Category Archives:soul music
2024 ➤ Andy Polaris reminds us of Quincy Jones’s legacy as a titan of 20th-century showbiz
1984: Quincy Jones with Michael Jackson at the 1984 Grammy Awards, where they won eight
❚ The cross-cultural pioneer Quincy Jones died this week
aged 91 in Los Angeles. In tribute, we republish Andy Polaris’s appreciation of his genius when he brought a huge
orchestra to London’s O2 arena on 25 Jun 2019…
Excerpt from the review at the Polaris music blog: Quincy Jones Jr is a titan of 20th-century entertainment whose creative talent has spanned decades as composer, multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, arranger, producer and publisher. He has received the most Grammy nominations, a staggering 80, and won 28, plus seven Oscar nominations, and a Jean Hersholt Humanitarian award in 1996 amongst other industry accolades. He has worked with superstars from Aretha Franklin, Frank Sinatra, Count Basie, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie to Michael Jackson. In 2018 a Netflix film Quincy won the Critics Choice Documentary award.
As a teenage prodigy Quincy Jones had been tutored by Ray Charles and mentored by Count Basie, by 19 was touring Europe with Lionel Hampton for three years, at 24 studied at the feet of the godlike Nadia Boulanger in the American School at Fontainebleau, and soon after became a troubleshooting vice-president for Philips Records of Holland.
This week [in 2019] sees the 10th anniversary of Michael Jackson’s death and despite the controversy and those clamouring on social media to cancel his music, the audience at this O2 concert showed that, whatever your feelings, it’s nigh on impossible to crush the joyous memories and mood of his repertoire. In addition, we were treated to the formidable playlist of our youth unfolding before our ears thanks to the savvy musicianship of the band and huge orchestra, which even included a harp, all conducted and hosted by Jules Buckley… /Review continued at Apolarisview
2024 ➤ Chris Sullivan re-lives Blue Rondo’s second album at a Soho party
Click on image to treat yourself to this audio track at YouTube, Masked Moods (Long Version)
❚ MOST OF US have fond memories ofBlue Rondo a la Turk, the seven-piece jazz/salsa band created by Chris Sullivan in 1981 and their first albumChewing the Fat, which I still consider the most original album of 1982. This yielded two chart singles, Me and Mr Sanchez and Klactoveesedstein. But after the band split and reformed as a trio namedBlue Rondo who eventually released a second album in 1984,Bees Knees and Chicken Elbows, not many of us can recall many of its singles apart from Slipping Into Daylight.
Deep breath… Tonight Sullivan throws a party in Soho to celebrate this album’s re-issue by re-release byCherry Red Records in a two-CD box, the second CD featuring Rondo’s previously unreleased tracks.
➢ Visit tonight’s party 9pm-1am at the Century club Soho,
63 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, W1
Rondo live, Jun 21, 1981: early try-out at a Chelmsford pub. Photography © by Shapersofthe80s
2021 ➤ Robbie Vincent wins Sunday radio slot!
New moves at JazzFM: Tony Minvielle and Robbie Vincent
❚ GREAT NEWS FOR FANS of deejay legend Robbie Vincent who helped establish a UK audience for soul and jazz in the 1980s. After recent guest appearances on the nationwide music station JazzFM, he has been given a weekly show from Easter Sunday 4 April. Robbie was “pleased to confirm” the news via Twitter at 8:10am today.
➢ Planet Radio also announced:
“ Jazz FM is to introduce a new look to Sundays that sees an exciting new daytime slot for broadcaster Tony Minvielle and the return of Robbie Vincent to a regular show.
Having previously hosted the late-night Sunday show Foldedspace on the station, Tony Minvielle will take on 10am until 1pm with a relaxed soulful selection of UK and west coast US jazz and soul. Expect conversations with some of today’s hottest acts.
Radio legend Robbie Vincent will make a return to weekly broadcasting on Jazz FM following a series of specials in May last year. He’ll present a two-hour Sunday afternoon show 1-3pm which promises to be full of ‘soulful jazzy vibes’.
Robbie Vincent says: ‘After my trial runs last year on Jazz FM, I’m really pleased to be back at home and more specifically back in the music garden on a Sunday. The new show will have some smashing mature tunes and super fresh rhythms…” /Continued at planetradio.co.uk
2020 ➤ UK Madheads re-invent the Madness hit Our House
❚ NO OF COURSE MADNESS HAD NOTHING to do with the New Romantics but in the indolent UK pop scene of 1980, where most acts and record companies were as dull as ditchwater, only the bands on the cool Two-Tone label would really catch your eye and ear. Who could resist tapping a toe to this zany North London ska combo who scored nine Top Ten singles during the first two years of the 1980s, kicking off with One Step Beyond?!
Among even more hit singles, Our House made the UK Top Ten in November 1982 and became their biggest US hit. Today, during the Covid 19 Lockdown, the Madness boys have released a frantic #MadheadsOurHouse version after asking fans to have a go at re-creating the original Our House video [above]. They declared it “a thing of beauty!”.
