the info provider for the soul survivor ISSUE 42 Oct/Nov 2012
Jeffrey Daniel Carolyn Griffey
Howard Hewett
Friday 21st December Indig02 at The O2 Interviews with
Howard Johnson Mic Murphy Larry Graham Ollie Rosenblatt
and regular features
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Dear Fellow Soul Survivors
MEMBERSHIP Fitzroy talks to HOWARD JOHNSON Well what an amazing few weeks we had in the UK DARRELL’S FUNK BOX Olympic fever! We with could have mentioned it in the last issue but it hadn’t even BACK ISSUES started and to be honest I wasn’t that interested. Howeve Fitzroy chats to r, it many others to get pulled didn’t take long for me and LARRY GRAHAM along with the exciteme nt and see the fabulous young people, able bodied or JUMP START - WORDS rep not, resenting our country. It is so refreshing to have by Ginger Tony inspiring youth to talk ab an out and how proud we should all be. Truly amazing! Fitzroy talks to In fact it inspired me to start running..... who knows, OLLIE ROSENBLATT I might get to Brazil. lol So , on to this issue which MERCHANDISE is, as usual, jam packed with goodies for the true Soul SOUL SNIPPETS Survivor. We have som e very interesting interviews wi th artists that interlink, mo Fitzroy chats to re record reviews than ev er before, fantastic events, MIC MURPHY some great concerts, the usual high calibre writings fro RECORD REVIEWS m Darrell S and Ginger To ny along with some sou l snippets and much more. EVENT REVIEWS WHAT’S GOIN’ ON? I hate to be the first perso n to mention Christmas but our ne xt issue will be Decemb SOUL RADIO er/
Thank you to all those who have contributed by sending in adverts, reviews, photos, articles, listings and emails; we can’t do this without you.
January so don’t forget send in your festive even to ts and consider members hip for a dear friend this Christ mas... every good home should have one! Thanks for reading.....e njoy. x
Anna (& Fitzroy) The Soul Survivors
CUT OFF DATE FO R DEC/JAN Issue: 5/11 /12 The Soul Survivors
PO Box 377, West Malling, ME6 9DQ 01732 844246 PRINTED BY SCARBUTTS All adverts are placed in good faith and The Soul Survivors 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 2008 Copyright The Soul Survivors Magazine
For adverts, events and reviews contact Anna anna@thesoulsurvivors.co.uk or 07939 248983 facebook.com/AnnaMarshallSoulSurvivors twitter.com/SoulSurvivors1 http://uk.linkedin.com/in/annamarshall1 Record reviews and interviews contact Fitzroy fitzroy@thesoulsurvivors.co.uk or 07956 312931 Facebook: Fitzroy Facey (Da Buzzboy) www.thesoulsurvivors.co.uk www.facebook.com/TheSoulSurvivors www.myspace.com/thesoulsurvivorsmag
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Fitzroy talks to
HOWARD JOHNSON
Howard's vice in Miami was music and he aspired to become a solo artist for 30 years and is well travelled and respected as a singer songwriter and producer with a few classic soul anthems under his belt. Very multicultural and humorous enjoy my teh ta teh with Howard Johnson.
Having grown up in Miami Florida, home of TK Records, what music and artists influenced you before you became part of the group Niteflyte? I was obviously influenced by Betty Wright, Clarence Carter, Little Beaver and all the people at TK Records. John Edwards who was the lead singer of The Spinners and a good friend of mine, Al Green, Otis Redding and all the Motown greats also as I see myself as a child of Motown. When did you join Nitefltye and was that your first intro into the industry? In 1978. It was my first professional music industry entrance as I had been a local background singer for a group in Miami Beach at a tourist trap. I was 04 www.thesoulsurvivors.co.uk
discovered there by Sandy Torano who happened to come on a night where the lead singer had laryngitis and I took their place. I was always ready for the spotlight but hadn’t previously had the opportunity to shine. To my knowledge there were two Niteflyte albums with the latin spirited You Are, the harmonious I Wonder and the very Earth Wind & Fire influenced and popular If You Want It which you co wrote with Sandy Torano. I saw an old video on You Tube of you all singing it and I’m assuming Philip Bailey has some bearing on how you sang the song especially you hitting some of those high notes. Question is did EWF influence that track? Haa haa haaa oh absolutely and there’s a story that really no one knows. I was in a group coming out of college called Love Unity and Virtue (LUV) and we actually opened up for Earth Wind & Fire at the Miami Highlight Arena and definitely had an influence on my life. Subsequently a few months after that I was at a block party with a friend of mine Foots and Earth Wind & Fire’s Mighty Mighty had just come out and we were doing the robot and all the crazy dances.
When Mighty Mighty came on, Foots made a wager of 25 cents that I could not sing Philip Bailey’s high notes in the song. We convinced the DJ to play the song again and I hit the high notes. At that time of my life I didn’t know I had a falsetto of that particular dynamic. I’d grown up listening to the Temptations and although I loved Eddie Kendricks he didn’t sing as high as Philip Bailey. What were you doing in between the last album and getting your A&M solo deal? The deal was actually done in 1981. We were working on the second Niteflyte album and there was a little tension within the group which was really only 2 people, myself and Sandy Torano. I think Sandy wanted to go in a different direction and to this day I don’t know what really happened but it presented itself in 1980. Actually something that no one knows is that I had a car accident where some one rear ended my BMW 530 Turbo which was stationary and was hit at 65 mph and ended up having carpal tunnel and I’m a little deaf in my left ear where I hit my head. I think Sandy saw it as an opportunity to shine and do what he wanted to do and took the lead which is why I don't sing as much on that album and was actually kicked out of the group. The opportunity to work with Howard Smiley and Kashif, who had a big hit with Evelyn King, was perfect and 9 months later I had a number one R&B hit with So Fine. I remember in 1982 aged 18 hearing So Fine booming out of the speakers at Electric Ballroom in Camden and the impact it had on the dance floor with it’s Kashif and Paul Lawrence production sensual lyrics and your exciting voice. 30 years later it still has a monstrous effect. Did you know Kashif before hand when he was a member of BT Express and how did that initial conversation about doing So Fine transpire? No I didn’t and only knew of him through Evelyn King. In the beginning mine and Kashif’s relationship was not harmonious. I wasn't arrogant but very confident about my voice and felt I had been held back for so long that it was now my time to sing as I’d always wanted. When I first heard So Fine it wasn’t in the form as we know it now. It was actually to be used in a commercial for sweet cakes called Drake Cakes which went like this (sung in the mode of the song’s main hook “So Fine Blow My Mind...” “Drake Cakes....Drake Cakes..taste great”. I said to Kashif “This is terrible, why would I wanna sing about a cake?” So the next time I heard it it was changed to So Fine and there were still parts of the song I didn’t like. I said to Kashif ‘No offence but you want to be a singer and I am a singer”. At that point in my life I had sung at over 200 funerals and understood the heartstring and core of what people wanted to hear and felt that as a producer, Kashif could not tell me how to sing. We bumped heads on that and he got angry and said he’d give the song to Evelyn King and I said I didn’t care. Thank God I did care lol as I came in the next day and sung the song as I wanted to sing it. Kashif liked it we moved on it
and the rest is history. Not sure if you’ve heard of Craig David a UK R&B singer? I heard about him a year ago and was told he used So Fine and not to worry about it as it only sold 1000 copies. I thought well it is what it is and everyone knows what influenced his record but people who told me in France were a little upset. Craig revocalled an uptempo remix of his track Rendezvous and the Blacksmith producers used So Fine in order to get the song played in the dance club genre. It’s obvious for us that were around in 1982 and Craig was one year old when So Fine came out (Howard LOL) but it was an alright track. What was it like during the height of the new found 80’s moog bass, drum machines and synths R&B sound? It was exciting working with Kashif, David Frank, Mic Murphy and Jam & Lewis embarking on a new frontier. A lot of artists from that era and genre are upset about what’s taking place today when you talk about Jay Z, Kanye West and Diddy who are market brand whiz kids. Is their music good? I think it’s ok but it’s always been the same transition between different types of music and rebellion going on. When Elvis and Miles came along people didn’t like what they were doing. Does our genre like what’s going on right now? No not really. Is it great music? Do the songs have great stories and bridges to them? Hhmm well it’s a little different now than listening to The Temptations My Girl or Just My Imagination, as they had incredible stories and it’s a different time. Artist producers like Kashif and Teddy Riley were embarking on new world and many of us were so concerned about the music we forgot about branding as we had no idea of branding. Would I change it? No as I have something that the new generation of artists do not have. How was that experience of singing So Fine on the legendary Soul Train and meeting the late Don Cornelius? It was incredible as I grew up watching Soul Train. I don’t know if you saw the video of me doing So Fine and Keeping Love New on there with Don Cornelius interviewing me. He was basically asking me where did I learn my dance moves from. I learned it all from watching Soul Train as a kid doing the moonwalk and other moves and it was surreal to be near Don Cornelius whose hand touched every major R&B artist. I practically begged Don to sing So Fine and Keeping Love New live which had only been afforded to Al Green. But I convinced him as it’s what I thrive on. I still do that today when I appear on radio shows; I take the backing track and sing live on air. Where did the phrase Prophet Of Soul come from? Ha ha the A&R people of A&M Records dubbed me that in the 80’s when I sang Al Green, Eddie Kendricks, Bee Gee’s and deep southern gospel songs because it sounded like I was preaching when I sang.
The other big single from that album was the title track Keeping Love New which was very different from So Fine but also a club favourite. How did you enjoy the solo success compared to being part of a group? To me I don’t mind being part of a team even as a solo artist with management, physio therapist’s and marketing people. So it’s no different now from when I was in Niteflyte. When you hear Sade talk about Sade she mentions them as a band and not just her as an artist as it takes a lot of people to make things work. There was a team with Nitefltye, with LUV when we opened for Earth Wind & Fire and now with Howard Johnson. Doing It My Way from 1984 saw you make a bold move to switch from working with Kashif to being produced by The System. You amiably covered one of their compositions as Sass Much Too Much with your own vibe and excelled nicely on Let This Dream Be Real. What made you lean towards working with the System when the Kashif sound clearly worked on the first album? Another secret inside story..Kashif wanted more money to do the second album and I’ve always said that if anyone can screw up a record it’s the record company. A&M Records were getting a lot of calls from radio stations and other sources saying that the new record by The System made people think that Mic Murphy and myself were one and the same person. They took the initiative to approach The System (Mic Murphy and David Frank) to produce the second album which they agreed to do for considerably less than Kashif. I later found out that Kashif wasn’t asking for much more but I had nothing to do with the decision. It’s one of the things I regret as Kashif’s production on my first album was critically acclaimed and I believe had he worked on my second I’d be in a different light. The third album Visions had several producers including Jermaine Jackson and Jam & Lewis. The killer track on there for me was the Jam & Lewis produced Stand Up. On the special remix 12 who is that doing the Michael Jackson Mr T and James Brown cleverly placed ad libs? That’s one of my best friends; a comedian named TK Carter and actually the song was produced by Jerry Knight, Monty Moore who was part of Jam & Lewis and myself produced it. Oh sorry I read it wrong Jam & Lewis were Executive producers. You were busy collaborating with Donna Allen on Perfect Timing, the Johnson and Branson project and writing and producing Barry White’s Put Me In Your Mix. Clearly a natural progression for a singer songwriter to end up producing various artists. How did you find working with others and directing them especially someone as huge, and I don’t mean his size, but his personality like Barry White? 06 www.thesoulsurvivors.co.uk
Barry was probably the highlight of my career and writing for Tom Jones also. When you’re with consummate artists that are true and with a proven track record it’s such a pleasure and easier to work with them. Barry White and Tom Jones were so talented and gentle souls as was working with Tupac on his I Get Around remix. With Madonna I remixed and produced her Human Nature track and with all the madness that surrounded her, she's a professional and kind, talented, driven artist who constantly reinvents herself. I love Madonna. How were you approached to work with Billie Valentine on the brilliant Robert Townsend film The Five Heartbeats’ soundtrack and was that film loosely based on the legacy of The Temptations? I asked Robert about the Temptations and he said no so I left it at that. Billy Valentine and I were label mates at A&M Records and we are very good friends. He’s one of the most underestimated singers ever and it’s one of the reasons I didn’t like the industry because it shouldn’t be predicated on how many commercial hits you have above your talent. John McClain thought it would be good to work with his friend Robert Townsend. Another inside story John told Robert Townsend it’s great he’s got actors pretending to be singers but even better would be to have real singers. I’m actually three of the voices in the movie; Flashes, JT and Choir Boys voice. I’m currently working on a film script called Retro Dancer based on my life from childhood growing up as a singer entertainer and I wanted to do it in America but I’m deliberating doing it as an American who grew up in France who doesn't speak French. Apart from performing for the Scottish Soul Funk & Jazz Society and Blantyre Miners Welfare in May, loving golf and being a huge fan of Sean Connery, you have a connection with Scotland having traced the origin of your surname Johnson. You’ve since acquired kilts of the Tartan Johnstone clan. Do many African Americans have similar tendencies to do what you have in searching their European roots as usually its searching the African roots because of slavery? Lol.. I can’t speak of what others do as I’ve always been left field and am eclectic in my thinking of finding out where I was from since being a child. I do have African garms and have been wearing kilts for many years. I was told that in my family history my great great grandfather was Scottish with the name Johnstone and researched it and started wearing the Johnstone kilt and I also have property in Scotland. I’m somewhat in my own world and not afraid to explore. In the 60’s with the hippy boom a lot of them left America and travelled Europe and had a better understanding of what the world is about as opposed to just America. I love travelling and have been around the world 25 times and been to places that people dream of.
