at the time. In that way I got into learning about the outside world and read voraciously. By the time I would have gotten to my 12-year period when I would then leave, I had actually gone vicariously through all the possible rigours of life. If not directly, I would say like a third party. I didn’t do a lot of the things, but I saw a lot of things and was even coached in some of the bad boy things. I didn’t want to be a bad boy but it was the only avenue that seemed to be left after a while there. For example there was a particular guy who did counterfeiting and he took me and another friend under his wing. We didn’t know the difference, when he would say to us, to go and buy some cakes and drinks and bring him back the change. We thought “Why not?” and then one day I suddenly realised “Hold on, that was not nice.” (Eddy laughs), but it’s part of the learning process. You grow up very fast and I did grow up very fast. We played the games of youth like cricket, not so much football and we swam in the trenches, which were very clean at the time, because we also drank and bathed in it. The village was very clean so as a result of that, you got the exposure of the bigger guys, who were swimming or playing those sports that we could only watch, because we are hanging with big men. These guys were aged around 19 when we were aged around 10, so we did the slave work in fetching the ball for them. These guys were our heroes because they were a little bit ahead of us in terms of age and time. That taught me other lessons like respect for older people who were a little bit older than I. You learn to hero worship, which can be aggressive, but you build yourself up based on heroes. So by the time I came to England I had a package that most 12 year olds in England would not have had. They didn’t know how to saw wood, or use mortice and tenon, or climb trees which are all very tactile things that you may not think are important. But they build your musculature and confidence, so nothing appeared to be a problem with me aged 12. Coming to England and having to form relationships with other guys who maybe don’t like you, or show they don’t like you, was really quite simple for me. It was just a part of the psychology of hanging with people out of your league. Coming into England introduced me to white people and their culture.

Sorry can I just interject, as the way you are describing Guyana is the way people speak of how it is in Africa. Would you say it’s a similar kind of thing?

Having been to Africa and various countries, it’s easy to imagine that outside of the cities it would be the same.

Obviously we had a very African village but interpolated with

Indians, Chinese, Amerindians and Portuguese, which are the nations of our country Guyana. We had to get along and there was no hate in our village, even though the races are different. You could acknowledge who you were, a black man from Africa basically, and you went through things, which you don’t really know why, so that you have this awareness. It’s a thing about people today, they don’t fall back on their native instincts anymore. In Guyana we fall back on that because it was not that long ago, that we were who we were. I can relate to my grandmother who taught me about so many things, that I depend on today with instincts and it was very prevalent in our village. Although we had the different races and their particular cultural instincts, you could relate to it, because in some ways you were formed into something different. We were able to live alongside of each other and I’ve met some extraordinary people of different races, and I wonder why it’s so impossible for us to live in that peace and harmony that we enjoyed in that time in Guyana. We have to go to America or Britain to fabricate the new us. So an Indian or African person coming to the UK would become overtly Guyanese. These places create the melting point for us to be more of ourselves.

Ok, let’s go back to you coming to England in 1960.

Yes, so in 1960 when I came here and confronted white people, who I’d never met before in my life, I had a culture shock. You’re now in a foreign country that you cannot see space. You would have to go to Parliament Hill fields, Hampstead Heath or some big open space that has been created. In Guyana, in Plaisance, there is no created open space, it was natural open space. You could comfortably move between homes, as there were very few barriers so you could flow within the village. Even if there was a barrier you could jump over it, as space was everywhere. Even today going back to that place there is still space but now it has been reduced vastly. It seems there’s been a fracturing of society of its component races, where you have individual Indian and black areas. I hope that disappears because you can’t build a nation like that. But at the time we had vast open savannahs thesoulsurvivorsmagazine.co.uk

within our communities that a child could play and run for miles, which we did from village to village going through open spaces. You were physically formed and developed. I’ve seen photographs of me at school in the UK, and some of the kids look like midgets. It may be my perception but some of the older and bigger kids relationships at first, were based on physical ability more than intellectually. You had to get past the physical, in other words you had to fight. You cannot put a normal 12 year old from the UK with a normal kid of the same age from Guyana in terms of physical fighting, because they’ve never climbed a tree or don’t know life like us. We were animals, we practiced the art of self-defence like you would see how two dogs or cats would practice. So when I turned up here and there was a problem of establishing my race or culture, it was no problem for me. If I engaged in a fight and come out victorious, I was punished by the headmaster, because they didn’t understand that I was not like a normal 12 year old.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, there was a bit of a disparage between the cultures…

Correct and eventually England started to teach me about England, as did London about London. The people that I started to meet were not only aggressively racist or anti me, but I met some people who were magnificent human beings and I preferred to deal with them. Some people became role models for me, very much like the Guyanese youth who were older than me that I was able to relate to. I met amazing English people, white and Greek people. In fact we lived in a Greek house, and the family were very nice to us. It was extremely cold, but that went with the territory. My education from the age of 12 went up exponentially because I was in this cold place, and had nowhere to go, because it was so bloody cold. We are talking the early 1960’s and those first years of the 1960’s were some of the most extreme cold times in the history of England. The climate was bothering me and my dad realised that very soon, if he was not careful, we kids were going to run outside the house (Fitzroy laughs as he finds that quite funny). So he introduced me back into music with the trumpet and then the piano and piece-by-piece I inveigled myself into the graces of the music teachers at my school, Acland Burghley in Kentish Town. Through both my father and these teachers I became very interested in symphonic and popular music. In time the relationships became so strongly bonded, that it looked like I was not going to do my academia and that I would gravitate more towards Page 26 - Issue 67

music. Unfortunately that didn’t happen and I was able to do academia and sports. I became very interested in a broad spectrum of intellectual and physical sports. As a question of timing it couldn’t have been a better time, as popular culture was very swiftly branching out and becoming exceedingly well documented. Other things were starting to happen with popular culture like sports garnering monies and influence.

Guys like Jimmy Greaves were becoming a leading light in my life, because he was playing football at a very high level and became very expensive. So you have the gravitation of youth towards sport more so than at any other time, apart from now, albeit that there were no black representatives in that area. There may have been in the early 1900’s one black player called Johansson playing football.

Gil Scott Herons father Gil Heron played for Celtic in 1951 as the club’s first black footballer.

In my time I’d heard about Johansson and it was just a name, as I couldn’t put a face to him because we didn’t have the tools that we have now, like technology. It was very difficult to see yourself represented, although there were very good black players at the time. My brothers and I were very good, as were others who were also very good players. There were guys who played in the schoolyard and on the Hackney Marshes, who were geniuses, but we never had the opportunity to become players. So when I became an artist and a personality in my own right, in the time of the 1960’s, I spoke about these things right up until the time I left this country, and I continue to talk about it now. There was drive in this country towards black people from the United States, rather than develop the people of this country, they preferred to make Americans into our heroes. I felt that there was something very wrong with that for the future, and I spoke very openly about that on programs like Reggae Time, and the ones that allowed me to speak about these iniquities. I’ve lived to see that now almost every team has a massive amount of black players, purely based on their talent. There was no giving towards us by the British public as far as being involved in British culture was concerned. On the radio you’d have Tony Blackburn playing the Motown recordings that was brilliant and influenced a lot of us as well. But surely it shouldn’t be a situation where it’s only them that have talent, and I was really anti that. It’s about opportunity and we generally had no opportunity in art and sports.

How did you, around 1966 if my memory serves me correctly, form ‘The Equals’?

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I’d been studying sciences most of my life in England with the intention of becoming a Doctor, Surgeon. The intervention of music was quite severe, as I never wanted to be a musician.