Click any pic below to enlarge the Madheads in a slideshow
➢ The Madness website
2020 ➤ Beyond: Learning how to be black and gay and blaze a trail to the future
Beyond director Claire Lawrie, centre: with some of her garrulous cast answering questions after a screening at Central Saint Martins college last year. Andy Polaris in red. (Photo by Shapersofthe80s)
❚ AFTER A STREAM OF EXCLUSIVE SCREENINGS for a poignant and edgy short documentary about growing up black and queer in Seventies Britain, everyone can now view it online. TitledBeyond “There is always a black issue Dear”, the 34-minute film explores black LGBT identities and the ways in which they have influenced the collective history of London’s alternative club, fashion, fine art, dance and music scenes. The cast of ten are long-standing friends of director/photographer Claire Lawrie who helps tell their personal stories when these fans of soul and disco, punks and Blitz Kids found each other’s company in underground clubs.
Over the past year Claire has won a fistful of film-festival awards and, prompted by the coronavirus lockdown, she has posted the full version online, and repeat viewings reward with deeper appreciation.
Photo that inspired the movie Beyond – Click pic to view the film in another window
“To me it’s important now that people
realise that black people were there,
because a lot of the time they
tried to paint us out” – Andy Polaris
Onetime Blitz Kid Andy Polaris is part of the project and he recalls its origins in this extract from his own websiteApolarisview. . .
“ A 2013 exhibition at the V&A museum in London titled Club to Catwalk was instrumental in bringing the collective creative talent of Eighties fashion stalwarts and club luminaries together for a preview party that summer. It was a splendid event, one of the last memorable social events with such a vibrant successful crowd. Among the assembled were Judy Blame, Princess Julia, Andrew Logan, Zandra Rhodes, Body Map, Antony Price, Chris Sullivan and it was the last time I saw Steve Strange (who along with Rusty Egan) had brought us all together at the Blitz Club in 1979.
The visual artist Claire Lawrie was at the V&A and pondered on the omission from the exhibition of gay black talent whose influence had permeated Eighties club culture. Although Jeffrey Hinton’s brilliant cave of projected nightlife photography did feature some of us, Lawrie echoed some of her friends’ frustration that their experience was not reflected in the exhibition. She set about organising an open-call photograph to celebrate a contingent of black talent and arranged for the gathering to be filmed by her friends, Emile Kelly and Kim Mnguni. This was the genesis of something deeper and her award-winning documentary,Beyond “There is always a black issue Dear”, emerged from that event with her as director.
Click any pic of the Beyond interviewees to enlarge all in a slideshow:
Continued: “ Over the next year Claire arranged interviews with ten of the candidates who were filmed on a shoestring. Contributions of archive footage were given by a long list of talented artists, people who, over the years had collaborated with and who wanted to show their respect and love for the cast. These included Pam Hogg, Dick Jewell, Dave Swindells and Nicola Tyson as well as John Maybury, Derek Ridgers, BodyMap, Devon Buchanon and Rankin.
The film adjusts the colour settings of the standard view of black creative lives when telling the story about club culture and its impact in the UK. Featuring ten black queer voices from the diaspora, born in the late Fifties and Sixties in the UK, Guyana and New York, the documentary delves into personal stories of discovery and eventual self-acceptance, looking back at struggles with identity and family and the wider world. The cast features stylist Frank Akinsete, transgender model Winn Austin, international model Roy Brown, make-up artist Kenny Campbell, choreographer Les Child, clubland pioneer Kenrick Davis and his mother Velma “Vee” Davis, nightclub host Nicky Green, gender-fluid performer Lanah Pellay, composer Robb Scott and myself as an original Blitz Kid turned pop singer.
Roy Brown in 1985: poster boy for the Barbican’s recent exhibition on Masculinities. (Photo: Rotimi Fani-Kayode)
In the mid-Seventies and Eighties the UK’s attitudes to both race and gay issues were particularly brutal, endorsed by the anti-gay policies of Thatcher’s government and tabloid sensationalism regarding anything queer, especially later with the arrival of the Aids epidemic. The Seventies were marred by stereotypes of both marginalised groups, joining the sexist and misogynistic tropes in light entertainment and films which set the tone for how the world viewed us and how we viewed ourselves.
This lack of representation and role models forced us to create our own image during our teens, which in some cases was defiantly camp. Instead of allowing bullies to mock us, we accentuated certain behaviour, not just as a direct challenge to the heteronormative majority but against the conservative oppression in society.
Music and fashion were an escape from small-mindedness and even as early teens we were exploring alternatives and the fashionable disco and punk clubs were our laboratories of choice. . .” /Continued at Apolarisview
➢ All about the making of Beyond “There is always
a black issue Dear”
➢ Interview with director Claire Lawrie: “These were
people that I looked up to and admired”
➢ On video – Beyond Q&A by RankinFilm after
the July 2019 screening at his studio
Posted inbiography,black issues,Blitz Kids,Britain,Clubbing,dance music,Fashion,Film,gay issues,interviews,New Romantics,photography,Social trends,soul music,Swinging 80s
TaggedAndy Polaris,Beyond “There is always a black issue Dear”,Claire Lawrie,Frank Akinsete,Iris Prize,Kenny Campbell,Kenrick Davis,Kinky Gerlinky,Lanah Pellay,Les Child,Nicky Green,Robb Scott,Roy Brown,Winn Austin
➢➢ Shapers of the 80s ➣➣