The reason I ask is that I’m black British of Jamaican parentage and my surname is Facey (Oh Ok) which is apparently Celtic either Irish or Scottish because of the slavery plantation times. I haven’t researched that too far as I’m more curious about my African name origin as it’s harder to trace because of the division that slavery caused in tracing our roots. It tickled me when I read that about you. The Keeping Love New EP features an almost acoustic jazzier version of the title track with a nice Spanish guitar, sax and flute instrumental. Next To You sounds very Marvin Gaye ish, almost from the first line Heard It Through the Grapevine meets Sexual Healing comes to mind with some good supportive BV’s. Did Marvin influence this track? Lol actually it’s Curtis Mayfield’s influence. (Oh the falsetto thing Eddie, Marvin) I’m definitely a child and student of the Motown sounds. People take it for granted when I tell them I have 4-5 octaves. As a child my parents had two jobs so I was an only child for a good while and spent time on my own. So I’d entertain myself by reading geography and watching TV imitate helicopters or Sean Connery as I was so engrossed in all of my environment. So all the greats from Al Green to Isaac Hayes and Barry White are part of my arsenal and people have only seen the tip of the ice berg in showing people what I’m capable of. When I hear things, instinctively I’m either right or I’m wrong but Communications sounds like The Isley Brothers Between The Sheets meets Miles Jaye Lets Start Love Over slow jam style. Is that your aim to keep the music authentically 80’s and keeping it real as that’s what’s coming across? Lol well there are several different things in what you just said. Firstly I did those songs in the late 80’s and I’ve been asked if I have more unreleased material of that time and yes I do. I found that when I started performing in Europe again they lean more towards the mid 80’s sound so I concentrated on that period to a tinge of yesterday for the Bring It On EP and the forthcoming Orange album. As a baby boomer being 50 some odd years old, do you think that a 19 year old has the same amount of music intelligence and finance to buy a catalogue of different artists that I like from yesteryear spending £200? No they’ll probably spend £6 on Alicia Keys, Chris Brown or whatever. Our generation that like Kashif, Paul Lawrence, Freddie Jackson are still there and that’s why I continue to write music. I speak with my friends and tell them to do something new and don’t chase the Chris Browns or Neo’s as we have an audience already made waiting for us. Well said. Your Orange album is being released later in the year and am I right in thinking you are coming to perform again in the UK? What can we expect you to perform? 08 www.thesoulsurvivors.co.uk
When I was signed to A&M they never really gave me the opportunity to grow with my audience and visa versa. You’ll get inclines of yesterday and what’s happening tomorrow like working with Tom Moulton who is remixing things from the Orange album. You’ll get good melodies and good voice as I thank god everyday that I’m able to sing even better than when I started. You’ll see me dancing like on the Soul Train videos. We recently interviewed Tom Moulton and he’s working more than ever so I can see how you will both work. He’s progressed as a producer and still structures his work like he did 40 years back and has not conformed like other producers by using too much modern technology. He’s already done some test mixes of songs of mine and he just blew me away. He’s done an amazing mix of the OJay’s Love Train on the PIR remixes project and it was so good I’ve added it to my live show. Eddie Levert and Walter Williams are good friends of mine and Tom’s mix made me wanna take it to the next level. He brings so much soul to what’s already there. Europe in general appreciates things for example, when I came to Blackpool with Johnson and Branson they knew every lyric, who played on the albums and everything. Who does that? I was so astonished and they even knew all the words to the Donna Allen track Perfect Timing which wasn’t a big hit. To experience this now when I didn’t at my prime with the record company is something dear. That leads me to ask how do you find being in control of your work as opposed to being with a major label? Just what you said..Now I feel in control as I’m not afraid to put Next to You on the same album as the updated version of Keeping Love New or Communication although they seem not to fit. For example if a guy wears a plaid shirt and stripe pants it looks odd, but if you look deeper you see his personality and he’s humorous..you look at him differently. I like that analogy its been fascinating speaking with you and I look forward to seeing you . Thanks Fitzroy my pleasure :o)
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10 www.thesoulsurvivors.co.uk
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Issue 41 Caron Wheeler Omar MBE Rob Hardt
Fitzroy talks to
LARRY GRAHAM I interviewed Keni Burke who said you influenced him as a bass player and that he was the second person on the planet to learn the slap bass style. Would you agree? Aah Keni that’s my buddy...is it true or false...tick tock tick tock (Larry says playfully) YESSS!! Keni used to come to a lot of the Sly and Family Stone shows and sometimes we’d go to the hotel room and play the bass together which I’ve never done with anyone else. We did spend some bass hours together and for me in many interviews that I did they would ask me who was the closet to playing the bass like me and in my ear he was the closest. Two years ago we spoke of how you toured with Prince and now he is featured on three tracks of your new album playing drums and doing bv’s on the title Raise Up, Moving and Woulda Shoulda Coulda. It’s an interesting collaboration as I know Prince is very much influenced by you but others may not make that connection. What is Prince like as a drummer as we know him as a guitarist? He’s an excellent drummer, keyboard player and all round musician. When we met around fifteen years ago I had no idea how much influence I had on him as a singer, songwriter, musician. It was only after when we spoke that I realised damn he knows my stuff better than I do. He asked me to join his USA and Canada tour and over the last fourteen years we’ve become very good friends and close like family. He’s like a brother, my grandkids call him uncle Prince and we are minutes away from Paisley Park where we jam together all the time. It’s a musical connection that just flows so it’s natural for him to be on this album. It’s a similar thing with Raphael Saadiq who is very natural too as we’re both from Oakland and his band was heavily influenced by Graham Central Station. There’s a connection with Stevie Wonder whose Higher Ground is on the new album which goes back to our early GCS days covering his tracks. In LA Stevie lived around the corner from where my 14 www.thesoulsurvivors.co.uk
daughter was born and over the years we’ve had many encounters playing together. A few days after the Human Kindness day in Washington DC we played at a club in Boston. It was being broadcast live on the radio and I went into the GCS version of Stevie’s Maybe Your Baby only to find Stevie was in the house. He made his way up to the stage and sang with us. I hope someone taped it and hears or reads this interview one day as it was an incredible experience and I’d love to hear it. It sounds like you had a lot of fun making the album as its got a live feel as opposed to a studio recorded one. It’s like listening to a live session in your own home. You got it; that’s exactly what I was trying to achieve. In the early days of Sly & The Family Stone that’s how we used to cut in the studio. It was live and very similar to playing with your amps and instruments so it wasn’t a contrived or suppressed situation. Part of the album was done in a wonderful studio in France whilst we were touring Europe. Glad you mentioned that. It may sound bizarre and criminal saying this but the album does sound Prince-ish. Some may feel it is due to his presence although we know of your influence on him so it’s more of a compliment and I hope when people listen they get that. I’m guessing when Prince finally did get to meet you it was like Michael Jackson meeting James Brown. Did it occur to you how the album sounded? Yes and it’s meant to be like that with various people who mean a lot to me so it’s an album that tells a story like reading a book but you have to read the whole book. It’s meant to have some Sly & The Family Stone and you’re supposed to hear some early GCS, Prince and Raphael Saadiq because if you cannot hear that flavour then the purpose is defeated. People ask me to play on their records to get my sound like Raphael asked me to play on his current record. Not that he couldn't sing the part but he wanted my voice and the way I sing and play my bass so it works both ways. Raphael sings with your wife Tina on One Day which takes me back to the 60’s flower power era with it’s message. I was about 4 years old at the height of flower power but 40 plus years later that message is still there. That song could actually have been recorded 40 years ago the way it’s produced. In this time most people are beefing up their productions to get a live feel but you don’t seem to have that problem. There is so much of that out there already and people have access to that. I wanted to do something different and using or accessing modern technology with protools is easier to edit than when we used to have to get that razor blade and carefully slice the tape. I appreciate modern technology in that sense but I don't want to lose the feel of the roots of where this stuff comes from. Modern music takes samples from the 60’s and 70’s to maybe rap on top or use within a song. We mixed up some of the old GCS and Sly together with Raphael and Prince who are current so there’s the balance. One track Moving which features Prince reminds me of a collaboration we spoke of in our last interview. I mentioned that Ike and Tina’s song Bold Soul Sister replayed the bass line of Sly’s Sing A Simple Song and you said you had no problem with that being replicated because your first gig was with Ike Turner. When I first heard Moving it reminded me of Ike and Tina’s Proud Mary and I wondered if that’s a coincidence? It’s the first time I’ve heard that. Proud Mary is such a powerful song that I think it’s in everyone’s subconscious so I’ll take that as a compliment. I’ve got to go back and listen to it though.
It’s the bit that Ike and Tina sing “Rolling Down The River” when you sing the Moving chorus. Moving On Down The Road...Oooooooh Kaaaaaaay..I hear it now and I hope it makes that kind of impact..wow!! How was it revisiting three of your previous recorded tracks? Well that was quite something especially using the technology we mentioned earlier. Those songs are called the new masters and like a lot of musicians in the same position it allows me to own the tracks which is a big difference today. The other good reason is that when we perform these songs live I can see the reaction all over the world with the new band. One of those tracks Now Do You Wanta Dance sounds like a combination of Sly & The Family Stone, GCS meets Zapp and Roger Troutman (ha ha) I think it’s the vocoder reminding me of More Bounce To The Ounce. Herbie Hancock has used it and (Stevie) too but was Roger an influence? Zapp used it more more as their main feature where Stevie and Herbie only experimented with it. The bass talk box goes back to the Sly Stone era. 11th September after the concert. How are you feeling today after the concert Larry? I had so much fun and maybe more than the audience as there was so much love. What I saw last night was mind blowing so how did you feel about
how the concert went? Wonderful, we went about forty five minutes overtime but I did warn them to tell the boss we were going to go over remember? I said call up the baby sitters cause you gonna be late and it was cool. A highlight for me was when you stood in the middle of the crowd on a chair playing your bass.. that was powerful to watch. I actually took a photo and all you can see is people surrounding you with their phones and camera’s held up. Is that the kind of spontaneous thing you like to do? Yes and thank you, I come through the audience at the start of the show and mix with the people. With all those phones there I’m expecting to see footage on Youtube. The sub woofers in the venue made a nice rumbling sound with huge vibrations and the acoustics were very good. It was very noticeable, from the balcony where I was, that the audience was predominantly white. To some black Americans it’s a bit of a culture shock coming here and performing to a predominantly white audience who are so into the music. I know you’ve toured around the world and are versed in a mixture of audiences but how do you view that? I hear and get what you mean. I view it that the music we play is universal and international. The most amazing part for me is that I cannot communicate with people mouth to mouth but connect heart to heart. In Japan I see people singing the song lyrics upon lyrics and word for word. I see the same people after the show and we cannot communicate because of the language barrier as they speak little English. It’s not a culture shock to to me as I see the audi16 www.thesoulsurvivors.co.uk
ence as a wave of people into what we do. It’s not a surprise as Sly & The Family Stone were one of the first if not the first universally known multicultural bands during the flower power era. Another highlight was when you asked people up on stage to perform with you. I gotta ask did you know those individuals? No (not at all?) So the young white guy who played on your bass... I didn’t know him and I was just as surprised as everyone else and said to the audience “here’s another one of my children” lol Is that something you do in your gigs often? Yes, as it reminds me of when I started to play the guitar. I learned Okey Doky Stone from Clarence Gatemouth Brown note for note after I’d come home from school. When Ike and Tina came to the Philmore West in San Francisco I was invited to perform the song with them on stage and I will never forget that experience. I hope if I give that opportunity to someone else it might have the same positive effect. That’s a very generous gesture because that guy was playing your bass and I was thinking take time with it and don’t bust any of those strings.. (Larry laughs) It’s ironic that we speak today as it’s the 11th anniversary of 9/11 and one of your songs Raise Up featuring Prince is about the aftermath of that fatal day. How do you feel today as an American who’s lived through the historical changes that followed the Civil Rights Movement, Black Panthers and Vietnam? It’s kinda changed the world and how we travel which is mentioned in the song. Getting from A to B with people being greatly affected by the airport security, the economy and the price of gas etc. If you turn on CNN TV these things can get you down but we did this to help raise people’s spirits as an alternative to seeking solace in reading a book or going to a club or whatever. What I also noticed last night was the adulation you received. It was kind of frightening in a good way as they chanted your name Larry Larry Larry like in the first Rocky movie, it was a bit surreal actually but they were an educated audience. Yes they were and I gotta say it’s people like yourself who help to educate by going in depth into the artist’s history. People understand the person more when you go into explaining what Raise Up is about and I appreciate that. When you see people become part of what’s happening on stage we are one band together. Well thanks, Larry safe journey back and do you have a message for the Soul Survivors out there? Yes, whatever you do or are having to deal with..Raise Up don’t let it get you down or deter you........ Raise Up......... Raise Up!!