My father was a great musician and I saw that he couldn’t make a living for us and he had to do three jobs. There was no incentive for me to be a musician, but I remember one day I was playing trumpet in the school orchestra. It had a little jazz group, that Derek Griffiths of the children’s 1970’s TV program Play School, was in. Derek is a great actor, who’s done lots of brilliant things in theatre and television. He is exceedingly brilliant and always has been brilliant. He and I played in the jazz band at school at assemblies and so on, and my father was encouraging me to play well. I was encouraged in a very negative way to go that route and then I met Chuck Berry. I didn’t actually meet him but I was introduced to his music because I’d started to like The Rolling Stones, who were playing Chuck Berry’s music, but I didn’t know that at the time. Like so many kids I wasn’t given the background information, unlike today where you have the Internet so it’s not so bad. We didn’t get to understand the roots of what we were hearing as you hear it superficially. I was at school going along with my academia and one day it suddenly dawned on me that the trumpet was not going to be my final instrument.

So I went to my dad and asked him to buy me a guitar. He couldn’t really afford one so he said, “If you make one, I’ll buy you the amplifier”. This gave me the impetus to go forward, so I said, “Ok, that’s a deal.” but I never had woodwork as one of my core subjects. I approached the woodwork master, I was about 14 at the time and advised that I didn’t have woodwork in my curriculum anymore. When deciding on which direction I was going towards in choosing subjects in my fourth year, I had chosen science subjects. He knew that I was a good wood worker and I’d had a lot of experience from home, (Fitzroy: “That’s right you said earlier about growing up in Guyana.”) Ok, you remember that I had learnt from the old men, so my woodwork master had to correct a lot of the bad habits, like how I would saw the wood with one hand.

(Eddy laughs..) Again he recognised that I was interested and he was interested. His name was Alan Ronchetti. He was a marvellous guy who brought a project to me, from a guy who was making a guitar out of a plank of wood. He suggested that we make a really good guitar and we did. The guitar was taken to a man my father knew from Plaisance, Neville Adams, who was a first class furniture maker and he put the polyester resin finishing treatment on it. I’d never heard of it but it had a finish on it like you would see on The Shadows’ Fenders and Burns guitars that was sparkly. They had this look about them and the man gave it that finish and it looked absolutely perfect just like a Gibson Les Paul guitar. I took it to my dad and he was very happy, and bought me a little Watkins amplifier and I started to play. Because I already had the rudiments, I learned very fast and practised and Page 28 - Issue 67

practised. Every hour that I wasn’t studying school work or playing football, cricket or basketball, I had the guitar in my hand. One day having started playing in the school hall and stuff with my guitar, a guy, Andreas Vassiliou, came up and asked me to fall in, and play at a jam session in Highgate. At first I didn’t pay it any mind, until I found myself one day with nothing to do. As Andy had invited me, I decided to take my guitar and see what was going on. So I arrived and low and behold these guys were singing and dancing and all kinds of things in this front room. The front room belonged to the drummer John Hall who became the drummer of the Equals.

After a couple of days of jamming with the guys I realised this was going nowhere, so I’d better stand up and take over the running of this stuff. I went to John and said, “Listen man, it’s all well and good, your mother makes lovely sandwiches, you know, but why don’t we regulate this thing and form a group out of this madness”. Because there were a lot of guys he agreed, so we chose the two Gordon brothers and a couple of other guys who we tried out and they eventually left. Then Pat Lloyd came along who became the rhythm guitarist in the band. And John asked “What are we gonna call the band?”

I said “I don’t know.” and he came up with the name, The Equals, where everyone would have an equal say, and it had nothing to do with race at all. So we formed that situation and went off playing in the flats and youth clubs, then eventually graduating to nightclubs. We didn’t know obviously that we were establishing something that England hadn’t had before.

In our dealings with each other it became more apparent that we were equals. We didn’t have issues like the society had and it never cropped up. It’s one of the most amazing things as I look back, as there was never even an argument and certainly one not based on race. So here is a model I thought for our community that we could interpolate into each other’s group, and make things happen which we did, and the rest is history.

You obviously got your record deal, were there many record companies that showed an interest?

There were no record companies interested. First of all we didn’t have a bass player or an organ or sax player in the band, at a time in the 1960’s when America was pulverising us with these things. There was James Brown and acts like Sam & Dave, Otis Redding and Jackie Wilson, who were artists who became dominant in our culture here. We had good reason to like them because they were good and even better, they were great. At the time of the guitar I was introduced to Chuck Berry’s music. When I heard that Chuck Berry was in jail on

a racist cause or case, it sort of, (Fitzroy: “Galvanised you?”) yes, and my friend Gus Ibegbuna who played drums, knew more about Chuck Berry than I did. He knew certainly more about the songs than I did. I said to him one day “I really like The Rolling Stones’ ‘Oh Carol’, ‘Round And Round’ and ‘Route 66’”. He said, “Hey come on man, it’s not them boys, it’s a black guy from the States called Chuck Berry”. I said, “Who the hell is he? I’ve never heard about him!” I was really into modern jazz and traditional jazz and thought that was the world. I had no time for pop music as I considered that as not music at all, but I did like The Rolling Stones songs. Gus said “Listen I hear that the guy is coming to the UK. I’ll find one of his records and let you listen to it. All those songs belong to him.” I was really very disappointed but I’m a practical guy so I said “Go bring this Chuck Berry along and let me hear, if he can really play and sing”. The day of the concert at the Finsbury Park Astoria, he was on the same bill as Carl Perkins.

(Fitzroy: “Ok Carl Perkins who did ‘Blue Suede’ Shoes before Elvis…”) Yes and he could play the hell out of the guitar. I’m sitting there in an audience of white people, as only myself Gus and the usher, who showed us to our seats, were the only black people present. I started to think that maybe Chuck Berry was white, because Carl Perkins and the Nashville Teens were playing as part of the show. It was 90% full of leather

jacket rockers and after Carl Perkins’s set, the place erupted.

I said, “Gus your man, this Chuck Berry, he has to go a long way to catch this guy, as this guy can really play.” Gus said, “I’m telling you Eddy, you’ll see…”, and he hadn’t seen Chuck Berry either (Fitzroy “But he’d heard him…”). Believe me, I’ve never seen anything like it since. The guy announced him and Chuck Berry just walked on to the stage. There is no big reaction, and he was trailing his guitar behind him. Chuck just lifts up his guitar and says “Hello England”. Well I’ve never seen such reaction to two words in my life! He then starts with a guitar riff and I’m thinking “Jesus”. Then he does the duck walk, then the splits and he’s playing the guitar behind his back and I said “Woyeeeee that’s who I’ve got to be…

I’ve got to be that man”. From that day I was Chuck Berry, nobody played Chuck Berry more than me. As a matter of fact I used to move around the city of London, and anyone who said they could play like Chuck Berry, it was like gunslingers to me. (Fitzroy: “Yeah, it’s a challenge.”) Yeah I’d go around and think that they are rubbish, and go back to my little hole and practice. But that is what really catapulted me to be a player. I really did it to death and practiced and practised, and eventually I became good at what I was doing and knew how good I was. But I had no intention of being the front man. With the band I had the opportunity to play without

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having to be out front. One day we were playing some hall in one of the flats in York Way or Blythe Mansions, Hornsey, or somewhere like that, and Gus said “Hey it’s all well and good for you to stand up there and play your guitar, but don’t you notice that all the girls go to the bar when you start to play?” I said, “Are you joking? I didn’t realise that!” He said, “That’s because you’ve got your back turned to them”. I said “Oh shit ok, so what do you think?” He said, “Listen, what do you think girls want? They want to see when you’re playing your guitar that your trousers split or something like that, and they can have something to talk about in school the next day.” I said “Ohh ok” and man from that day onwards I became a guitar performer. He said, “Look at all the girls at the front!” and I noticed now, but had never really realised it before.

I became more and more of a guitar performer, so much so that the girls looked forward to that. I started looking at the real guitar performers like T Bone Walker, Guitar Slim and Buddy Guy later on.