t r ta S p m Ju
S D R O W with Ginger Tony
“Business as usual...” No need for a long-winded and some would say pointless intro this time around, I’m just looking forward to waffling on about some very exciting tunes that you lovely folks in Soul Survivors Land need to check out! Chin Chin stable mates Tape Five and Brenda Boykin are back with their brand new albums and it is indeed business as usual. Martin Strathausen and his Orchestra’s (AKA Tape Five) 4th album “Swing Patrol” is 100% stone-cold Electro-Swing loveliness! Completely immersed in the Big Band / Swing era of the 1930s and 40s and featuring vocalists from 10 countries “Swing Patrol” is cool, exciting and very, very jazzy. From Iain Mackenzie’s timeless crooner delivery on “City Of Lights” and “I Spy You” to Henrik Wader’s Ragtime tributes “Bunga Book” and “Geraldine’s Routine” the fun the gang had whilst making this album comes at you and is quite infectious by the time “Tequila” arrives... So, so good to have Brenda Boykin back. The new album follows straight on from “Chocolate & Chili”, I know you will not have a problem with that, Brenda’s “Bourbon & Cornbread” (as the lady herself entitles it) style is extremely danceable and besides, that voice should be enough to make you want to pick up a copy. “Feel Me” and “U Don't Love Me (I Don't Care)” are instant floorfillers and “This Maybe Game” is as cheeky a Bossa tune as you’re likely to find this side of Xmas. The title track is arguably the highlight of the album, but then again being a Bond fan I am biased. Oh, I forgot to say, it’s “All the Time In The World” (The Louie Armstrong classic) is a nice touch for the franchise’s 50th anniversary. Useless info from me – did you know it was taken from Louie’s final recording session? Poignant stuff really. X At last! Ralf Gum’s new album is here! Way back in 2008 I came across his debut “Uniting Music” and ever since I’ve been a fan of his sophisticated style,
always well produced, always classy. When I first met Ralf at Southport I was accused of acting like an adoring puppy. Well, maybe I did...“Never Leaves You” is simply beautiful, 10 slices of House Music for grown-ups and when vocalists of the standard of Kenny Bobien, Monique Bingham and Robert Owens are involved you just have to pay attention. Essential stuff indeedy. ☺ Things to do... The party season is almost upon us, so here’s a few events for you to come shake whatever you feel like shaking. “The Bournemouth Soul Weekender” takes place on 26th, 27th & 28th October and once again we’ll be coming together at The Carrington House in Boscombe for 3 days of fun and shenanigans and music (mustn’t forget that bit) from DJs Dr. Bob Jones, Stretch Taylor, Chris Bangs, Bob Masters and many more including little old me! For more info call: Music Meltdown 01273 413800 or Crazy Beat Records 01708 228678. The 3rd “Streetsoul Records Event” of 2012 takes place on Saturday 10th November at Henry’s, Romford Rd, Aveley with special guest Gary Dennis joining resident DJ’s Andy Davies, Steve Kite and little old me (again). Call 01708 864042 for info. Is it too early to start planning your Xmas parties? Nah, of course not, it’ll soon be here. “Revenge Of The Soulboy Part 2” is the perfect excuse to get out during the void of “Post-Xmas”, “Pre-NYE”, taking place on Thursday 27th December at Westbourne Park Studios, Notting Hill. This festive, 2 room alldayer is going to be HUGE! DJ’s include Bobby & Steve, Barrie Sharpe, Dr Bob Jones, Stretch Taylor, Eddie Piller, Bob Masters and that’s right little ole me (again, again). Till next time, ciao for now! GT x
'Jump Start' Saturdays 8 till 10am. www.solarradio.com Sky Digital channel 0129 www.soulfunkandjazz.com/playlist.html www.myspace.com/djgingertony 18 www.thesoulsurvivors.co.uk
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Ollie Rosenblatt of SENBLA talks to Fitzroy
Aged 24, how did you become so interested in music far beyond your years, as I don’t come across many that are that engrossed? I think there are quite a few of my age that may stick on an old school soul tune from the 70’s and 80’s at a party as you cannot deny how remarkable that period was, but it’s whether they will go out and buy a ticket. It was easy for me to get into as I was exposed to it by my parents and listened to the radio and TV. I started promoting jazz events after listening to music from the 1940’s era onwards and saw what be bop did to encourage the 70’s and 80’s artists like Stevie Wonder. As time went on I got more interested in other genres. I know you worked for Jazz FM, how did that materialise? My old school UCS in London had a very famous venue that was run in the theatre of the school by an English teacher who was also a great jazz pianist. When I left the school it stopped for about 8 years. With my love for jazz and playing trumpet and sax I decided to earn some money in my gap year and restarted the jazz venue. I booked the acts, did all the PR and it ran for four years. In between I went to Leeds University studying music and I promoted up there. I started another venue in London as well as the UCS so I had three venues promoting jazz and soul. I got introduced to Jazz FM whilst booking bands for a restaurant and as I was 20 www.thesoulsurvivors.co.uk
based in Leeds and Jazz FM were in Manchester they asked if I could help book and manage nights for them. When I left University Jazz FM offered me the job of running their live division.
and not limit ourselves to just soul. It doesn’t put me off it makes me want to do it more. Some of the larger promoters are finding it hard this year as people are buying less tickets.
How long were you there for and what acts did you work with?
What is it that Senbla offer compared to your competitors?
About a year and I worked with Al Jarreau’s greatest hits tour, the Impressions, The Ramsey Lewis Sun Goddess tour, Eric Benet at Luxury Soul Weekender, Avery Sunshine, Azymuth and a weekly club night night Funky Sensation. After a while I wanted to be in control of my own destiny and thought I had enough experience to have my own business which is Senbla.
The quality of the acts and the experience we are giving people at our shows. Adrian and I have helped to establish the Assembly Halls as a recognised live venue.
As well as doing that you have also teamed up with Adrian Gibson, how’s that going? We still do our own individual promotions but have a joint venture at The Assembly Halls currently. You’ve got quite a few things coming up in October through to December haven’t you? Yeah on the soulful side I have Barbara Mason, Soul II Soul, Alexander O’Neal and Roachford. We’ve also got Omar, Loose Ends and other bookings into next year already. How do you, as one of many event promoters in an overloaded arena, find business when you are sometimes chasing the same acts? It’s hard and that’s why our company broadens our range in genres
How do you come to the decision of how much to charge in the current climate as some concerts tickets are astronomical and some are fair and reasonable. I think people reading this would be interested in having that question answered? It comes down to the cost of the act and how much is spent in putting the show on. Some people are under the wrong impression of the back end cost of running a show including the technical, venue hire and catering costs. It’s all risk related so you set the price based on that and I agree some prices are quite high but that depends on where they buy their tickets from. That’s a good point so where is the best and most economical place to get tickets for your events? At primary market like Eventim or Ticket Master who sell at the face value I set. Ok Ollie thanks and good luck with your forthcoming events. Thanks for speaking with me.
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REMINDER
Morgan Khan had a pivotal vision to create a platform to get various upfront expensive music import 12s at an affordable price that you would usually pay for one or an LP release. In 1982 Street Sounds became the most affordable and marketable compilation that for the next ten years would be on the pulse of every new genre of black music; soul, boogie, electro, rap and garage/house. There were other compilations but they seemed only to mimic the concept foresighted by the entrepreneur Morgan Khan. In my opinion, no other individual label or concept made such an impact till 1987 when musicologist Dez Parkes and Bess Mosby created a similar market with their Rare compilation series on RCA. This revolutionised the onslaught and availability of previously hard to find and more expensive underground soul, funk and jazz tracks. Thirty years on Street Sounds celebrates with a once in a lifetime event between 7pm and 4am on Saturday 17th November 2012 at the Coronet London SE1. Hosted by Andy Smith, Morgan Khan and Johnny Kango the confirmed all star artist line up includes Kurtis Mantronix (Got To Have Your Love), Fatback Band (Spanish Hustle, Bus Stop, Wicky Wacky), Leroy Burgess (Get Loose, Barely Breaking Even, Heartbreaker) Shannon (Let The Music Play, Sweet Somebody), Leee John of Imagination (Body Talk, Flashback, Music & Lights), Phil Fearon & Galaxy (Dancing Tight, Everybody’s Laughing), Second Image (Dance Dance Dance, Can’t Keep Holding On). DJ’s on the night include Dave VJ (Choice & Kiss FM), Chad Jackson (DMC Champion & Hear The Drummer Get Wicked), Da Buzzboy Fitzroy (Soul Survivors Magazine & Colourful Radio), Frostie (ex
Caister), Soul Syndicate’s Bonnie Dj, Peter P, Dj Trish and Stomp Radio’s Scott James. The event is being held over three rooms including the main concert arena an old school hip hop/electro room and a chill out jazz funk and soul classic room. In addition there will be B-Boy battles and Graffiti art. Advance tickets are £40 or £45 on the door and can be obtained via www.streetsounds.co, Ticket Web and Soul Survivors. (See Ad on P15) The soul world was rocked by the news when Gwen McCrae, our front cover girl for issue 38 April/May 2012, who suffered from a stroke after her performance at the Happy Days Festival in June 2012. Gwen was hospitalised for some time and unexpectedly Gee Bello (Light Of The World) found himself taking care of her welfare and affairs whilst she recuperated. Many well wishers
were updated by bulletins on the social media sites and after performing at Ronnie Scotts we at Soul Survivors managed to arrange for Jean Carn to pay her friend a welcomed visit at the hospital in Ashford Middlesex, which by all accounts was a great tonic for Gwen. Gwen and Gee would like to thank the hospital staff and all her fans and adulators for their prayers now she’s finally managed to fly back home to Florida aided and accompanied by her daughter Leah and an assigned US nurse. Lillian Lopez lead vocalist of Odyssey (16/11/35 - 4/9/12) It is on a sad note that we bring you this news. Regardless of it’s universal commercial success, even the deeper connoisseurs of music would have to confess they have a passion for Odyssey’s narrative classic Native New Yorker. Lillian Lopez had
one of the most impassioned and distinctive vocal deliveries whether she sang disco, boogie, a ballad or that continental soul jazz also championed by the Dr Buzzards Savannah Band. The group started off with Lillian and her two sisters Louise and Carmen, the latter replaced by Tony Reynolds and in 1977 had a major everlasting hit with Native New Yorker. Luther Vandross can be heard supporting Lillian harmoniously on Single Again from the Hollywood Party album, also a personal favourite of mine. She could majestically convey the joy in happy songs like Use It Up Wear It Out and the pain in heartfelt compositions like Looking For A Way Out with the greatest ease and balanced emotion. She eloquently graced Don’t Tell Me Tell Her before the late Phyllis Hyman and covered Lamont Dozier’s Back To My Roots. The track that most people would probably agree was her defining vocal delivery, has to be the heavy Slave influenced Inside Out which truly pulled on the heartstrings if you are a true soul survivor lover of music. Native New Yorker has been covered by many including Frankie Valli and Esther Phillips and always stirs me when I hear or play it 35 years later. Still reeling from the news (Rock the mic In Paradise) RIP Lillian Lopez Forthcoming concerts to book up for are Lalah Hathaway at Jazz Cafe, Rahsaan Patterson at Jazz Cafe in November, Shalamar @ Indig02 21st December. And before we forget, we are really pleased to inform you that Summer Soulstice 6 raised an incredible £20,000 for their charity Cherry Lodge Cancer Care. The big fat cheque is being presented on 6th October at The Reks, 149 High Street, Barnet, EN5 5SU. It’s free admission and will be well worth a visit.
www.thesoulsurvivors.co.uk 23
Queens. He like me came from a hybrid of artists making the “Jamaica Funk” who later went on to have great careers. Like Tom Browne, Bernard Wright and Don Blackman?
Fitzroy talks to
MIC MURPHY of The System How old were you when you first got into the industry? I first got into bands when I was 11 and I was known in my area of Jamaica Queens as being a little Michael Jackson. There were quite a few backyard bands from the area and one of my neighbours was Parliaments’ Eddie Hazel whose father was a barber and process hair king. Parliment would come over at times and I could see them from the back garden of my house as we lived two doors away and was enamoured by musicians. My mother’s friend Lorraine Fountain had a son whose mid teen band was called The Soul Shakers. They already had a singer but my mother managed to manipulate me into being the lead vocalist of the band. She had a social club and with her political power, managed to get us a spot to perform. We were like little Michael Jackson and The Soul Shakers which was around 1971-72. How did you become part of The Jack Sass band as well as being the road manager for the disco funk outfit Kleeer? After the Soul Shakers I decided I wanted to be really serious so I formed a band called City Function with a singer called La La who played keyboards. I sang and played guitar so we did covers and started writing original songs together. We had 12 people in the band; a percussionist, horns, bass player, keyboards and an MC as we had big ideas of what we wanted. From that we were recruited into the Jack Sass Band which had Omar Hakim on drums who was also from Jamaica 24 www.thesoulsurvivors.co.uk
Exactly, those guys were the fireballs who were all trying to make marks in the business. Jack Sass went into the studio with Mory Craft a record producer whilst simultaneously, Dennis King a master engineer from Atlantic Records and Jimmy Douglas were also interested in us. Although I didn't have the experience I wanted to learn more about the engineer and production side and by the age of 16 Dennis King took me under his wing. I’d go to Atlantic studios anytime I wanted after school and watch artists like Aretha Franklin and The Rolling Stones record and that fantastic Atlantic Rhythm section which was really amazing. I was playing at clubs in Long Island and New Jersey with Jack Sass at the weekends as a very good funk rock band. Unfortunately we couldn’t get a record deal so I decided that after listening to records coming out of the UK and Europe like Kraftwork and Gary Numan, that working with drummers and live musicians was limiting as I wanted to find a way of making electronic soul and get noticed. I also met Fred Petrus who had The Little Macho Band around the time we played at The Cella with Kinky Fox who had Johnny Kemp and Timmy Allen whom we alternated performing the weekends. Fred heard us and asked us to become the Peter Jacques Band on the road. We didn’t know much about him but he asked us to sing background and some leads on his new project Change in New York. Me and La La and Liz the bass player sang on three records Its A Girls Affair, Glow Of Love, Searching and I played lead guitar and sang on Holiday. I met Claude Ishmel Fred’s right hand man who taught me how to deal with publishing and at the same time Dennis King asked me to road manage his band Kleeer. So I had the two jobs and learned alot and both Kleeer and Change had records climbing up the charts so I was juggling heavily. Was this around the time of Keep Ya Body Working? Yeah and at 18 I was road and tour managing both Kleeer and Change and somehow managed to hold it together. Dennis King was looking for another singer and we went to this club to find one. The vocalist was more of a Frank Sinatra type but I loved the keyboard player who was David Frank. Dennis recruited David to tour on keyboards with Kleeer and on occasion I was singing for the group. David didn’t know I could sing but once he found out he asked me to help him get some session work. One day at a session with Fred Petrus at Northcott Records I asked David to come in with his drum machine as I was tired of drummers turning up late and had the idea already in my mind about a programmed beat. David had been working on a track that he had written for Madonna who had different ideas on it’s end product and asked me to vocal the track. I listened to it and it was what I’d been talking about as a new concept. It had the funk, the electronics and was hard hitting.