These guys formed a part of what I did and so much so it became and integral part much later in my life.

I saw footage of you on You Tube called ‘Equality’. I think it was in France and your hair is bleached blond. You do this guitar solo and to me more so than Chuck Berry, you seemed to be giving it more of a Jimi Hendrix kind of lick.

Well that is an interesting issue because I was doing this nonsense, and one day I was in Bremen in Germany, as we The Equals were very popular there in 1967 with the young kids.

We just played a 25,000-seater venue with Chris Farlowe, The Cream and a band called The Creation, amongst bands that were big in Germany at the time. When I finished doing my show Eric Clapton came up to me and said “Wow I’ve heard of a guy who plays the kind of way like you do”. I said, “No one plays this kind of way man. I have learnt from the best, nobody plays like this”. He said, “Yeah I’ve heard of a guy and his name is Jimi Hendrix”. So again I become the sharp shooter and I have to find out who this guy is. Another time I was in London and our manager, at the time, named Gene Latter, said, “I’ve seen someone doing your act”. I said “Who is it, Buddy Guy?” He says “No”. I ask “T Bone Walker?” Gene says “No, some new guy”. There is an article in the Melody Page 30 - Issue 67

Maker of Jimi Hendrix saying, “I heard there’s a guy who’s doing similar things, playing his guitar with his teeth, but he doesn’t know how to do it. His teeth are gonna drop out.” This article is there for history, I don’t have to say any more. I used to go to Selmer’s the music shop in Charing Cross Road and just pick up guitars and play. Then I heard that the same guy, Jimi Hendrix is going into Selmer’s and does the same thing.

I said, “Where is he from?” and they replied from the States.

So I ask, “What’s he doing here trying to steal my thunder?”

But it’s nature and it’s life and what is for you, comes to you.

Jimi came and got what’s for him. He couldn’t get a dime in America but he came to England and everything worked for him. God bless him as he has become a guitar god in this town and I have become what I’ve become.

Did you ever meet him?

Now that’s one of the biggest questions of the moment because they’ve just established the Jimi Hendrix museum in the West End. The BBC asked me to be part of the launch but I advised that I had my book to write, so at the time I wouldn’t be able to expand on whatever little there is to do with our relationship.

I never met him. I went to see him like I would the other boys, to have a shoot out. He’d already made reference to the fact that I was in this town. He didn’t know my name but he knew what I was doing, so it would have been interesting. The day we were supposed to meet we didn’t meet, but that’s life.

I was born in 1964 so the tunes I would have heard, as a kid was ‘Viva Bobby Joe’ and ‘Baby Come Back’. As we come to 1969 there are turbulent times in the country. Enoch Powell is spouting his rhetoric and inflammatory words, and you’ve already got a measure of the type of racism being exposed in the UK. You make ‘BlackSkin Blue-Eyed-Boys’ which was deemed controversial, so give us a synopsis of what happened with that record.

I was always experimenting and trying to bring a calypso way to music again. Remember Harry Belafonte had done a similar thing in the United States and all over the world, in the 1950’s with his calypso album. However that was not calypso, that was some kind of something and not calypso of the greats like Lord Kitchener, Roaring Lion and The Mighty Sparrow,

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the true greats of this music. Loving Sparrow as I did in Guyana, remember, I had very little to do, so I became very interested in the form and I learnt how to rhyme. The essence of calypso is with me, which is why I can produce it today, and have done so much in that genre.

So I found myself at a time when this turbulence was going on in the society, in our community and even in the United States, and thought that maybe, I should try and bring all this to the music, because it wasn’t there before. Certainly not out of British culture. James Brown was now making his move in terms of the content of what he sang like with ‘Say It Loud, I’m Black And I’m Proud’, which was just now coming into the vernacular. In putting my songs together, they were becoming a little more strident and at the same time I wanted to do this blend of calypso and soul music because I met James Brown.

Not just figuratively, like I did with Chuck Berry, I actually met James Brown when he toured here in 1965-66 and sold James Brown programs in the street.

He did two gigs at the Granada Walthamstow and the Granada in Brixton and I was at both of those shows. I met his band, put away all his clothes and cleaned his shoes, as I was part of his valet system with Bobby Bennett who I was working under. In other words when James was here, or should I say, Mr. Brown was here (Fitzroy laughs because everyone had to address him as Mr. Brown and Eddy corrects himself, even though James Brown is not alive…) I was a fixture in his firmament and I got another education. This was the fixing of me as a performer as I had met the king or the god of all performers, James Brown.

James Brown showed me the value of leadership, behaviour, and pride in what you’re doing and in your people. (Fitzroy: “Professionalism.”)

Professionalism to the maximum, and stagecraft that is out of this world. Once you’ve had that education, which was literally only Page 32 - Issue 67

for two or three days because he then had to continue his tour in France, and I couldn’t go as I was too young, I would have followed James Brown into perdition.

How did you manage to get that experience?

I saw James Brown on ‘Ready Steady Go’ and the British critics at the time thought he was mad, as he was so phrenetic and frantic in his delivery. I thought when I saw him, “Jesus, wow!” Georgie Fame and Graham Bond were talking about him but they had never seen James Brown. When they actually saw him they stopped performing his songs because they couldn’t deliver that what he presented. It’s ok to hear that of a generic person but when you see the man live, all those static artists who said they were going to do James Brown’s ‘I Go Crazy’, they had no concept of what was going to happen here. So they kind of went the wrong way. But when I saw him that night, something twigged and I had to go see him again. They said on the program he’ll be appearing at the Granda Walthamstow. I thought, “Jesus, I don’t know where this place Walthamstow is but I’ve got to find out.” I found out and although I didn’t have the money I had to go and see him anyway. I ran from Kentish Town, Tufnell Park to Walthamstow, as I was physically very strong.

To read the rest of the Eddy Grant interview in full subscribe via www.thesoulsurvivorsmagazine.co.uk

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Soul Survivors

Roll Call of Fame My fondest memories of Rod Temperton were back in the 1970’s and 80’s when I was hanging with the Central Line posse, the late Linton Beckles, Tony Mcorker and Roy Carter. We would sometimes bump into Rod (aka ‘Woolly Jumper’) because he was always wearing the three quarter length ones that tie around the waist in recording studios. He had a striking appearance because of his skin condition. He was softly spoken and a really nice guy.

R.I.P Rod Temperton (Who’s Bad) Tribute by Dez Parkes Rod Temperton was an anomaly of a musician. Born in Cleepthorpes on October 9th 1949 as a youngster he used to tune in to Radio Luxembourg via a transistor radio and also FITZROY & ROD played the drums. Once he had progressed to becoming a full time musician playing in several dance bands, his travels took him to Worms in Germany. Around 1974 he answered an advert in Melody Maker placed by Heatwave’s lead vocalist John Wilder Jnr and the rest is history. Rod becomes the shy guy who works from the back who writes the vast majority of Heatwave’s commercial and underground club hits including ‘Groove Line’, ‘Always & Forever’, ‘Boogie Nights’, ‘Ain’t No Half Stepping’, ‘Turn Out The Lamplight’, ‘Gangsters’ Of The Groove’, ‘Super Soul Sister’ and ‘Big Guns’. By the late 1970’s Rod had captured Quincy Jones’s ears and Quincy recruited Rod to work on two of his projects, Michael Jackson’s ‘Off The Wall’ and George Bensons’ ‘Give Me The Night’ albums. Michael’s legendary album featured the titled ‘Off The Wall,’ ‘Rock With You’ and ‘Burn This Disco Out’ all written by Rod Temperton. Rod capitalised on that success and wrote ‘Thriller’, ‘Baby Be Mine’ and ‘The Lady in My Life’ for Michael’s record breaking follow up ‘Thriller’ album. Rod’s contribution to George Benson’s ‘Give Me The Night’ included the title track, ‘Love X Love’, the cover of ‘Turn Out The Lamplight’, ‘Off Broadway’ and my preferred, to the original Heatwave version, the amazing ‘Star Of A Story’. Working with Quincy, Rod had access to his recording artists on Qwest projects, namely Quincy himself (‘Turn On The Action’ and ‘The Dude’), The Brother’s Johnson (‘Stomp’), Patti Austin (‘Come To Me’) and James Ingram and Michael McDonald’s moognificent ‘Ya Mo Be There’. Lest we forget Rod wrote two of the boogie cuts on Rufus featuring Chaka Khan’s ‘Masterjam’ classic both ‘Masterjam’ and ‘Live In Me’. By now Rod Temperton had a recognisable sound that if you were not aware previously, would make instant sense once it became apparent. Not restricted just to making disco funk and soul, Rod Temperton was a dab hand experimenting with jazz artists. He wrote at least four songs for ex Kudu/CTI artist and session musician Bob James including ‘Hypnotique’, ‘The Steamin’ Feelin’’ and ‘Sign Of The Times’ from the latter titles 1981 album on Tappan Zee. In addition he wrote a very moody but hypnotising ‘Macumba’ for Bob’s ‘Hands Down’ album and ‘Spice Of Life’ for Manhattan Transfer.