Madonna called it Crimes Of Passion but to change it up I started ad libbing Times Of Passion combining Rick James and UK melodic rhythms to the track. I wrote the lyrics overnight and went to the studio with David in Long Island and finished and remixed it in a day. I played it on my stereo system and knew I had developed what I wanted. I took it to Dennis King and two others whom I’d developed a relationship with; Jim Delanhand and Ray Cabiarna of RC Records which was part of Warner Bro’s. I asked Dennis to make me three lacquers and took it first to Ray Cabiarna who said he wanted it. I then played it to Jim Delanhand who got hold of Jerry Greenburg the president of Atlantic Records and a hero to me who had signed acts like Led Zepplin. After a minute with a wide grin Jerry gave us a record deal. When did the Sass album come into affect then? Do you mean the one from Funkytown Grooves? (Yes) We were splintering over a power thing. They wanted a band with four singers going in the funk rock with a modern Sly Stone direction which was good but I was thinking that style was kinda dead. So I brought a drum machine to the studio rehearsal and made a beat which is Much Too Much and they rejected it. I had some studio time with Fred Petrus’s Italian camp and both myself and La La wrote Much Too Much which became a huge 12 inch single. It didn’t fair well with the others who doubted what I said could work and Kashif was also happening at the time with his programmed productions. We had recorded a lot of original demos and when I was approached by Funky Town Grooves I went into my archives and had enough material for an album. I saw on E Bay that Much Too Much’s 12 inch was going for £300 and thought “Hmm I got some of them at my mums house” Lol Oh I see as I got the album and it’s kinda psychedelic with rock punk funk disco boogie reggae and soul genres with some good stuff on there. The album is all over the place but it doesn't matter as a musician if you can find a focal point even if it’s a little limiting to make it commercially viable. You can branch out and do your own thing once you got people’s attention. We couldn't do that at Sass as we had too much creative talent. My friend Dez Parkes put Much Too Much on Rare Groove Mastercuts almost 20 years back as it was previously unknown by me and endless others. Was David Franks on that track? No it was La La, Liz on bass, myself and Vic on guitar. We played to the drum machine beat so it’s the beginnings of having the steady beat that you could overdub on which I learnt from Fred Petrus. I was trying to bring
Sass into that concept but they couldn’t hear it. When I first heard it, it reminded me of Slave. Well I was in the studio with Jimmy Douglas and Dennis King who engineered Slave so I was around them all the time. Cameo, Rick James, Slave and Kleeer where carrying the swing then but I still wanted the British pop melodic theme to it. It became a soul version of the melodies of pop with David making the funky electronics and creating something unique as Dave and I were so opposite but in an inverted way. I get what you mean..so It’s Passion was the introduction and first single? Yeah we did that which took off in LA, Miami, Manhattan and New Jersey clubs and then we wrote Stand Up And Cheer. David brought the music to You’re In My System which I wrote lyrics to in a day. We had a meeting to discuss the next 12 inch and I asked how much they were advancing to make it and was told £15,000. I asked for £30,000 to do an album and they agreed and amongst the songs was In My System. The beauty of making this was that Henry Allen at Cotillion was assigned to oversee the album but he was from the old school and was used to working with live bands and getting his name check, credits and publishing on the project. However we were from the new school using technology that he was not used to so he didn’t want to deal with us. We went on to produce, cut and mix the album in a week and You’re In My System was the next single. DJ Frankie Crocker who loved It’s Passion jumped straight on it and somehow it found it’s way to Paris where Robert Palmer heard and decided to record it. So both versions were creating a buzz in the pop and R&B circuits worldwide. It opened doors as we started producing records in the UK and toured with The Thompson Twins and Gary Numan which was fulfilling for me as it’s what I dreamed of. Robert Palmer was known as an established UK pop blue eyed soul artist and it’s ironic that he covers your American song which cross pollinates success for both of you. How did you feel about his version? I liked it and when we were in Sass we covered Sneaky Sally In The Alley as he had that kind of Allen Touissant soul and I was a huge fan of his. I spoke with Howard Johnson who told me that when Kashif asked for more money to do the second album the record company decided to approach The System to do it as you were an up and coming producing band. However he covered Much Too Much and although I prefer the Sass version, having spoken to you I understand and appreciate Howard’s version as he was flavour of the month and because of where you were heading musically.
I knew Kashif from way back aka Michael Johnson and looked up to him as we were both in bands in Brooklyn. Kashif was the first one to really put it all together with synthesizers, vocal pads and make the production clean and precise. He already knew how to make records whilst we were still learning. When we did Howard Johnson's album we did the best we could and had some good songs but I wish we’d been more prepared and established. You did Attitude’s Love Me Tonight. Attitude is basically Me and David as he writes a lot of tracks and I write a lot of lyrics. We’d have loads of material and at the time DJ Frankie Crocker used to have this saying “We got the juice” on the radio. We wrote a song We Got The Juice to fit in with Frankie’s phrase. I knew Chris Kello a fantastic musician from Queens and Cindy Mondell a famous session singer who I met at Sugar Hill Records that formed Attitude. It was like when Prince and Andre had The Time Band that’s what we had with Attitude. How did you end up making Juicy Fruit? That came after It’s Passion. When Mtume heard it he called us and asked us to play on it which was our first outside production from In Times Of Passion. You also did a couple for Phil Collins and Chaka Khan? That happened when we did the Pleasure Seekers album recorded at Atlantic. Arif Mardin who was working down the hall in a another studio asked us to make something for Chaka Khan and we jumped on it with This Is My Night. I sang background vocals on that which was a great experience. That record ended up being the theme song for HBO Network whenever they showed a movie. You worked on two films Beverly Hills Cops and Coming To America with Eddie Murphy? We had a song on Beverly Hills Cops and did the theme tune of Coming To America with Nile Rodgers. We also did a video with Niles and Paula Abdul. How did you find working with Niles? I met him around the time of Fred Petrus when I was with Kleeer’s Woody Cunningham who had played drums with Niles and Bernard at the Power Station. Kleeer was in one room and Chic in another. Niles didn’t know me as a performer then but once The System was up and running he liked what we did and wanted to work with us. If you look at it this way Chic was the band producing phenomenon that worked with Sister Sledge, Sheila B Devotion and Diana Ross in the latter 70’s. After the Chic Organisation became victims of the Disco Sucks scenario we fast forward a few years and The System, with your new sound, are doing what Chic started. I’m a big fan of seeing where music evolves, there was also Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and not forgetting on the west coast Leon Sylvers with the Solar sound. I was always a fan of that concept and in the UK you had Stock Aitkin and Waterman. How did you feel about what I describe as an almost mellow
ballad cut Don’t Disturb This Groove going to number one as opposed to your funkier tracks as its more acoustic? It’s funny you describing it as a ballad as everyone thought it was weird as it had a such a hard beat. We’d done similar songs like, Promises Convert and Lollipops And Everything with that electronic heartbeat. Don’t Disturb This Groove has a reggae rhythm and the the vocals are also an island rhythm but the chorus is pop. We played it to Arif Mardin who suggested the female vocal and it went to number one. Speaking of reggae do you have any connection family wise with Jamaica coming from Jamaica Queens? No but I like the syncopation of reggae and that’s my groove to sing to as opposed to melodies. I’m glad you said that as I did a show recently for Jamaican Independence relating the reggae influence in all genres of music like if you listen to Fatback's Keep On Stepping the bass line is definitely reggae. I agree absolutely. Going back to the Sass material there are a couple of tracks Save My Life, Where Is The Love and the Slave sounding I Got My Eyes On You which remind me of Slide by Slave and Rigor Mortis by Cameo. Yeah I was definitely into that era and then Prince and Rick James came along and you know one of the pinnacles of my life was when I witnessed live on stage a tour with Kleeer, Prince and Rick James for three months. It was the best of the old style funk (Kleeer) the new god king of rock funk (Rick James) and the new god of stripped down rock funk in Prince. Over here in the UK its a little different for the black based groups as we got the home grown groups who make jazz funk like Light Of The World, Hi Tension and Eddie Grant which comes from the West Indian Caribbean influence. This was happening amongst the already commercialised pop music but the same time as disco. They didn’t lend to playing rock music but in America black artists embrace it greatly if you listen to groups like Slave and Cameo where you can hear the rock in the funk. How comes it happens like that in America? Part of it is if you want to be big, popular and fill arenas there is nothing bigger than rock music. In the UK the labels stick with their artist more and you can have a lifetime career but in America it’s about trend and it’s a short life span. If your trend is over and your still doing the same thing it’s like beating a dead horse. What made you record You’re In My System In Spanish? Someone said it would be popular and I re wrote the lyrics and had a go. What’s David Frank up to? He lives in LA and wrote Christine Agulera’s Genie In A Bottle and produced Omar’s album that has This Is Not A Love Song and he’s working with me on a new album as The System. Great, thanks for your time. Thanks Fitzroy it’s been a pleasure.
Record reviews In six years this is the largest amount of space we’ve given to the record reviews, in fact 4 pages! There are so many great new releases that made it and plenty that didn’t. It’s a mixed cocktail of old and new then in some cases old artists re establishing themselves with new material. There are some classic re issues and compilations as well as some new Brazilian, European and UK tasters. Amongst them is some funk to get drunk on, jazz, funk, fusion, moog space boogie, easy listening, vintage soul, disco house and some sublime sexy sensual soul. So enjoy...Da Buzzboy Larry Graham and Graham Central Station - Raise Up (Moosicus) Slap bass in ya face was single handily credited to the imitable style of ex Sly Stone bassist and GCS front man Larry Graham. 40 plus years later his album Raise Up features Raphael Saadiq and his royal purpleness Prince who incidentally was heavily influenced by Larry. Larry revisits three of his previous repertoire tracks, It’s Alright, Ain’t No Fun To Me and the most emphatic new mastered cut is the Zapp sounding Now Do U Wanta Dance. Prince on occasion playing drums graces Movin’, Shoulda Coulda Woulda and the titled 9/11 aftermath Raise Up. Very funky and 60‘s psychedelia at times Larry brings a live feel into your headphones on Throw N Down The Funk and the capturing No Way. Larry’s wife Tina sings with Raphael Saadiq on the prophetic One Day and Larry brightens up Stevie’s wonderful Higher Ground on a defining comeback album. Funktastic!! Kenny Wellington - It’s Like That (cduniverse.com) I’m a big fan of Kenny whose featured solo is on my track She. He was inspired to pick up the horn when he used to frequent Ronnie Scotts as a teenager and hear legends like Dizzy Gillespie. Here he covers three monumental staple jazz recording royalties in the bebop to hip hop style with a touch of subtle class. Self produced playing keyboards, percussion and programming drums, Kenny is supported by some friends saxophonist Ray Carloss, flautist David “Baps” Baptise and bassist Danny Martinez. Experimenting successfully with Dizzie’s Nights In Tunisia, Freddie Hubbard’s Red Clay, Herbie’s Maiden Voyage and his own composition It’s Like That. In short this is an exceptional EP with wonderful and respectful artistic interpretation not too be slept on. It’s truly like Gang Starr a Jazz Thing! Beggar & Co - Sleeping Giants (Expansion) Soul Survivors issue 6 2007 interviewees Kenny Baps and Breeze deliver an exuberant mixture of jazz funk and soul assigned to Ralph Tee’s Expansion label. Featuring a transatlantic host of gifted musicians, included are two classic smooth covers of Stevie’s If You Really Love Me and The Crusaders’ Street Life. Undertones of their ever lasting respect for The Blackbyrds and the street funk collective are evident in their ode to East London's infamous Victoria Park and Summer Is Here At Last. Adding more female vocal presence on this album my choice cut is a very classy universal social messaged Changes and more female energy is injected in Rainbows and New Beginnings with Orphy Robinson’s vibe solo too. Surely inspired by The Horny Horns, Dukey meets P Funk and Rahmlee listen to Rise and Rise Of The Phoenix. For the funk heads While The City Sleeps and Yesterdays Gone are a must. Begging for your listening company buy this!! The Boogie Vol 3 Various Artists (Tokyo Dawn Records) This futuristic space boogie comp embraces the computer love of music like the late Roger Troutman. Atmospheric vocoders, synths, spoken word, rap, simplistic and complicated drum programming productions with commercial and underground appeal can be heard in cystalised abundance. Highlights from the 17 tracks include Heidi Vogel vocals over a soul jazz journeyed Children Of The Sun shadowed by Tenshun’s moog bass and synthesised Teeko. Parlifunkadelicment 2012 seeps through Amelia & Reggie B’s Hysteria and elements of Minnie Ripperton ripple through a mid tempo It’s All Right Now by Blaktroniks feat Ali Renee. Erik Rico brings his E Man boogie on the boombastic Electromagnetic whilst Opolopo’s Fearless typifies the bumping 80’s boogie renaissance. Worth checking is Stan Smith’s Disco Technic mash up and most definitely my matrix cut is Martino’s sexilicious Reason’s. Interesting selection!! www.thesoulsurvivors.co.uk 27
Private Wax - Complied by Zaf (BBE) Zaf has been a major fixture selling music privately and in an old school establishment Reckless Records for over 20 years. Mastered by another ex Reckless musicologist Sean P, Zaf digs in his crates unearthing some gems and version excursions over 16 tracks. First is the Burgess influenced rare Ashanti 7 inch Dance, a truly sweet tasting musical biscuit. I love being introduced to previously unknown quantities like Christian Gauberts Sweet Caroline and the Philharmonic PIR tinged Never Leave Me & I’ll Never Leave You by Philadelphia Brite. Version excursions come via 94 East 12 inch mix of Dance and the Willie Hutch penned Gwen McCrae classic Doin’ It by Chuck Strong. Funky boogie is served via Contagious-Music Freak and Gregory Jolly What’em Doing Is My Business with some obscure disco strings and things including Jeancy- Reservation and Aura -Freek. Sorry Drummer & Friends - Gueropa Aspresenta Bringing the samba, funk, rap and the soul from the heartbeat of South America is an impressive Sorry Drummer & Friends. Produced in the highest Bluenote meets Prestige quality I’m very impressed with this bi lingual Brazilian resemblance of a classic Foreign Exchange album. Vocal cuts like Life Is Too Short and Only You, Silvera If You Let Me Love You and Fly Away with its hip hop TQC meets J Dilla flavour sit nicely amongst latin samba instrumentals Groove Coletivo Experimental’s Aeroporto, Na Vitrola and the funky fusion moog Porao. In an almost CL Smooth meets D’Angelo lick check out a honey suckled Mr Reed Slow Down and Patricia Marx’s sexy Dias de Soul remix. I’m totally captivated by the seductive Sunshine Valmir Nascimento e Kamau my fave vocal cut off this seminal album. Great musicianship; its time to get versatile for a while and check out this groove!! Dwele - Greater Than One From Detroit Dwele continues to carry the mantel started from Berry Gordy’s 50 years Motown legacy. With the occasional references to being born an 80’s baby Dwele gets nostalgic on Going Leaving a tale of a missed opportunity of an intimate relationship with a female friend. Dwele duets with another vocal compradore Raheem DaVaughn on a harmonious What You Gotta Do and zephyrs excellently on What Profits production. Dwele breathes funky life on a wicked moog grooved This Love and with the aid of a gifted J Tait and L’Renee props Motown on a boogie broken down vibe Must Be. In the vein of an Ohio Players horns riff and an off key jazzy soul arrangement, is an excellent Swank feat. Monica Blaire. Check out the electro flavoured PAtrick RONald and a salsa smurfed Special. Dwele’s back!! Donna McGhee - Make It Last Forever (BBR) When Donna McGhee finally got her chance to shine as a lead vocalist boy..did she make it last forever. Produced by Greg Carmichael and the disco messiah Patrick Adams every track is a killer and there are bonus single versions of the titled track, It Ain’t No Big Thing plus an added Danny Krivit edit. There are other versions of the sweet, sexy and sensual Make It Last Forever, It Ain’t No Big Thing and I’m A Love Bug but Donna’s reign as some of the most defining ones. With pure boogie pleasure for your leisure listen to the X rated Donna Summer meets Diana Ross Do As I Do the longest album cut and the sublime bump and hustle groove Mr Blindman. Nuff said a truly wonderful timeless piece of exquisite beauty. Light Of The World - Light Of The World Expanded (BBR) They have been my ultimate Brit jazz funk band from North East London since the time I heard Swinging coming out of the radio on the 70’s soap nurses drama Angels. This mixture of their debut album includes it’s American remix tracklisting too. This group was the linch pin to creating splinter groups Incognito, The Warriors and Beggar & Co and the late Paul Tubbs Williams was the integral bass bottom maestro for all four. Standard classic fling footers Swinging, Midnight Grooving, Who Do You Think You Are and Live Together have so much energy you’ll need a respirator with the complex rhythms that unfold. Always loved the less furious tempo of Aspects Of Love, the incredible Dreams, Mirror Of My Soul, bonus cut I’ll Always Love You and B sides The World Is Out and the incredible Emergency are included. Fantastic bargain with Incognito’s Bluey in the original line up. Keith Killgo The Blackbyrds - Gotta Fly (K - Wes Indi Records) Aren’t we eternally glad these students paid attention to their mentoring tutor Dr Donald Byrd to become his protege group The Blackbyrds? Drummer Keith Killgo kicks off with I Need Your Love and You’re The One which both carry some rock fuel guitar and catchy chorus hooks. Gotta Fly conjures up the mid 70’s zephyr vocals and instrumental memories evokeing Donald’s Byrd’s Black Byrd and Donna Summer’s Bad Girls riff. Giving Love To Me is possibly the Mysterious Vibes track on the album, deliciously aided by an unknown but quality female vocalist. Some tracks are based on programmed beats like Ride and a house beat instrumental No Stopping but my ears lean more towards the live musical cuts like a funky rendition of Donny Hathaway's Someday We’ll All Be Free and a smooth jazzed and saxy I Can Feel It. Savour a few Do It Fluid cuts for sure!! 28 www.thesoulsurvivors.co.uk
Weldon Irvine - Spirit Man (Traffic Ent) This stupendous album at last on CD is welcome by many even if they don’t know it yet. Weldon Irvine was truly one of the most gifted musician songwriter with total spiritual understanding within his music. With his unique brand of jazz funk and soul fusion, this features TCQ sample We’re Getting Down for Award Tour, the funky Pogo Stick and the roller-coasting Blast Off. The one that blew me away was always Jungle Juice with that rumbling bass line and percussive fat drum snare production. Weldon gets classical with ballad instrumental Yasmin and restores the uptempo rhythms with the fabtab Power And The Glory. I met this gentle soul and genius over 15 years back not long before he passed and through his legacy Weldon will always be known as the Spirit Man!! Eddie Horan - I Love The Way You Love Me (Traffic Ent) I used to see this album often but never picked up on it. Giving amazing vocal clarity of a Johnny Mathis semblance, Eddie’s voice caresses the title track perfectly accompanied by an increase in tempo of the bright brass presence of a slinky When I Fly. Concert By The Sea would sit nicely next to either OC Smith or Willie Bobo’s version of the scintillating Together with it’s spine chilling atmospheric production and we’re only at track 3. I kinda like the mixture of one downtempo then an uptempo order which Man Without A Woman and Love So Easy continue however the last three tracks are most certainly aimed at the dancers. My preferred two are an infectious Can’t Do Without You and the apt titled Dancer. Like Cloud One Don’t Let This Rainbow Pass You By. Don E & Ladies - Ladies Night (Sm8music) Don E has recently shared centre stage space performing with Grace Jones and Omar but takes a back seat unselfishly when introducing his Ladies Night project. With some nice on point vocals he produces a variety of soulful, Miami Bass, slow jam and classic soul genres and tempos. Keeping it universally appealing Caught Up ft Nicole and Comeback ft Twilla J are a few of the catchy girlie singalong tunes then it’s slow jam time for Give It All To You ft Carrie. The classic soul serenaders feat Elisha La Verne on Gona Be Alright and Trousers ft Nadine Charles are two highlights. An afro beat Walkaway ft Shelly is one of the stronger dance tracks preluding Whatever You Need ft Talita mixing up cha cha cha with four floor beats quite uniquely. Don E has done a sterling job with this album. Rick Clarke and Don E - One Dance (Velvet Touch Records) Been spinning this for a couple of months on my shows from two of London and the UK’s finest musical street soul influences from the 80’s through to the current day. A sweet tale of asking a lady for one dance sees Don E and Rick interacting on a slick two step rare groove arrangement. There are quite a few mixes including a good latin mix that works for me. Out in October Don E and slick Rick in the mix.
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The Soul Survivors PO Box 377 West Malling Kent ME6 9DQ 07956 312931 (Send in early....we only have so much space!!!)
Honey Cone - Scorching Soul Trio (Backbeat Harmless) Listen to these twenty two cuts by a female trio whose cross pollination influence of the Motown sound included a fusion Holland Dozier Holland, The J5 and the Supremes. With Edna Oops Here I Go Again Wright at the lead vocal helm I admire the extended version of Want Ads. I simply love the prophetic Sunday Morning People and equally a very funky Son Of A Preacher Man. With that classic Detroit production these girls narrate on various tempos and different arrangements. There are bluesy cuts like The Feelings Gone and funky clavinet grooved When Will It End. Greg Perry’s compositions All The Kings Horses, Don’t Count Your Chickens and a powerful Wanted Dead Or Alive themed Stick Up compound the great lyrical writing we sometimes lack today. Scorching Soul indeed!! The Main Ingredient (Euphrates River & Afrodisiac) Two on on CD There is a heavy Motown influence via Stevie Wonder, Ashford and Simpson and Willie Hutch on this two in one CD. With his most distinctive falsetto voice Cuba Gooding is aided by the late Tony Silvester and Luther Simmons who concisely and sonically punctuate some wonderful work. Euphrates, Have You Ever Tried It, Summer Breeze and California Way seriously have to be heard. Great improvisation of Brian Augers Happiness Is Just Around The Bend and Stevie’s Don’t You Worry Bout A Thing and their successful hit version on Just Don’t Want To Be Lonely. Afrodisiac features six more Stevie Wonder and the late Syreeta Wright compositions including Superwoman and ballads Where Were You When I Needed You, I Am Yours and a funkier Something Lovely. Originally recorded and written by The Isley Bro’s my ultimate version has always been this phone call monologued one of Work To Do. Mostly ballad led with some great strings and harmonious backing vocals another low down piece of chunk funk is You Can Call Me Rover. Not a duff track on either album; this is essential listening!! Love Vibes - Various (Expansions) Ralph Tee, Steve Cole and Paul Clifford were inspired to collate eighteen overlooked or less popular anthemic 70’s and 80’s gems. The Emotions’ Love Vibes is full of EWF energy and GQ’s aptly titled Wonderful is unlike any standard earmarked GQ production. Melba introduced me to an underestimated Something On Your Mind feat Luther Vandross and Soul Survivors’ Anna loves Lenny Williams’ incredible When I’m Dancing so she’s happy. Dynasty sound like Shalamar on Here I Am and EWF impacted again on Sylvia St James brilliant Better Things. Rod Temperton ignites Heatwave’s Razzle Dazzle and Raydio’s All In The Way You Get Down. Overshadowed by Still In Love Rose Royce’s other silent album sleeper is an orchestrated Best Love. Instant Funk’s incredible Can You See Where I’m Coming From always melts me as will this whole album full of quality soulful vibrations! DJ Skip feat Shalamar - Don’t Go (SS Records) DJ Skip teamed up with producing maestro Steve Silk Hurley to form SS Records and enlisted Solar Records’ most marketable and longstanding act Shalamar to vocal Don’t Go. Out of fifteen mixes the soul surviving ones are Shane D’s Glitterball Club and his Solar Club and Radio mixes. Howard and Carolyn alternate lead vocals nicely in the verses of this very catchy future club classic. The Glitterball mix utilises a predominant live sounding disco bass with a straight hi hat production. The club and radio mixes retain some of the Right In The Socket ripples but provides an 80’s moog bass and a heavier four floor beat. Howard, Jeffrey and Carolyn ad-lib at will throughout the chorus of the song fulfilling a real feel good factor bullet. Soul Lounge 9 - Various artists (Dome) 40 soulful funky and jazz grooves spread over 3 CDs is no easy task but Dome achieve a mission that’s proved not to be impossible. CD one starts with an uptempo duo of Sy Smith & Rahsaan Patterson’s updated Billy Ocean cover One Of Those Nights and Down To The Bone’s Universal Vibe intriguing jazz trumpet and vibes instrumental. Going down tempo the cd’s pecking order includes Canadian soul stress Joslyn’s Do Watcha Gonna Do and Anthony David’s Omar vibed Body Language. Listen to Maysa’s vocal beauty Got To Be Strong and Khari Carbal feat India Irie’s slender sonics on a smooth bossa Never In Your Sun. CD two includes Rahsaan’s unique take on Only Have Eyes For You and Kindred’s sweet classic You Got Love. Hil St Soul and Heston exercise their excellent larynx's on Hey Boy and Warm Human. There are more latin and samba flavours from Alex Lattimore’s Lullaby, Avery Anderson’s Like This and Anthony David & Giovanca The Further We Go. Mikelyn Rodericks On Broadway tinged Love Of My Life and Khari Cabal & Julie Dexter’s 4 Hero esq Is It Any Wonder sets us up for CD three. The Sunburst Band feat Angela Johnson’s uplifting In The Thick Of It and Incognito’s Surreal mixed Ain’t It Time sound lively and energetic covering timeless classics. Two powerhouse vocals of the jazz world Mario Biondi and Greg Porter represent with their stapled anthems This Is What You Are and 1960 What? Mass Sheen’s creative mixes of Avery Sunshine’s I Got Sunshine and Anthony David’s Reach Ya enhance the jazzy presence and to finish Incognito subtley interprets Eddie Russ’s colossal jazz diamond Zaius. A greater investment than RSB banking. Good bargain!! 30 www.thesoulsurvivors.co.uk
Event reviews/letters Soul Kandi @ The English Lounge, High Street, Manchester, September 8th 2012 Since 2009 Manchester’s Soul Kandi boys have strived to put themselves at the top of the table as far as monthly soul events in the North West are concerned. The move to their new venue in the heart of Manchester city centre should reinforce that claim. Now on their fifth venue they have endured the hell of venues closing down without notice but that hasn’t deterred the fantastic following that these boys have. Concentrating their musical policy on modern, current and upfront soul, the Soul Kandi crew have kept alive the reputation that Manchester has for being at the forefront and cutting edge of major label and independent Black music. The move to The English Lounge will, without a doubt, compliment their ethos. Big Soul Kandi choons include Regina Troupe - Friday Night; Soulpersona - You Did It Again and the excellent Inhale Exhale by Venus Malone, to which the Candy Dance is done to, and all are served to you via their massive sound system! The music at this night is absolutely fantastic and all for £6 OTD. Darrell S Camp Soul Music Festival, Grove Farms, Milton Hill, Oxfordshire, August Bank Holiday weekend DJ, promoter and all round good guy Shaun Gallagher is the type of person that is willing to take a huge risk and put on an event that can be so reliant on the British weather. This was the second of it’s kind and this year saw the event double in numbers. If there is one thing about being British it is that we don’t need the sun shining all the time because we know how to party! Shaun always wanted this to be a camping event with music and not the other way around and this is what he has achieved. Set in a huge field in Oxfordshire with two stages, the first stage featured more mainstream soul and ‘The Marquee’ stage that took it a little bit deeper with house, jazz and more. Now when I say that the main stage was more mainstream the DJ’s on this bill will fire stuff at your ears that will have you mouthing the word ‘WOW’! Musical providers included Bob Masters, Jamie Taylor, Jackie Hocking, Geoff Allman, Paul Clark represented the North, South, East and West of the UK and many, many more plus Drizabone dropped by for a wonderful PA on the Saturday night. There was a double decker bus bar, food and t-shirt stalls and an area for that all important massage. If you don’t enjoy camping then there are plenty of hotels in the area, one of them is just 200 yards from the camp entrance! Peeps made it from the four corners, namely Cambridge, Bristol, London, Manchester, Brighton…. The list is endless. Hats off to you Sir Shaun Gallagher. Darrell.S Soul Steppers Summers End Party @ The Penthouse, Bromsgrove Street, Birmingham, September 15th 2012 There are times when writing a review for a club night is as easy as breathing. This night is one of those. Kevin J of Starpoint radio and Birmingham’s Sting FM is the Daddy that has put this night together and it has been building to a stomping good night since it’s inception in March. The night runs from 9pm until 4am and is £6 to get in when you purchase a ticket beforehand and just £10 OTD. 32 www.thesoulsurvivors.co.uk
Once you’ve parted with your sheckles be prepared to have your breath taken away. The Penthouse is a gorgeous plush club. When you go there you want to be wearing your finest threads to compliment the elegant surroundings and Birmingham’s Soul Family do just that. The night has some of the most attractive ladies that were ever to grace this vibrant City attending this club night. The men were dashing and cool and the whole crowd were extremely friendly. There’s an early doors salsa session/lesson which is a fantastic way to kick off the night’s proceedings before the main DJ’s Kevin J, Marcus Bee, Mellow A and Richy J lay down some sweet rare grooves and then turn it full up with 80’s and 90’s soul and R’n’B. There’s a good balance between anthems and upfront choons and the dancefloor was packed all night. The club holds around 300 and it was close to capacity on this night. Also on a plus side, it has air conditioning that WORKS! The toilets are clean and the security is low key and chilled as it is when it’s an over 35’s party. If you’re going to leave your armchair and visit Brum, then work it around this night, as it will be the icing on your cake when you visit the City. Would I go back there? YES! In a heartbeat. Darrell S Deborah Bond - Jazz Cafe - Friday 27 July 2012 This was the first time Deborah pronounced (De-bor-rah) had performed in Europe, and the Jazz Cafe marked the first night of her inaugural tour. Unfortunately for Deborah, this was the opening night of the London Olympic Games, but she managed to attract a loyal fan base, who were keen to see her make her debut performance in the UK. Deborah, her band and production team Third Logic form a tight unit and produce what they term as 'progressive soul' which means the music can move in many directions but the roots of soul are always there. Covering material from all three albums but focussing on 'Madame Palindrone', Deborah was lively and enthusiastic and so happy to be performing in London. She engaged the audience with lots of lively banter and we could not help but like this lady who had such an irresistable stage presence. Deborah's performance exceeded all of my expectations and she even performed her own version of Crystal Water's classic track Gypsy Woman. A strong supporter of UK music, Deborah was surprised and delighted to hear that some members of Incognito were there to support her, which made the night extra special. I believe this is the first of many visits for Deborah to these shores and if you missed her this time, make sure you catch her on her imminent return. June Furlong The 3rd Soulful Family Fun Day 28th July 2012 A rip-roaring success! We had 12 hours of non-stop Soul, RnB, Jazz Funk, new and old from a selection of DJs all giving their time in aid of this year’s chosen charity The Restricted Growth Association. The kids were kept amused during the daylight hours with fairground rides, face painting and other entertainment but the real fun began after dark with everyone getting down to party.