He wrote the majority six out of eight tracks of Herbie Hancock’s 1982 album ‘Lite Me Up’, notably ‘Motor Mouth’ and ‘Give It All Your Heart’. Rod wrote for Mica Paris (‘You Put A Move On My Heart’) and Anita Baker (‘Mystery’) and many more artists, his work was that prolific. I will always remember seeing a documentary where Quincy Jones could not get his head around the fact that Rod Temperton a white guy from Grimsby, could be as soulful and creative as he was, because Rod really was that unassuming. I was fortunate to meet Rod in Mica Paris’s changing room one night at the Jazz Cafe and he was keen to do an interview in the magazine. Unfortunately that didn’t happen but I did manage to get a photo shot with one of the UK’s unsung soul surviving hero’s. You really were your own ‘Star Of A Story’. RIP Rod Temperton Page 34 - Issue 67

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Mira Parkes

The Official Soul Survivors Balkan and Worldwide Correspondent.

Mira interviews

“In the early 70s, I teamed up with two sets of brothers, Lloyd Phillips and his brother Paul also David Joseph and his brother Ken. We called ourselves ‘Hott Wax’ but we had some differences of opinions and felt I had to move on.

When ‘Hott Wax’ signed a record deal they changed their name to ‘Hi-Tension’ and became huge.”

PHIL FEARON The music industry is mainly seen from its brightest side. But, nothing exists without its opposite. That’s called the balance, that’s how we learn and make choices. Phil Fearon, label owner, record producer, lead singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, a man of experience and knowledge on both sides, has a great story about that balance.

What influenced you to become a musician?

It’s a bit like asking me when did I have my first meal. I simply cannot remember a time when I have not been in love with music, so my answer would probably be, from the day I was born. My grandparents owned a shop in ‘Top Hill’ St. Catherine’s Jamaica and there used to be regular dances held in the back yard. At about four years old I used to enjoy sitting inside a cardboard box pretending to be a jukebox.

It probably was a bit like a very immature ‘Beat-Box”. My parents bought me a Xylophone, this was my first musical instrument. I played and played it until the other kids started teasing me saying “Every day it’s ding ding ding”. I became so upset with the teasing that I threw a tantrum and pulled the thing apart giving the impression that it was now broken.

I waited until they left, reassembled it and…ding ding ding.

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In the early 70s, your first band was Hott Wax, which also included David Joseph who then became Brit Funk pioneers Hi-Tension.

In the early 70s, I teamed up with two sets of brothers, Lloyd Phillips and his brother Paul also David Joseph and his brother Ken. We called ourselves ‘Hott Wax’. This was a great time for me but as with every band we had some differences of opinions and strategies. I remember insisting that we do more original material and less covers. David did not seem that keen and I remember getting quite frustrated about this and felt I had to move on. Ironically David later went on to become extremely good at writing original material and recorded ‘You Can’t Hide Your Love’ which remains one of my all time favourite tunes from back in the day. Well done Dave, I knew you had it in you! When Hott Wax signed a record deal they changed their name to ‘Hi-Tension’ and became huge.

In 1976 you formed ‘70% Proof’ with a bunch of friends who loved writing songs, later changing the band’s name to ‘Kandidate’. You were signed to one of the UK’s most famous record producers Mickie Most’s RAK Records label. Your debut ‘Don’t Wanna Say Goodnight’ was a minor hit in 1978 and this was followed by three more charting singles, including the number 11 hit, ‘I Don’t Wanna Lose You’ in 1979. After Kandidate split, you were the only one who had any further chart success.

I started writing songs with other local musicians which included Terence Morris. We called ourselves 70% Proof and nearly everything we played was original, this was more satisfying for me. We practically set up residence in the Morris household at 128, Purves Road, Kensal Rise. God bless Mum and Dad Morris for the letting us mash up their house and for the limitless support they gave us. We found a good manager in David Walker of Handle Artists he got us the deal with RAK and really put Kandidate on the map. I was now doing the whole pop star thing with the band, touring the UK, TV shows, hotels, roadies the works. We thought we knew everything at this point but really were still just a bunch of flashy upstarts who still had a lot to learn. David did warn us that if our egos ever became bigger than our talent we’d be out pretty sharply, a good piece of advice that I remember and have repeated several times to people. Controversially Lloyd Phillips my former band mate from Hott Wax joined me in Kandidate. He improved everything as well as providing me with some powerful mental strategies that I have found useful time and time again especially in an industry that can be quite fickle. No one else from Kandidate had hits although I did work with Kandidate band member Tamby on some Galaxy tunes including ‘Fantasy Real’ and ‘Do You Want More’. We also produced Wham Girls, Pepsi and Shirley’s hit ‘Heartache’ which reached no 2 in UK charts.

In 1980, you were part of the production set up for the Champagne Records group, ‘Proton’. Debut release was ‘We’re Funkin’, on Ballistic Records. In 1981 on Image Records, Proton Plus released the second song called ‘Pay Up’. Why did Proton become Proton Plus?

The whole Proton thing was largely experimental. My younger brother Lenny was part of this band with his mates which included Claudio Galdes and Floyd Dyce. To record anything in those days was a very expensive business so it was always for us a case of paying an engineer a few quid to let us in the studio at some ungodly hour when it was empty to sneak in a session for an hour or so. Finishing anything took forever and there were always compromises. The early Proton stuff was recorded like this, Proton Plus was just the same outfit with me featuring on it.

In 1982 you formed a band called ‘Galaxy’, with a few family members, Lenny Fearon on percussion, trumpet and vocals and Claudio Galdes on saxophone, percussion and flute. Vocalist Dorothy Galdes aka Baby D later became Mrs. Fearon. You built your own recording studio and had a string of hits in the mid80s under your own name and the group Galaxy. First recording as Galaxy was ‘Head Over Heels’ on Ensign Records in 1982, which became a big club hit. Galaxy came to the attention of the Radio London based DJ Robbie Vincent, who promoted the song ‘Dancing Tight’ heavily on his Saturday Soul Show in 1983, which was a top 5 hit in that year. You later had several more hits.

I built a studio in my bedroom which was pretty revolutionary stuff back then. I could now record demos pretty much 24-7.

It was one of these demos that was heard by Chris Hill and got me a deal with Ensign Records. I wanted to remain anonymous so the name Galaxy was used for my first release ‘Head Over Heels’. Dorothy Galdes and Julie Gore were backing singers that were always there when I needed them even if it was for an impromptu session at 4am in the morning, so I asked them first if they wanted to be a part of the Galaxy outfit, other members of the home team then joined for the purpose of performances. Robbie Vincent did indeed pick up on my record and his support was very welcome.