DJs Ash Selector, Chaz J, Chris Moose, Richard Dunstan, Paul Trinder and me, Andy Richards played varying sets throughout the day keeping the music fresh. We were competing with each other to see who could keep the most people dancing – a bit of cheating went on though as a group of DJs (namely Shaun Owen, Paul Bennett, Nik Buttress and Chris Brown) came over from Cambridge and you couldn’t keep them off the dancefloor – they’ll be back next year! We raised over £800 for the Charity and a big shout goes out to all the DJs, local businesses in Haverhill and the soul lovers that made the day such a success. We’re doing it all again next year so make a note in your diaries, IPads or IPhones. Saturday 27th July 2013 – keep an eye on the Facebook page under 4th Soulful Family Fun Day – raising money for ‘Grief Encounter’ (you may have seen the TV Documentary on this little known Charity) This prompted us (the committee) to give ourselves a name so: Soulful Unsung Heroes (Raising Money for Lesser known Charities) was born! Look out for us in the future - so many deserving causes - so little time! Come along and see some of these DJs in action at the 1st Embassy Soul Weekender on 12th/13th and 14th October 2012 at Marks Tey Hotel – check out the details on www.timelesssoul.co.uk See you there! Andy Richards Summer Soul All Dayer - 29 July This three room all dayer took place at the 4 star Dunkenhalgh hotel near Blackburn, commenced at 12 noon and the choons still blasting out till 2pm. The Pendle suite covered a “Ritz” style Northern, 70s jazz funk and disco format with top Northern soul DJs Ginger Taylor, Neil Rushton and Richard Searling keeping the faithful happy with 60s and 70s Northern soul floor shakers. The jazz funkers in the house were treated to 70s jazz funk anthems from the KGH trio Colin Curtis, Mark Grice and Ian Gillibrand. At 7pm Northern soul legend Nolan Porter provided a excellent PA covering his hits including “Keep On Keeping On”. Room 2 The Towneley suite was the home for the current soulful house, RnB, jazz groovers and soul (this was my fav room). North West DJs Mike Stephens, Tony Clooney, Pete Haigh, Dean and Jim Hargreaves played top quality choons to dance yer ass off to and smooch to. The Dunklaw suite was for the real soul connoisseurs where some serious crate digging took place to provide the best in 60s, 70s and 80s real soul provided by Ged Lunt, Glyn Thornhill and Eddy Edmonson. Quality rarities for the real soul lovers. Big shout out to the Liverpool, Manchester, Gloucester, Birmingham, Telford and Yorkshire posses who all enjoyed the music, dancing bbq and booze. Big respect to the promoters Richard Searilng and Neil Rushton who are both keen supporters of “The Soul Survivors Magazine”. Next stop the Blackpool Luxury Soul Weekender and Atlantic Starr.....oh yes. Raph Parkinson, North West Soul Survivor
We Love Soul Sunday Aug 26th @ Hidden SE11 This night is earmarked as a must attend gig on the Bank Holiday Sundays to party till 7am. There were great sets in all three rooms from Birthday boy HB, Dezzie D, Confunktion the the Jigga Man and Dave VJ who had the party room harmoniously vibing preluding the much anticipated set from Mic Murphy. Singing This Is For You and You’re In My System Mic was appreciated greatly by his adulating audience. The jazzfunk boogie room saw Neville, Colin Scott, Sticko Zaza and Cleveland Anderson reminiscing the classic flingfoot whilst Jazzie Q, Clemy Riley and the rest of the house collective provided the uptempo four floor bpm beats. Next two winter installments are October 20th and November 3rd so pencil them in your diaries. Fitzroy Larry Graham @ Clapham Grand SW11 10th September On a school night so many attended to see Larry Graham and his new GCS lineup perform some of the old and new repertoire from his Graham Central Station and Sly & The Family Stone days. You can see how he unknowingly mentored Prince from afar with his musicianship and slick dance moves. His impromptu playing bass in da place in the middle of the audience on a chair was so powerful. The adulation was frightening as Larry went 45 minutes overtime blistering through a melody of Sly classics Dance To The Music, Hot Fun In The Summertime, Everyday People and Thank You For Letting Me Be Myself. From GSC he revisited Can’t Stand The Rain, Release Yourself and Do You Wanta Dance. Showcasing his band’s talents we were treated to his new album cuts Raise Up and cover of Stevie Wonder’s Higher Ground. Larry remains a true master who enjoys his work and hailed universally as the inventor of the thump and pluck bass style. Fitzroy Move On Up @ Greyhound Streatham SW16 This night over two years has grown from strength to strength hosted by the highland fling foot proud flying Scotsman Stevie Dundee and Tony Rodriguez. They were joined by the legendary Paul Trouble Anderson doing an old school set and downstairs Colin Scott, Johnny Reckless and earthday boy Pat Steele spinning the deeper side for the more hard core revelers. Despite a few unplanned technical issues the night was busy on both floors with Trouble mixing in tunes like Fools Paradise by Melisa Morgan and commanding many a cheer he’s been accustomed to over the years. Always the first Saturday of the month and I’ll be playing in October but there are two more for your diary this year if your nice and local in South London. Fitzroy Tip Toe @ Mekan SE6 24th August These young ladies upped their game from the first successful launch with people arriving early and an improved sound system. Very nice vibe from the off with headline Dj’s Tony Rodriguez and Lewis Mastermind. I was asked to fill in lastmin.com due to a Dj shortage and ended up spinning from Tony Rodriguez’s selection but enjoyed warming up the proceedings. The hosts Dawn Donaldson and earthday girls Genie Sutherland and Lisa Lacy were in their element as the music was flowing and bubbling like champagne and wine. Great mature audience in a nice downstairs underground location that rocks till 4 am so if your on the south east side it’s worth checking!! Fitzroy
We would love to hear your reviews of the events you have been to. Please do forward your review (max 250 words) and photos by the cut off date and we will publish. anna@thesoulsurvivors.co.uk
Temptations with Richard Street @ Derngate Northampton I’m a big fan of these provincial shows and this was the 2nd in a 35 date tour round the UK. Richard Street replaced Paul Williams from the original line up in 1971 and stayed with The Tempts until 1993. He’s a 3x Grammy award winner and probably most famous as the lead vocal in the huge hit “Papa Was A Rollin Stone”. Street teamed up here with four guys who can really sing! From bass to falsetto they covered the whole range and appeared on stage with sharp striped suits. Street wore a white sparkly suit and the show covered all the great Temptations hits to rapturous applause. Three quarters into the show though a beautiful ballad was performed which surprisingly I hadn’t heard before. It turned out to be the track “Heavenly” from the 1973 album “1990” confusing, hell yeah. Well I was flabbergasted and on returning home immediately set out to buy the album and find out more about this gem of a tune. Wikipedia informed me that the ballad "Heavenly", sung by Richard Street and Damon Harris was caught in the centre of a disc jockey boycott against Motown. A Motown executive did not thank the United States' DJs while accepting an award for the Temptations at the 1974 American Music Awards and, as a result, the DJs refused to play "Heavenly". WOW, no wonder it’s less well known but blimey what a sensational tune and surely would have been one of their huge hits given the airplay. I highly recommend soul music fans to check out this show in their local theatre. You won’t be disappointed. Chris Tyrrell (Soul Survivor Member) Joey Negro and the Sunburst Band Jazz Café, 17/8/12 Set up beautifully by the release of their tasty ‘In The Thick Of It’ single, closely followed by latest album ‘The Secret Life Of Us’, this sold-out gig was the perfect summer night feel good experience. DJ, songwriter and producer Joey, aka Dave Lee, built up the anticipation with a bunch of tunes at his decks before the Sunburst Band hit the stage. It must be really something to have top players like this bring to life your musical visions, especially with high calibre vocalists Donna Gardier and Pete Simpson out front interacting warmly with the capacity crowd. The new album’s title track, oozing Chic-like class, set the bar at a gold medal winning height from the get-go, followed by ‘Our Lives Are Shaped’, on which Pete’s voice demonstrated real cutting edge. Across many tunes old and new (‘Rough Times’, ‘Sitting On Top Of The World’, ‘Put A Lyric In It’ and the aforementioned Brenda Russell cover, amongst others), the live SB captured its groovy studio sound perfectly, driven by the formidable rhythm section of Frank Tontoh on drums and Julian Crampton’s bass. Paying tribute, with a modern attitude to all the best boogie, disco and electro-funk from back in the day, this is one of the best live band dance gigs to be found anywhere. Guy Barnett Incognito, Ronnie Scotts Jazz Club London 31 Aug 2012 Primed and ready to unleash his bands brand of Jazz, funk and soul, his guitar and torso as one about to produce the rhythm for tonight, the affable John-Paul 'Bluey' Maunick's first words were 'Love you too sweetheart'. This was response an audience member’s adoration to himself and his evolving, multinational and multitalented band. As well as consistently producing critically acclaimed albums Bluey must also be a conjurer. Managing to shoehorn the number of musicians and singers onto the intimate stage at Ronnie Scotts and then reproducing some of their various hits with his current lineup is quite a feat. Imaani's vocals had a reverberating effect on my ears during 'Cant Get You Out Of My Head' she is such a vocal power house.