There were several DJs who played and promoted your music like Mastermind who were big on a street level as an underground sound system. Other individuals like CJ Carlos supported you as well as Chris Hill owner of Ensign Records. Your brother also was a DJ and ran a sound system called ‘Six by Six Roadshow’.

Mastermind were rivals to our own Sound system called Six

by Six which included my brother Paul. This rivalry never got in the way of me getting critiques from the guys. Herbie from Mastermind was one of the first people to Hear ‘Dancing Tight’ as he lived a couple of blocks from me. He just said “That bit there ‘I ain’t gonna let you go’ is one hell of a hook”, I then took it to CJ Carlos who I have huge respect for. He took a listen and just said “this is gonna be a big hit, mark my words”. He predicted all my biggest tracks.

In 1987 you founded and managed a record label called Production House Records with Laurie Jago & Raj Malkani, making commercial dance records which included the Baby D anthem ‘Let Me Be Your Fantasy’. You also had a Soul label called Special Reserve. You then continued producing several U.K. based artists. Production House became quite big in the underground dance rave scene. The label had finished by the mid-90s, what was the reason for that?

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I had two 24-track recording studios in my house and all this energetic young talent around including my brother Lenny, Dorothy’s brother Claudio and also Floyd Dyce. I wanted to give them all they needed to have some success in their own right. It was proving difficult to get their careers started.

Also at this time Ensign Records, who I was signed to, had been taken over by Chrysalis. It is often the case that when a record label inherits acts from labels they have acquired, these inherited acts get low priority compared to acts that they sought out and actually signed for themselves. Whilst my manager Dave Walker was arguing with Chrysalis about why my career seemed to have been put on hold, I decided I needed to be taking a little more control over output and decided to set up my own label. I assumed the name ‘Jamal’ and started to work with my home team on other tunes. Production House became known for music in the underground rave scene but the very first releases by PH included a remake of Howard Johnson’s ‘So Fine’, not the style you would automatically associate with PH. I suppose establishing Special Reserve was to cater for some of the die-hard soul-head tendencies within some members of the team especially Terry Jones aka Nino who produced much of the Special Reserve output. All of the producers had keys to my house and could come in day or night.

Sometimes it was too noisy to sleep but I knew this was a dream setup for aspiring artists. Everything was free even 2” Tapes costing £100 a time. Partially payable, only if successful. This strategy proved a winner because PH became this small independent setup in an end of terrace house in Kensal Rise pumping out all this good dance music. We became Record Mirror’s best dance label, independently distributed. With the two studios and a rehearsal room our slogan ‘Our rooms have rhythm’ was very accurate. I led an amazing team. Laurie was a marketing genius and came up with much of the clever promotion and marketing strategies. Raj was clever with the finances, at one point confusing our bank who asked how we managed to turn over so much money on an eight thousand pound overdraft.

My cousin Raymond Wright and friend Jaine Lunn were the Page 38 - Issue 67

most awesome two man sales force you could ever ask for.

With the quite brilliant Floyd Dyce and Terry Jones behind the scenes on many of the productions, we really were powerful and confounded the industry with our success. It would be a crime not to mention the input of Cleveland Anderson to PH in the beginning, it was his insight that initiated our street sales that became the backbone of our independent status. At the height of our success, as is often the case, egos and greed began to creep in. Floyd began to question his payments, this was easy to resolve. Any good accountant can follow the money trail in and out of the company to reveal any discrepancies, instead, legal letters started flying about.

When everything was revealed it showed he was only due exactly what he was told he was due. The only winners were the lawyers who naturally dragged things out for ages. This episode forced me to dig a little deeper into other areas of the company and I was not pleased with where it was going.

I could have saved the company had I got involved with all the court proceedings but decided I was no longer enjoying it so I let it go.

What was the connection between you and Eddy Grant?

Eddy Grant is one of my greatest heroes. Super rates at his studio and more importantly his generosity with his experience and advice, truly priceless. On one occasion during the early PH days, I called him round to the studio to show him that I was following in his footsteps and setting up my independent thing. This international superstar sitting in my room with his laid back sage-like wisdom, giving me all the time I needed. I got the distinct impression that if I managed to achieve his level of success or greater that he would be the happiest man on earth. He then surprised me by saying I was putting far too much effort and expense into other people and that I should concentrate on myself. He said that I was going to make a lot of money for others and at some point, they were going to turn on me. I said thanks, Eddy but I think you have got it wrong on this occasion. Coincidently Mira, you’ve probably never been told this by him, but your other half Dez Parkes pulled me aside once and told me to be wary of certain elements within my company. It took him a few seconds to pick up on it and he was spot on. Should I have listened to Eddy or Dez? Maybe as they were both right but on balance, I don’t have too many regrets on how it all turned out because so much of it was fantastic. I admit I was very angry for a while but now, when I look back at what I built, I can smile.

As an artist and producer you must have experienced many things from both sides, bright and dark. When you look back at the time how would you describe music industry? Was ‘White Privilege’ one of the problems? How do you feel about the music industry of the past and present?

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Free Download 19th December 2016 http://www.kfp-enterprise.co.uk KEEPING YOU IN THE LOOP Having been an artist and a label owner, you get great insight as to how it all works. ‘White Privilege’ does exist and nobody in his or her right mind who knows this business could say otherwise. I have seen it myself countless times and have discussed it with others from top executives right down to the tea boy. This, however, is a situation found right across the board and in every industry where tacit racism is not addressed. To put it bluntly, given a situation where a level of talent and ability were exactly equal, most label bosses would give the big budget to a white artist and not to a black one. Even if they apply an even hand to their artists they are likely to face barriers in their efforts to break the act via TV, press, radio etc. If we had truly independent black music outlets and enough of an audience where you could sell only to a black audience and make it profitable, things may be a little different but this does not exist in the UK. You will always be remembered for your braided hair and your back flips on stage. You still have braided hair, which is now a little grey, and also doing a lot of tours with your wife Baby D. By the way, are you still doing the back flips? (Mira laughs) Ahh the days of gold beads, braids and plentiful hair that was not grey… I can’t really get away with that these days and the braids start a lot further back. As for back flips, if I see a kid’s bouncy castle I may go for it, only trouble is the kids parents are never too pleased. I still do shows around the country at Soul events and 80s revival events. A couple

of years back I headlined a big show in Cape Town at their Grand Arena. Absolutely loved every minute of it and hope they invite me back one day. I travel a lot with the Missus, Baby D who is constantly doing gigs. It’s still very enjoyable and I feel blessed to be still in and around music and it’s still my main job.

If you were to look back over your career, what would be your favourite tracks from the different periods? What does the future hold for Phil Fearon? If someone were to ask you about becoming a musician what advice you would give?

I don’t really have ‘favourite records’. There were certain tracks that marked turning points for me like ‘Could It be I’m Falling In Love’ by Detroit Spinners was the first record that made me appreciate the beauty of American soul music.

When in Hott Wax we were heavily influenced by Artists like Bob Marley, EWF and Bar Kays. I have funded other projects more recently including a very well equipped studio in Wood Green London. The advice I would give to any up and coming artist is, only continue if you are totally, insanely dedicated to it because your competitors will be.

Thank you, Phil!

Big up to my greatest supporters, my son Vuk and husband Dez Parkes. Endless love. thesoulsurvivorsmagazine.co.uk

Soul Survivors

Roll Call of Fame LeRoy Hutson was born 4th June 1945 in Newark New Jersey USA. Although he doesn’t come from a musical family, his ears were very tuned in and in his teenage years he was part of a quartet known as Nu Tones. LeRoy initially had no aspirations of becoming a musician, in fact he attend Howard University to fulfil his mothers wishes and study dentistry.