Bluey asked the audience what compels people to leave their homes to watch bands, go to clubs and listen to music. This was a cue for the audience to leave their seats and boogie, briefly revisiting the days of disco, the music that had an influence on their younger years. Other numbers during the evening including ‘Colibri’ managed to have a similar intoxicating affect. The conclusion of 'Still A Friend Of Mine' gave a green light and opportunity for the talented band to display their impressive versatility by demonstrating their skills on other members’ instruments. Their drummer displayed some serious dexterous slapping of the bass that would leave Mark King of Level 42 open mouthed, keyboard wizard Matt Cooper is no novice on the drums and should he wish to vacate the keyboards bass player Francis Hylton could fill his shoes should the need arise. We were reminded that some of the current band members were not even born when Incognito were first formed. On that basis I would advise you to avoid the disappointment of facing the ‘Sold out’ sign for the Incognito of the future where the band members do not yet exist and the affectionate calls will be towards a different generation and the affable guitarist from Mauritius. Eli Trim (Soul Survivor Member) Anna’s round up..... I need more space!! First up was Beyond Soul in Camberwell which is always a great night and hot! The night has a really lovely atmosphere and the music is pretty much high speed all night. I can thoroughly recommend it but beware; you need to wear layers as you will want to peel them off throughout the night and sensible shoes, neither of which I ever manage to remember! After a late B/H night at We Love Soul, Hilary and I couldn’t resist going to the Bickley Manor Alldayer on the Monday which just happens to be about 20 mins from us. Unfortunately, we got there too late for the included BBQ but as we entered this huge manor house we could hear the soul pumping out of the windows. Set on two floors, it brought together a lovely crowd who were definitely ready to party. It was great to see some people we hadn’t seen for years and there was a good mixture of both anthems and current great soul. Formation dancing was order of the day with our lovely friends Will and Dalton leading the way. Blimey did my legs hurt! Wrong shoes again...! The following weekend we got to go to another Kent event and this time just 10 minutes away! Not normally known for quality music IMHO, Maidstone was the place to go on this Saturday night as Robbie Vincent was to play at Banks. The prospect was very exciting and as we entered the seemingly small venue, we were delighted to find that in the garden was a huge marquee. It was heaving and for the majority, Robbie played a blinding set along with Jeff Young. I spoke to a number of Soul Survivors there and it is probably true to say that Robbie could have played a deeper set as he certainly has the collection and experience to do so but the crowd loved it, the fabulous young bar staff loved it and at the end of the day, we want to see some more of it. Well done to Banks for taking the chance in Maidstone to entertain us oldies....see we do know how to party! Please sort the concrete floor out though...my feet were killing me! On a rare hot Saturday we took a trip to Paul Clark’s night The Jetty Comes To Papillon in Brighton where he was joined by Jonny Leyton. Lovely venue, great music (must remember to ask Jonny about a fab JB track he played) and we met a great crowd who really made us laugh. My sides were killing me as well as my feet this time! Oh and I mustn’t forget Soul Shack. As always we had a fab night with birthday boy James Anthony and Ash Selector being great hosts and playing just what we wanted to hear. Anna x
What’s goin’ on?
THURSDAY 4 OCTOBER
Sophisticated City Soul @ The Wine Tun, 2-6 Cannon Street, EC4M 6XX 6pm-Mid Free entry (See Ad) Barbara Mason @ Assembly Hall, Upper St, Islington, N1 2UD
FRIDAY 5 OCTOBER
United In Soul @ Affinity Beyond Bar, 247 The Broadway, Bexleyheath, DA6 8DB 9pm-1am £5 (See Ad) Farmhouse Funk & Soul @ Botley Hill Farmhouse, Limpsfield Road, Warlingham CR6 9QH. 8pm-1am £6 in adv, £7 OTD Soul Experience Launch Party @ The Lounge, 1 Jute Lane, Enfield EN3 7PJ 9pm-3am, £10 entry (opening night special £5 b4 10.30pm) DJ Ash Selector
SATURDAY 6 OCTOBER
Soul on the Harbour @ Jacksons Wharf, York St, Ramsgate Kent CT11 9DS Free, 8 till 1 with East Kent Soul Connection DJs. (See Ad) Summer Soulstice 6 Big Payback 2012 @ The Reks, 149 High St, Barnet EN5 5SU. 8pm-1am Free admission Move On Up @ The Greyhound Bar & Club, 151 Greyhound Lane, SW16 5NJ Incognito @ Hoochie Coochie, 54 Pilgrim St, Newcastle, NE1 6SF £40 Soul At The Hotel @ The Hotel De-ville, Grange Road, Ramsgate, Kent 6pm-Mid Free entry.
WEDNESDAY 10-20 OCTOBER Mediterranean Soul @ Turkey
FRIDAY 12-14 OCTOBER
Embassy Soul Weekend @ The Marks Tey Hotel, London Rd, Essex CO6 1DU DJs in 2 rooms, dinner, B&B all for £99!
FRIDAY 12 OCTOBER
SoulBeat @ Bromley Function Rooms, Kent 8pm-1am £5 last entry 10.15pm (See Ad) The Real Thing @ Liverpool Philharmonic Hall. Show starts 7.30pm
SATURDAY 13 OCTOBER
All Souled Up 5 @ The Old Salt Quay, 163 Rotherhithe St, SE16 5QU 10p,-4am £8 B4 11pm (See Ad) Treacle Soul @ Queens Head, Hemel Hempstead,Herts. 8-late Free Entry Omar @ The Jazz Cafe, Camden, NW1 Reminisce @ Rhum Jungle, Cottons Islington, 70 Exmouth Market, EC1R 4QP 9pm-2am with guest DJ Little Wendy Soul Steppers @ The Penthouse, (above Loft Lounge) Bromsgrove St, Birmingham, B5 6RG 9-4am £6 Adv £10 OTD
WEDNESDAY 17-31 OCTOBER Soul in the Caribbean @ Barbados Tickets available from Soul Survivors
FRIDAY 19 OCTOBER
36 www.thesoulsurvivors.co.uk
Reel People ft Tony Momrelle & Imaani @ The Jazz Cafe, Camden Courtney Pine album launch @ Assembly Hall, Islington, N1
SATURDAY 20 OCTOBER
We Love Soul @ Hidden Club, 100 Tinworth St, London SE11 5EQ 10pm-7am. 3 Rooms of the best Soul, 80s classics, party anthems, funk, boogie, disco and soulful house. (See Ad) Sophisticated Soul @ Oakley House, 358 Bromley Common, Bromley, Kent BR2 8HA. A night of great music and a 3 course meal. (See Ad) Soul Shack @ The Abbey 30-33 The Minories EC3N 1DD Suite Soul @ Foxbar Hotel, London Road, Kilmarnock DJs Terry jones & Dean Walker and Bob Jeffries Soul Kandi @ The English Lounge, 64-66 Hi St, Mancester M4 1EA. 9-2pm £6 OTD
MONDAY 22 - 26 OCTOBER
Cameo @ The Jazz Cafe, Camden, NW1
THURSDAY 25 OCTOBER
Loose Ends @ Assembly Hall, Upper St, Islington, N1 2UD (See Ad)
FRIDAY 26-28 OCTOBER
Bournemouth Soul Weekender @ Carrington House Hotel, Bournemouth
SATURDAY 27 OCTOBER
Giants of Lovers Rock @ Indigo2 at the O2 Back to the Groove @ The Wheatsheaf Hungry Horse, Northdown Park Road, Margate DJ Lee H with classic & nu Soul Back2Back FM.Net Presents Shoreditch Soul @ Charlie Wrights, 45 Pitfield St, London, N1 6DA 9pm till 4am Free B4 10.30, £5 after and £10 after 11pm Westcoast Soulstars @ Hoochie Coochie, 54 Pilgrim St, Newcastle, NE1
WED 31 OCT-2 NOV
SOS Band @ The Jazz Cafe, Camden
FRIDAY 2 NOVEMBER
Playback Re-Loaded @ H Bar, 16 Church Rd, Hove, BN3 2FL 9pm-3am Free B4 11 with Marcia Carr, Mickey Cee and more. Soul Experience @ The Lounge, 1 Jute Lane, Enfield EN3 7PJ 9pm-3am, £10 entry DJ Ash Selector Tip Toe pt 2 @ Mekan, 11-13 Bromley Road, SE6 2TS £7 in adv 10pm - 4am
SATURDAY 3 NOVEMBER
We Love Soul @ Hidden Club, 100 Tinworth St, London SE11 5EQ 10pm-7am. 3 Rooms of the best Soul, 80s classics, party anthems, funk, boogie, disco and soulful house. (See Ad) Soul on the Harbour @ Jacksons Wharf, York St, Ramsgate Kent CT11 9DS Free, 8 till 1 with East Kent Soul Connection DJs. (See Ad)
Move On Up @ The Greyhound Bar & Club, 151 Greyhound Lane, SW16 5NJ
FRIDAY 9 NOVEMBER
United In Soul @ Affinity Beyond Bar, 247 The Broadway, Bexleyheath, DA6 8DB 9pm-1am £5 (See Ad)
SATURDAY 10 NOVEMBER
True Spirit @ 3 Blind Mice Lounge, 104 City Rd, EC1V. Stretch Taylor, Scott James & guests. 9pm-2am Heavy Soul @ Cherry Cons Club, Cherry Hinton Rd, Cambridge CB1 7AJ 8pm1.30am £8 DJs Les Knott & Chris Brown Reminisce @ Rhum Jungle, Cottons Islington, 70 Exmouth Market, EC1R 4QP 9pm-2am Soul Fine @ The Tereza Joanne Boat, King George V Dock, Woolwich Manor Way, E16 2QY. Adv Tkts £7 & £10 OTD B4 12 Lee Fields & The Expressions @ 02 Academy Islington, N1
MONDAY 12 NOVEMBER
Lalah Hathaway @ Jazz Cafe, Camden
THURSDAY 15 NOVEMBER
Lalah Hathaway with guest Julie Dexter @ Jazz Cafe, Camden
FRIDAY 16 NOVEMBER
SoulBeat @ Bromley Function Rooms, Kent 8pm-1am £5 last entry 10.15pm (See Ad)
SATURDAY 17 NOVEMBER
Street Sounds 30th Anniversary @ The Coronet, 28 New Kent Road, London SE1 6TJ. 3 rooms with live acts, DJs and more (See Ad) Soul Steppers @ The Penthouse, (above Loft Lounge) Bromsgrove St, Birmingham, B5 6RG 9-4am £6 Adv £10 OTD
SUNDAY 18 NOVEMBER
SOUL360 Launch Night @ Club Hidden, 100 Tinworth St, SE11 5EQ 9.30-4am. 2 Rooms with top DJs £5 B4 12.30 £10 after Fatback @ Hoochie Coochie, 54 Pilgrim St, Newcastle, NE1 £20
SUNDAY 18-19 NOVEMBER
Rahsaan patterson @ Jazz Cafe, Camden
THURSDAY 22 NOVEMBER
Sophisticated City Soul @ The Wine Tun, 2-6 Cannon Street, EC4M 6XX 6pm-Mid Free entry (See Ad)
FRIDAY 23-25 NOVEMBER
Sunny Hunny Soul Weekender @ Hunstanton, Norfolk. Northern Soul, Club Classics, Jazz Funk & Modern in 3 rooms.
SATURDAY 24 NOVEMBER
Omar + Noel McKoy & Kele Le Roc @ Assembly Hall, Upper St, Islington, London N1 2UD (See Ad) Soul Network @ The Gable, 25, Moorgate, EC2R 6AR. 2 Rooms of soul. Ticket entry only. (See Fitzroy for tickets)
STOMP T-SHIRTS NOW AVAILABLE! The Soul Survivors Radio Shows with Fitzroy da Buzzboy Thursdays 7-10pm Mondays 4-6pm Sunday 5-7pm Bi-weekly Where you can find Fitzroy 6 Oct Move On Up @ Greyhound SW16 12-14 Oct Embassy Soul Weekender Colchester, Essex 17-31 Oct Soul In The Caribbean, Barbados 17 Nov Streets Sounds @ Coronet, SE1 17 Nov Funky Sensation @ Ronnie Scotts W1 18 Nov 360 @ Hidden, SE11 (+ Every Sunday) 24 Nov Soul Network @ The Gable EC2 1 Dec United Soul @ Old Salt Quay, SE16 8 Dec King of Clubs @ Zoo, Manchester 15 Dec Funky Sensation @ Ronnie Scotts, W1 29 Dec We Love Soul @ Hidden SE11 31 Dec Soul Network @ The Alchemist EC3
Back to the Groove @ The Wheatsheaf Hungry Horse, Northdown Park Road, Margate DJ Lee H with classic & nu Soul Back2Back FM.Net Presents Shoreditch Soul @ Charlie Wrights, 45 Pitfield St, London, N1 6DA 9pm till 4am Free B4 10.30, £5 after and £10 after 11pm
THURSDAY 29 NOV-1 DEC
SOUL II SOUL ft Jazzie B, Caron Wheeler & full live band @ Assembly Hall, Upper St, Islington, London N1 2UD (See Ad)
TUESDAY 11 DECEMBER
Heatwave & Gwen Dickey with full bands @ Islington Assembly Hall, London N1 (See Ad)
FRIDAY 14 DECEMBER
United In Soul @ Affinity Beyond Bar, 247 The Broadway, Bexleyheath, DA6 8DB 9pm-1am £5 (See Ad) Roachford @ Assembly Hall, Upper St, Islington, N1 2UD
FRIDAY 30 NOVEMBER
FRIDAY 21 DECEMBER
SATURDAY 1 DECEMBER
SATURDAY 22 DECEMBER
Sunburst Band @ Jazz Cafe, Camden United Soul @ Old Salt Quay, Rotherhithe Street, London SE16 5QU. 4pm-4am 2 floors of music £20 incl. food. (See Ad) Soul on the Harbour @ Jacksons Wharf, York St, Ramsgate Kent CT11 9DS Free, 8 till 1 with East Kent Soul Connection DJs. (See Ad) Move On Up @ The Greyhound Bar & Club, 151 Greyhound Lane, SW16 5NJ Essex Funkers Christmas Bash @ Harlow Town FC. Les Knott, Jonny Layton & Messy Adv £8 or £12 OTD
SUNDAY 2-9 DECEMBER
Gran Can Soul @ Gran Canaria incl DJs Ash Selector, Steve Hobbs & Mick Farrer
MONDAY 3-6 DECEMBER
Brand New Heavies @ Jazz Cafe, Camden
FRIDAY 7 DECEMBER
Alexander O’Neal & Junior Giscombe @ Assembly Hall, Upper St, Islington, N1 2UD (See Ad) SoulBeat @ Bromley Function Rooms, Kent 8pm-1am £5 last entry 10.15pm (See Ad) Soul Experience @ The Lounge, 1 Jute Lane, Enfield EN3 7PJ 9pm-3am, £10 entry DJ Ash Selector Craig Charles DJ Set @ Hoochie Coochie, 54 Pilgrim St, Newcastle, NE1 £10
SATURDAY 8 DECEMBER
Kings of Clubs @ The Zoo, 126 Grosvenor Street, Manchester City Centre, M1 7HL 10pm-3am £7 in adv or £10 OTD (See Ad)
SUNDAY 9 DECEMBER
Kindred The Family Soul @ Jazz Cafe, Camden (See Ad)
Shalamar @ Indigo2 at the 02 (See Ad) Reminisce @ Rhum Jungle, Cottons Islington, 70 Exmouth Market, EC1R 4QP 9pm-2am
SATURDAY 29 DECEMBER
The All New Rafters @ The Zoo, 126 Grosvenor St, Manchester City Centre, M1 7HL 9pm-3am £10 in adv or £15 OTD (See Ad)
FRIDAY 5-7 JANUARY
Luxury Soul Weekender @ Hilton, Blackpool with Atlantic Starr live on stage.
FRIDAY 8 JANUARY
United In Soul @ Affinity Beyond Bar, 247 The Broadway, Bexleyheath, DA6 8DB 9pm-1am £5 (See Ad)
FRIDAY 8-10 MARCH 2013
Prestatyn Soul Weekender @ Pontins, Prestatyn. Full line up and info. in the next issue. Family Affair @ Searles Leisure Park, Hunstanton, Norfolk.
THURSDAY 9-16 MAY
Soul In The Algarve @ Portugal
FRIDAY 14-23 JUNE 2013
Grown & Sexy Antigua III @ Antigua (See Ad)
WEEKLY EVENTS
1st TUESDAY of the month
Riding High @ The Vibe Bar, Brick Lane, E1 7.30pm-11.30pm DJ Abi Clarke Free entry
EVERY 2ND & 4TH WEDNESDAY
Johntys Chill Out Sessions @ Traffic Bar Cafe, 39 Hi St, Dunmow CM6 1AE 8.3011.30pm with jazz, smooth jazz funk and saxophonist Johnty Wilks plus guests.
WEDNESDAY & FRIDAY
Funk & Soul @ Anise, 9 Devonshire Square, London EC2M 4YL DJ Sugaray & Guests. 1st Wed/Fri Soul, Funk, Boogie & Disco 2nd Wed/Fri All things Funky. 3rd Wed/Fri Classic R&B, Hip Hop
EVERY 2ND & 4TH THURSDAY Micro Clubbing @ The Corner Lounge, 1 Exchange Way, Chelmsford, Essex, CM1 1XB. 6-10pm Jazz, funk, fusion, deep house with DJ Johnty plus live sax and guests. Half price cocktails & snacks.
EVERY THURSDAY
Live Jazz @ Hoochie Coochie, 54 Pilgrim Street, Newcastle NE1 6SF SoulBrew Karaoke @ Madam Jo Jo’s, 8-10 Brewer St, London W1F 0SE 7pm-2am £5
EVERY FRIDAY
The Lounge Chislehurst @ 1-3 White Horse Hill, Chislehurst BR7 6DG with DJ David Cooper til midnight. (See Ad) Soul Central @ The Prophecy, 141 Wimbledon Broadway, SW19 1QJ 9pm2am £10 OTD after 10.30pm (See Ad) Soul Uprising @ Rendezvouz Bar & Grill, 1149 Hi Rd, Chadwell Heath, Romford, RM6 4AT Remiinissin @ The Roxbury, 19-21 High Street, Croydon CR0 1QB 10pm-5am £7 before 12/£10 after Jimmy Mack’s @ Copacobana, 19-23 Clifton St, Blackpool, FY1 1JD. Northern Soul, Motown, Philly and more Good Grooves @ Central's Bar & Lounge, 169 Central Road, Worcester Park, Surrey KT4 8DF Quality Soul Jazz Funk
EVERY SATURDAY
Funky Sensation @ Upstairs at Ronnie Scotts. Night at the Jazz Rooms @ The Jazz Place, 10 Ship St, Brighton. Jimmy Mack’s @ Copacobana, 19-23 Clifton St, Blackpool, FY1 1JD. Northern Soul, Motown, Philly and more EVERY SUNDAY (From 18 Nov) SOUL360 Launch Night @ Club Hidden, 100 Tinworth St, SE11 5EQ 9.30-4am. 2 Rooms with top DJs £5 B4 12.30 £10 after
IF YOU WOULD LIKE YOUR EVENTS LISTED HERE FREE OF CHARGE, PLEASE EMAIL anna@thesoulsurvivors.co.uk or 01732 844246 FULL DETAILS OF EVENTS ARE ON OUR WEBSITE CALENDAR http://www.thesoulsurvivors.co.uk/whats-going-on/ WE EMAIL EVENT REMINDERS OUT ONCE A WEEK INCLUDING COMPETITIONS TO WIN TICKETS! SEND YOUR DETAILS IN TO RECEIVE UPDATES. Events can be subject to change so please check with promoter if unsure.
Soul Radio DAILY
5-7am Mon-Fri Supa Fine Sessions with DJ Speedy on www.tsolradio.com
MONDAYS
1-3pm DJ Hal presents FUNK Beyond da Call of Duty on streetfm.net (94.) 6-8pm Darrell’s Funk Box with Jazz Funk & Soul on soulpower-radio.com 6-8pm Strictly Vinyl Sessions with Carl Dennie on solarradio.com Soul/Rare grooves 6-8pm Souled Out with Colsie on www.tongueandgrooveradio.com 6-8pm Vibe Tribe Pt2 with Matt & Andy P on www.soulconnexion.com 7-9pm Clive Ashford Soul Show. Soul, disco, & jazz funk on www.nationalsoulradio.com 7-9pm Ian Henry with Soul, Jazz Fusion & funk on generationradio.co.uk 7-10pm Rod Allsworth Classic Soul Show on Fyldefm.com 8-10pm Souled Out with Mark K on www.tongueandgrooveradio.com 9-11pm The Hot Box with Gary Turner on Zeroradio.co.uk Soul-jazz, nu-jazz & latin beat 10pm-12am Soul Crackers George Power & Funksy. LGR 103.3fm London or lgr.co.uk 10pm - Midnight Insatiable Soul with Roni O’Brien on Solar Radio
10pm-Midnight Whistle & White Socks Brigade with Simon Ford on zeroradio.co.uk
FRIDAYS 6-8pm The Feel It Show with Wayne B & Angie D on urbanjazzradio.net 9-11pm Sammy Sam with Disco, Boogie, Soul & Jazz Funk starpointradio.com 12 Midnight-2am The Funk Therapy Show with Akin on solarradio.com
SATURDAYS
9-11sm Sunday Service with Brian Kelly on zeroradio.co.uk Jazz funk and soul 10-1pm Robbie Vincent www.jazzfm.com 10-Midday The Sunday Soul Affair with Curly CJ starpointradio.com Jazz Funk & Soul 10-Midday Soul A.M with the Master J on tongueandgrooveradio.com & soulam.co.uk 10-Midday The Sunday Morning Affair with Sly Bang 103.6fm 11am-1pm Marky Mark Soul Motive show on www.back2backfm.net 12-2pm The SSS Show Shaun Evans and Marcus Bell on www.secklowsounds.org 12-2pm DJ Enyaw on dejavufm.com with The Sunday Soul Selection 1-3pm Mucho Soul with Ket & DJ AKA on www.back2backfm.net 2-4pm Scotpod Cosmic Soul on www.scotpod.net 2pm-4pm Original Mastercuts with Ian Dewhirst & Alan Champ starpointradio.com 2-4pm Russ Dewbury with Jazz Rooms Sunday SocialBrighton’s Juice 107.2 3-6pm Stumpi-Inspiration Show Soul on diversefm.com 102.8fm Herts, Beds & Bucks. 3-6pm Soul360 with Aitch B on www.colourfulradio.com & DAB London 4-6pm Neo Soul Agenda with Simon Precilla on www.dejavufm.com 4-6pm The Soul Cellar with Al B in Bristol. www.passionradiobristol.com 4-6pm Randy Peterson Playing a soulful mix of house music on www.housefm.net 4-7pm Ralph Tee on www.jazzfm.com 6-8pm Soul Discovery with Mick O’Donnell on solarradio.com 6-9pm Sunday Night Soul with Keith Fletcher on BBC Radio Lancashire Motown/Northern 7-9pm Essex Funkers with Les Knot on www.soulcitygrooves.com 10pm-Mid Mellow A on soulradiouk.com Midnight-3am DJ Afroogroove on 91.6FM or www.genesisradio.co.uk/afrogroove 1.6FM From 12 midnight to 3am featuring the best in jazz, fusion, latin, soul, afrobeats & spoken word. JL’s Groove can be listened to on demand on www.celticradio.com Weekly podcasts on dazlingsoul.com live365.com/station/atomicdog65 24/7 webstream Soul, Jazz & Neo Soul If in Costa del Sol, check out global.fm Jeff Thomas Mon-Fri 2-5pm, Sun 9-Midday Podcast soulpower08.mypodcast.com Tony Poole on TKO Gold 106 Wks-9pm 96.7 & 87.7 FM in Spain or tkogold.com Marky Mark of Soul Motive with soul funk.ssradiouk.com/category/shows/soul-motive/ The Groove with Suzy Chase podcast shows on www.thegrooveradio.com VibeRide Podcast/radio Shows at VibeRide.org.uk Dez Parkes, Marc Mac with an eclectic mix of black music via podcast on www.nuwaveradio.co.uk
8-10am Jump Start with Ginger Tony on solarradio.com From nu-jazz to funk & jazz 8-10am Sunshineman on 89.8 FM London station898fm.net Jazz, Funk & Soul 9-11am Saturday Soul Bowl with Sean P on Hot96.co.uk 9-11am Saturday Fry Up with Mark, Ricky & Trevor on starpointradio.com Soul & Funk 10am -12pm Soulful Saturdays with Ian Dee pointblank.fm 90.2fm Ldn. 10am-Midday The Early Bird Catching The Worm Show House FM with DJ Birdy 10am-12pm Kev Roberts on Solarradio.com 11am The Starpoint Radio UK Soul Chart on starpointradio.com. 11am-1pm 6MS SESSIONS Disco, soul, house, funk boogie on stompradio.com Midday-2pm Groove Control Show with TUESDAYS Ash Selector on solarradio.com 6-8pm June Furlong on Solarradio.com 1-4pm Saturday Soulmine with Jonny 9-11pm Jazz Movement with Sean P on Layton & Mr Messy on zeroradio.co.uk Hot96.co.uk 9-Midnight Inside America Michael Speaks 2-4pm Turn the Music up with James Anthony on solarradio.com Classic ‘n’ current Da Costa on thesouloflondonradio.com 2-4pm Dancefloor Grooves with Jamie WEDNESDAYS Taylor on www.banburyinternetradio.com 1-3pm Ian Henry with Soul, Jazz Fusion and 3-6pm Peter Young on Jazz FM. A mixture of funk on www.generationradio.co.uk old & new soul with ‘The Soul Cellar’ at 5pm 8-10pm Soul Syndicate with Peter P on 6-8pm Movin’ On! with Mark Blee on time1075.com soulpower-radio.com 8-10pm The Triple SSS Show with Shaun Evans & Marcus Bell on www.radiomk.co.uk 6-9pm Superior Rhythm Soul Show from Spain with Dean Freeman on exitefm.com 9-11pm Steve O'Mahoney playing Soul, 4-6pm Jazz Funk Soul with Neville on Jazz & Funk www.radio789.net.ms solarradio.com 2nd Saturday of month 10pm-Midnight Good Groove Show with 5-7pm The Morpheus Soul Show Ruth Fisher on solarradio.com or Sky 0129 www.playvybz.com DJ Johnny Rebel THURSDAYS 5-9pm Club Classics Chris Brown on Star 7-10pm Soul Survivors Show with Fitzroy 107.9/1 FM in Cambridge. Soul & Motown da Buzzboy on colourfulradio.com 6-8pm Soul Inspired with David Bishop on 10pm-1am Nu Soul Central with Tony www.zeroradio.co.uk Classic 60’s–80’s Soul Rodriguez on colourfulradio.com 7-9pm Ride da Rhythm with Hilary John @ 7-10pm Craig Charles Funk & Soul Show on www.bbc.co.uk/6music/shows/funk_soul/ www.station898fm.co.uk & 89.8fm London 7-9pm Skippys Soul on NevisRadio.co.uk 7-9pm Infiniti with Andy Jackson on 107.5 Tulip Radio Modern Soul Radio 10-1am A Touch of Soul with Devon BBC 7-10pm Back in The Day with Doug Forbes Derby 104.5fm, Notts 103.8fm & Lincs. 94.9fm on Calon105FM www.calonfm.com 12-2am Back to tha o’l skool on 90.8FM Strictly 80’s soul & Rap lightningfm.co.uk 8-10pm Soulpower with Shaun Gallagher on www.soulpower-radio.com SUNDAYS 8-10pm Nick Gunn’s Soul Armoury on 12 Mid-4am Colin Faver on solarradio.com zeroradio.co.uk. Jazz, Funk, Soul & Boogie A soulful mix of upfront & classic house/Beats 9.30-10.30pm Hidden Gems 60’s to new Please inform us of any changes or 9-11am Sandra C on stompradio.com deletions. anna@thesoulsurvivors.co.uk Soul on www.fcumradio.co.uk