LeRoy met his future room mate and close friend Donny Hathaway the musical director for the university based group The Mayfields. LeRoy becomes ends of singing in the group, and it is there where the dynamic duo of LeRoy Hutson and Donny Hathaway cements. LeRoy at one point in 1968 was one half of a singing duo Sugar & Spice with Deborah Rollins and recorded ‘Ah Yeah’ and ‘Dreams’ on Kapp Records. LeRoy and Donny co-wrote some songs for Curtis Mayfield’s Mayfield Records. In 1970 through a surreal experience LeRoy Huston and Donny Hathaway co-wrote ‘The Ghetto’ with memories of the outside world’s traffic lights and weather working in synergy once they listened back to the song. LeRoy also co-wrote ‘Trying Times’ for Roberta Flack and ‘You Had To Know’ for Zulema with Donny Hathaway.

LEROY HUTSON

Through his association with Curtis Mayfield and Donny Hathaway LeRoy became the perfect replacement lead vocalist for the Impressions in 1971 when Curtis Mayfield left to pursue a solo career. His similar vocal falsetto pitch, physical stature and the fact that he wore glasses meant that LeRoy aptly fitted in. LeRoy excelled, singing ‘Times Are Changing’, arranged The Impressions version of Marvin Gaye’s ‘Inner City Blues’ and wrote the love ballad ‘This Love Is For Real’.

During his time with The Impressions LeRoy met his future writing partner Michael Hawkins. When LeRoy left the group to pursue a solo career, LeRoy sang background vocals on Curtis Mayfield’s ‘Roots’ album, and eventually signed to Curtis Mayfield’s Curtom label, a subsidiary of Warner Brothers. LeRoy released an album called ‘Love Oh Love’ in 1973, featuring beautiful creations, the title track ‘Love Oh Love’, ‘So In Love’ and the conscious ‘Times Brings On A Change’. LeRoy then went on to release another six albums in total up until 1978, all of them incredible in sonic production, lyrical content and musicality.

LeRoy’s musical formula would transcend early disco, funk, jazz, fusion and sophisticated soul.

In future years album tracks like ‘All Because Of You’, ‘Lucky Fellow’, ‘Love The Feeling’, ‘I Think I’m Falling In Love’, ‘Don’t It Make You Feel Good?’, ‘Where Did Love Go’, ‘Get To This’,So Nice’ and ‘More Where This Came From, would either be sort after and fetching extortionate prices in the mid 1980’s, or were on regular rotation at various venues and establishments in the UK. Some of the established and less established artists in the Huston ensemble included Phil Upchurch and Tony Carpenter, percussionist, who went on to work with Judy Roberts, vocalist Alfonso Surrett famed his 1980 classic ‘Gimme Your Love’, Gil Askey, Linda Clifford, Don Myrick, Louis Satterfield and Michael Harris from EWF Pheonix Horns and Keni Burke. LeRoy a prolific writer and producer, either wrote, produced or did both for Linda Clifford’s ‘March Across The Land’ and produced ‘Only Fooling Myself’, ‘Voices Of East Harlem’s ‘Can You Feel It’, Natural Four’s ‘Try Love Again’ and Arnold Blair’s ‘Trying To Get Next to You’. LeRoy left Warner Brothers and through both the late Solar Records’s Dick Griffey and Nicholas Cardwell of The Whispers, LeRoy’s final vinyl release on Elektra in 1982 was ‘Paradise’. The epitomising pastiche cut was ‘Classy Lady’. LeRoy successfully obtained the masters to his Warner Brother’s recordings after a long dispute and made a couple of successful returns to centre stage in 2010, appearing at ‘Giants Of Rare Groove’ at the Indigo Greenwich and Suncebeat Croatia. There is much anticipation for LeRoy’s pending appearance at The Cotswold Weekender in Feb 2017 and be rest assured, ‘There’s More Where This Came From’ from LeRoy Hutson so make sure you ‘Get To This’ Cotswold Weekender!!

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THE COTSWOLD PARK

WEEKENDER 24TH | 25TH | 26TH FEBRUARY 2017 www.cotswoldparkweekender.co.uk Checkout our FB page for more details Search “The Cotswold Park Weekender 2017“

PERFORMING LIVE LEROY HUTSON - PAPIK DJ Line-up: GINGER TONY | GAVIN PAGE | TONY FERNANDEZ | VIVY BEE | PAUL GARLAND | JAMIE TAYLOR | PAUL MAC | STEINER CLARIDGE | DARRELL STEAMAN | PAUL MORRISSEY | SHAUN GALLAGHER | MARK WHIFFIN | ANDY COLES | DARREN PERRY | MARK BLEE | STEVIE O | BILL GRIFFIN | GRANT FISHER | IAN BOURNE AND MANY MORE….

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AFROPUNK ALLEY PALLY – 24TH SEPTEMBER 2016

Event Reviews

The Soul Survivors Magazine was cordially invited to attend the Afropunk festival at Ally Pally aka Alexandra Palace in Hornsey North London. Although on arrival it was quite a mixed cosmopolitan audience, it was very noticeable that many of the younger generation were a very trendy and enthusiastically dressed one of the Diaspora persuasion. I was mightily impressed and felt like I blended in with the wallpaper camouflage of dedicated followers of fashion, with my bikers jacket, black ANNA B kilt and calf length double buckle militant boots… Phew!! This was mainly an audience that were dressed to thrill and ready ‘Dance To The Music’ like Sly & The Family Stone, in an indoor Woodstock ambience. There are no prejudice boundaries so people come as they dare, straight or gay, black and white who unite and fight for the freedom of expression with no attitude. The fashion stalls were amazing with some talented individuals advertising and selling they wares. There were three arenas and the first major main act I saw who filled the room was Laura Mvula.

The highlight for me was getting close to the front stage in the main outside arena to see the girl from Spanish Town in Jamaica, who could make you ‘Cry Now, Laugh Later’. 40 years in the business “Ladies And Gentleman Miss Grace Jones” was awesome. She was certainly worth waiting for and with her vast catalogue she opened with the mammoth dub monster produced by Sly & Robbie from the titled album ‘Night Clubbing’. My gosh it sounded monstrous and Grace showing a bit of ‘Nipple To The Bottle’ with her painted Afrocentric artwork body was more commanding the Queen Elizabeth. A breathtaking show with plenty of costume changes and professional equilibrium was on offer from the starting gate as she went through a blistering set of her incredible repertoire. Being a fan and having played her music over my 30 years of Dj-ing I was not sure what she would do…but was not ‘Sorry’ in the least that she did ‘My Jamaican Guy’. With Don-E on the keyboard stabs and a very tighter than spray jeans band, Grace showcased her ‘Portfolio’ of fashion, art, dance and music to the delight of her ‘The Apple Stretching’ fans. Grace’s interaction was humorous and personal as well as entertaining. Never one to shy away from shock culture, Grace’s athletically built male pole dancer in ‘Nuthin But A G String Baby’ and a simulated painted body added to an already incredible show. His strength on the pole doing vertical poses and climbing the pole like Spiderman was impressive, and Grace showed no shame in cavorting erotically with him having a good ‘Feel Up’ as she sang the appropriately titled ‘Pull Up To The BUMper’. Fantastic show and everyone I’m guessing was happy to be a ‘Slave To The Rhythm’ of Miss Grace Jones’s captivating performance. I must say huge thanks to Don-E for arranging for myself and Soul Survivors IT and photographer consultant extraordinaire Anna B to have five minutes with Grace Jones in her dressing room. She was very gracious and was happy when I gave her the copies of the Prince and Muhammad Ali specials of The Soul Survivors Magazine. It truly was a case of “Ladies And Gentlemen: Miss Grace Jones” has entered the building!! #Afropunk#afropunklondon

ALTON MCCLAIN & TRACY HAMLIN BROOKLYN BOWL – 30TH SEPTEMBER 2016 Expansion Records celebrated 30 years as an independent UK based label with an impressive showcase of the old and new school fraternity. Tracy Hamlin showcasing a faultless example of how she covers classic cuts like Webster Lewis’s ‘Emotions’, ANNA B Luther Vandross’s ‘Never Too Much’ and Starpoint’s ‘Bring Your Sweet Loving Back’.

Tracy also sang some of the new and old material from her three albums. Alton McClain was as excited as a kid in a candy shop doing her first ever UK date. With Ernie McKone on bass and as musical director, Alton exercised her incredible voice range harmoniously with her UK ‘Band of Gold’ backing musicians. We were treated to ‘Answer To My Prayer’, ‘My Destiny’ and ‘It Must Be Love’ to the delight of those who’ve waited all these years to hear them live. As a bonus Alton, Tracy and the backing vocalist gave us renditions of two classic Skip Scarborough gems, ‘Lover To Lover’ and ‘Can’t Hide Love’. Alton did a meet and greet afterwards and was happy to get copies of the interview we did. Nice evening and congrats to Expansion Records.

Page 42 - Issue 67

MUSIC WITHOUT LABELS PRESENTS NIGHT TO REMEMBER RUM & SUGAR CANARY WHARF - 10TH SEPTEMBER 2016

Do you ever have a moment in life where you dream of things outside your comfort zone? I did, I thought musically I had something to say with the music I was currently into and wanted to share it with like minded people. During a guest appearance on Stomp radio with Graham-Grumpy Brown, who asked me how I would classify the music I brought to play. He asked me, what would you call it genre wise. I replied, “Why give it a label, it’s just good music I like.” Boom! Music Without Labels was born. Since then I have been lucky enough to create my own events under this banner and received bookings from Bob Masters’ ‘Revenge of the Soulboy Events’. Last night at the Rum & Sugar, Canary Wharf after 3 years of hard work and not giving up on those dreams, I had the pleasure of inviting Gerardo Frisina to London. The excitement and buzz for this event has been overwhelming to be honest, but the continued conversations between Gerardo and myself realised that dream. Alongside my right hand man GrahamGrumpy Brown, Dr Bob Jones and my SoulPower-radio brother Mark Blee, we showcased a musical event not seen on our scene, with music with Afro Cuban melodies, jazz with what we affectionately call ‘on the wonky side’ and pure hard Afro beats. The mood from the start was so electric you could feel it, and the dancers showed their appreciation by filling and remaining on the floor from start to end. To say the feedback has been epic is an understatement and the cries for more of the same, has been constant. This I believe, proved my dream was right and I am so glad I did not give up on making it a reality. Music Without Labels has truly arrived and I now have to feed the dream and do more of the same. A big thanks to the dancers who lived this dream with us. Watch this space…

BOLSOUL CROATIA - 8TH – 15TH OCTOBER 2016 I was invited back to spin at the 2nd Bolsoul curated by Ian Dewhirst and Carl Webster. By hook or by crook with clearly much pain staking work, they managed to double the numbers to over 200 music fans as far and wide as various parts of the UK, Europe as well as Australia. The hotel accommodation is quite luxurious with ANDREW PORTER access all areas inclusive in the package. There were some very educational poolside sets from Lin Taylor, Carl & Ian doing a double act and Phil Levene. There were three concerts, the first from Music Carmichael, a great vocalist who had some of the girls swooning as they sang all the words to his songs. Cool Million fronted vocally by Eli Thompson and Janine Johnson gave a blistering and energetic performance, with the aid of Miss Farina. Glenn Jones exercised his gospel vocals with his classic ‘I Am Somebody’ and ‘Finesse’ and also with his Cool Million compadres. The weather was nice pretty much throughout the whole week with many bursts of sunshine, which made the poolside and the other outside venue a social music highlight in the afternoons.

I travelled with about 140 people who caught the boat to Hvar a picturesque town with lots of cobbled stone streets, hidden shops and nice food. We all then made our way to a very plush bar drinking and socialising before heading back to our Isle Of Brac hotel residency. For many it was the most enjoyable holiday with quite a few from last year bringing many of their formers for the Bolsoul experience. I span alternatively in various rooms alongside Ash Selector, Greg Edwards, Mike Stephens and Chris Box, and a host of Dj’s too many to mention. I suspect Bolsoul 3 will imminently be booked early with the added advent of Bolbeats in May. So ‘Maybe Tomorrow’ like The J5 you’ll be booking for the 2017 instalment.

The Soul Survivors Magazine Present their 10th Anniversary Awards Ceremony with a LIVE debut performance of the ‘Brit Funk Association’ consisting of Beggar & Co, Light of the World, Hi-Tension, Central Line and Brassroots. They will be performing a collection of the associated bands hits and club classics including ‘Somebody Help Me Out’, ‘London Town’, ‘Time’, ‘Hi Tension’, ‘British Hustle’, ‘There’s A Reason’, ‘Walking On Sunshine’, ‘Nature Boy’ and ‘Sausalito Calling’

Friday 17th February 2017 | Doors: 7pm - late | Under the Bridge, Chelsea 10th Anniversary Awards Ceremony

TICKETS AVAILABLE NOW . FIND OUT MORE ON THE BACK PAGE ADVERT or go to www.thesoulsurvivorsmagazine.co.uk thesoulsurvivorsmagazine.co.uk

TAVARES – FOUR TOPS – TEMPTATIONS O2 ARENA GREENWICH – 27TH OCTOBER 2016 ANNA B

My next royal appointment was to meet the mighty three T’s, Tavares, The Four Tops and The Temptations at the 02 in Greenwich. I was offered two pairs of seats one in the VIP lounge way up in the balcony top and a pair in block B row N to the right of the stage near the front, what’s a boy to do? ‘It Only Takes A Minute’ to have decided upon the option of being nearer. Tavares were for me the premier performing act with Chubby on lead vocals, they were smooth polished and reminiscent of the panache of that classic old school ‘doo woo’ quartet era they come from. They performed to perfection with an amazing backing band, ‘Whodunit’, ‘ She’s Gone’, ‘ Check It Out’, ‘Don’t Take Away The Music’ and the classic Bee Gee’s composition ‘More Than A Woman’. To my delight as well as ‘Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel’ they gladly did the beautiful’ Never Had A Love Like This Before’. Both The Four Tops and The Temps gave an equally all singing and dancing performance. The Four Tops with original member Abdul ‘Duke’ Fakir performed ‘Fun In Acapulco’ ,’Bernadette’, ‘Reach Out I’ll Be There’, ‘Sugar Pie’ and ‘Standing In The Shadows Of Love’ under the conducting skills of Earl Van Dyke Jnr. I was fortunate to have a ringside view at stage level 10 feet away for The Temps set, courtesy of Tavares’s manager David Oriola.

With its only surviving original member Otis Williams getting a huge ovation, The Temps did ‘Just My Imagination’, ‘ Ball Of Confusion’ and a personal favourite ‘My Girl’. Having met Ralph and Chubby Tavares, here we proudly display my interview with Ralph Tavares in the current Royalty issue. Unbeknown to me I then bump into The Temptations’s musical director, the legendary McKinley Jackson of The Politicians, as we left the backstage area. Sometimes... just sometimes...I really like my job and vocation in life being married to my spiritual wife MUSIC!!

SOUL TRAIN MANSION PARTY BRISTOL - 29TH OCTOBER 2016

Event Reviews

I was invited by Soul Train’s Paul Alexander to host a room celebrating my 30 years as a Cameo ‘Knights Of The Sound Table’ status and 10 years of The Soul Survivors Magazine. 600 people ANNA B descended from around the UK dressed to thrill in their Halloween outfits and do the ‘Thriller’ dance at Ashton Court Mansion in Bristol. Rick Clarke and Don-e came down from London to do some of their reportorial compositions in the main room, with Ricky 2 Tuff spinning the old school and RNB Hip hop classics.

I had turntable duties for the best part of 6 hours dropping many tracks I have had the fortune of playing over the past 30 years. Thanks for the very kind words about the diversity I played. The reggae room was heaving when the other rooms had finished, but I had to retire after 3am and hit the hotel bed. It was good to be back after a few very successful Soul Network parties and finally to spin with the Soul Train gang. Their next event is Boxing Night at SWX in Bristol.

JOYCE JAZZ CAFÉ – 3RD OCTOBER 2016 This was a Tuesday school night and I think it was worth risking a detention for those who came out in their droves to see the supremely talented Brazilian songstress Joyce.

Forever supporting the Brazilian cause Joe Davis of Far Out Records set up a nice evening of vocal musicianship and perfection. With her quartet including her ridiculously talented husband and drummer, Joyce commanded a ‘hear a pin drop’ session of beautiful, beautiful music. The whole band bass player and keyboardist were off the scale with excellent precision timing. I’m not going to pretend knowing any titles apart from ‘Love For Sale’ and ‘Fever’ but regardless of tempo, albeit samba, bossa or a cocktail of Latin genres, the music had vigour and sex appeal in it’s Brazilian or English dialect. Some of the songs included were ‘ Samba De Mulher’, ‘Mingus, Miles & Coltrane’, ‘ Aguascalientes De Marco’, ‘ Canto De Yansan’ and ‘ Penalty’. Totally brilliant and I advise you to check out her American classics cover album out on Far Out Records.

ANNA B

Page 44 - Issue 67

AT THE

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Wednesday 28th December 2016 Courtney Pine House of Legends 5 Parkway, Camden Town, London NW1 7PG see advert Thursday 29th December 2016 Courtney Pine House of Legends 5 Parkway, Camden Town, London NW1 7PG see advert

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Friday 30th December 2016- and last Friday every month - A FAMILY AFFAIR with OBJ’s spinning jazz funk, soul, latin & boogie + DJ Pepper Sleeves and DJBugsy Wan playing their mix of soul & funk The Rocket, 11 Churchfield Road, Acton W3 6BD. 6:30 pm ‘til 1am —FREE ENTRY Venue has full wine & dine menu.

Saturday 31st December 2016 New Years Eve @ Olby’s Margate 3-5 King St, Margate CT9 1DD see advert

JANUARY DECEMBER Wednesday 7th December 2016 Brand New Heavies at KOKO 1A Camden High St, Kings Cross, London NW1 7JE see advert Monday Boxing Day 26th December 2016 Boxing Day Extravaganza Face Bar Abrose Place Chatham Street Reading RG1 7JE 2 rooms see advert Monday Boxing Day 26 December 2016 Soul Train Black & White Dress@ SWX 15 Nelson St, Bristol BS1 2JY see advert Monday Boxing Day 26th December 2016 Funkalicious Location EC4 DJ’s Ronniee C, DJ Chuks James Anthony

Page 46 - Issue 67

Friday 6th January 2017 Breakwater + The Pockets Live @ The Brooklyn Bowl The 02 Peninsula Square London SE10 0DX, DJ’s Greg Edwards, Gordon Mac, Jeff Young, JM see advert Friday 27th January 2017 - and last Friday every month - A FAMILY AFFAIR with OBJ’s spinning jazz funk, soul, latin & boogie + DJ Pepper Sleeves and DJ Bugsy Wan playing their mix of soul & funk The Rocket, 11 Churchfield Road, Acton W3 6BD. 6:30 pm ‘til 1am —FREE ENTRY Venue has full wine & dine menu.

FEBRUARY Friday 17th Febraury 2017 Soul Survivor Magazine Awards Under The Bridge @ Under The Bridge 2017 Stamford Bridge, Fulham Rd, Fulham, London SW6 1HS, Live debut performance from The Brit Funk Association see advert

Friday 24th February 2017 - and last Friday every month - A FAMILY AFFAIR with OBJ’s spinning jazz funk, soul, latin & boogie + DJ Pepper Sleeves and DJ Bugsy Wan playing their mix of soul & funk The Rocket, 11 Churchfield Road, Acton W3 6BD. 6:30 pm ‘til 1am —FREE ENTRY Venue has full wine & dine menu.

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Friday 25th, 26th ,27th February 2017 Cotswold Park Weekender with Live performance from Leroy Hutson with DJ line up see advert South Cerney GL7 5 Cirencester, Gloucestershire see advert

Wednesday 3rd May 2017 Alexander O’Neal London Rah Rah Room 217 Piccadilly, London W1J 9HN see advert

MARCH Friday 10th to Sunday 12th March 2017 Hayling Island Spring Soul & Reggae weekender Mill Rythe Holiday Village 16 Havant Rd, Hayling Island PO11 0PB see advert for DJ’s and and artists Saturday 18th March 2017 Aswad @ Under The Bridge 2017 Stamford Bridge, Fulham Rd, Fulham, London SW6 1HS see advert Saturday 25th March 2017 Music Without Labels A Night To Remember No1 Warehouse West India Quay Canary Wharf E14 4AL Gerardo Frisina Bob Jones Grumpy Brown, David Lyn, Mark Blee & Paula Fossett see advert

Tuesday 2nd May 2017 Alexander O’Neal London Rah Rah Room 217 Piccadilly, London W1J 9HN see advert

Friday 5th - Sunday 7th May 2017 Vibes Weekender with UK djs playing the best in oldskool ,soul ,neo soul,soulful house, afro beats & garage, 3 days & nights of the oldskool weekender vibes. A small £30 secures your accommodation and events for the weekender, www. vibesweekender.com, vibesweekender@hotmail.com vibes weekender group

JUNE Friday 16th - Sunday 18th June 2017 The Blackpool International Soul Festival 2 A Winter Gardens 97 Church St, Blackpool FY1 1HL starring The Impressions, Little Anthony and Leroy Hutson plus various rooms and a top DJ line up see advert

APRIL Easter Monday 17th April 2017 Bless The Funk Afloat soul cruise down the Thames more ticket info contact www. blessthefunk.co.uk

thesoulsurvivorsmagazine.co.uk

FRIDAY 17TH FEBRUARY 2017 7pm - late

UNDER THE BRIDGE, CHELSEA, SW6

10th Anniversary Award Ceremony With a LIVE debut performance of the ‘Brit Funk Association’ consisting of Beggar & Co, Light of the World, Hi-Tension, Central Line and Brassroots.

They will be performing a collection of the associated bands hits and club classics including ’Somebody help Me Out’, ‘London Town’, ‘Time’, ‘ British Hustle’, ’There’s a Reason’, ‘Walking On Sunshine’, ’Nature Boy’ and ’Sausalito Calling’ Best current UK Soul Artist/Group 2016

Best current Global Soul Artist/Group 2016

Best Soul Holiday 2016

Best Soul Album 2016

Best Live Concert 2016

Best London Soul Club 2016

Best Soul Club DJ 2016

Best Soul Radio Station 2016

Best Soul Club outside London 2016

Best Soul Weekender 2016

Best Soul Radio Show 2016

Including Fitzroy’s Birthday After Party also celebrating 10 years of Soul Survivors, 3 decades of DJ’s with music by Dez Parkes Darrell S and Fitzroy The Original Soul Survivor Ticket Prices: Standard Price - £25.00 Limited Early Bird Tickets Available until 10th January 2017 - £17.50 Limited VIP Tickets for Meet & Greet The Band – Photo - £35.00

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