Feel The Chant: The Brit Funk Story: BBC Radio 4 today...
Pattrick
57 Posts
...and also available thereafter on Iplayer. Should I have put this in Take That Sh*t To The Brits I wonder?
Ne'er mind..here it is.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01r5lms
David Grant revisits a unique era in British music when jazz funk exploded onto the scene.
With contributions from Light of the World's Gee Bello, Hi Tension's Paul P, Shakatak's Bill Sharpe and Jill Saward, Southern Freeez singer Ingrid Mansfield Allman, Level 42's Mark King and DJ's Chris Hill, Mike Shaft and Mark 'Snowboy' Cotgrove.
The Jazz Funk scene developed from the Home Counties, principally Essex, along with clubs such as Crackers in London. In the South DJ Chris Hill and his Funk Mafia led the way, and in the North Colin Curtis, among others, were instrumental in its popularity.
In this documentary, vocalist and presenter David Grant, who was part of the UK soul outfit Linx, revisits this unique era in British music which saw artists experimenting with a fusion of jazz, funk, urban dance rhythm and pop hooks.
He reveals the origins of the phrase 'Brit-Funk' and how the pioneers of this sound, groups Hi Tension and Light of the World, presented their music with a British twist to their instrumentation and vocals.
The Jazz funk scene was a British movement, a club culture unique to these shores with no equivalent in the States. As the music became popular, more and more British 12" singles started to appear with a craze for white-labels.
Grant acknowledges that Brit Funk, although considered in some quarters as a pale imitation of US Jazz Funk, was nonetheless ours - and heralded a new dawn in dance and pop music. The term evolved from the club DJs - legendary names such as Chris Hill, and James Hamilton of Record Mirror whose column had a major influence in launching new records.
With support from the club disc jockeys and labels such as Ensign and Elite, artists including Light of the World, Level 42, Shakatak and Freeez enjoyed chart success and made regular appearances on Top of the Pops alongside the new romantics and punk groups of this period.
With club DJs gaining cult status, the scene also created many 'club hits' which, although they never achieved commercial success, are still remembered with great affection today and discussed on music forum websites and uploaded to Youtube.
Many British based soul and dance bands found themselves merging under the Brit Funk banner. These included Lynx, Central Line, Imagination and Second Image - and initially pop groups such as Haircut 100 and Wham tapped into the style and sound to help launch their careers.
Grant demonstrates how this scene was hugely significant in cutting through racial boundaries in the clubs and was instrumental in raising the profile of black and white musicians working together, notably Spandau Ballet who collaborated with Beggar And Co to produce the classic pop song 'Chant Number One'.
He explains how, during the success of the Jazz and Brit Funk period, "chanting" materialised in the discotheque and nightclub. This football crowd style of interacting with the music and DJ underlined the voice of a new generation which can still be felt today
Ne'er mind..here it is.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01r5lms
David Grant revisits a unique era in British music when jazz funk exploded onto the scene.
With contributions from Light of the World's Gee Bello, Hi Tension's Paul P, Shakatak's Bill Sharpe and Jill Saward, Southern Freeez singer Ingrid Mansfield Allman, Level 42's Mark King and DJ's Chris Hill, Mike Shaft and Mark 'Snowboy' Cotgrove.
The Jazz Funk scene developed from the Home Counties, principally Essex, along with clubs such as Crackers in London. In the South DJ Chris Hill and his Funk Mafia led the way, and in the North Colin Curtis, among others, were instrumental in its popularity.
In this documentary, vocalist and presenter David Grant, who was part of the UK soul outfit Linx, revisits this unique era in British music which saw artists experimenting with a fusion of jazz, funk, urban dance rhythm and pop hooks.
He reveals the origins of the phrase 'Brit-Funk' and how the pioneers of this sound, groups Hi Tension and Light of the World, presented their music with a British twist to their instrumentation and vocals.
The Jazz funk scene was a British movement, a club culture unique to these shores with no equivalent in the States. As the music became popular, more and more British 12" singles started to appear with a craze for white-labels.
Grant acknowledges that Brit Funk, although considered in some quarters as a pale imitation of US Jazz Funk, was nonetheless ours - and heralded a new dawn in dance and pop music. The term evolved from the club DJs - legendary names such as Chris Hill, and James Hamilton of Record Mirror whose column had a major influence in launching new records.
With support from the club disc jockeys and labels such as Ensign and Elite, artists including Light of the World, Level 42, Shakatak and Freeez enjoyed chart success and made regular appearances on Top of the Pops alongside the new romantics and punk groups of this period.
With club DJs gaining cult status, the scene also created many 'club hits' which, although they never achieved commercial success, are still remembered with great affection today and discussed on music forum websites and uploaded to Youtube.
Many British based soul and dance bands found themselves merging under the Brit Funk banner. These included Lynx, Central Line, Imagination and Second Image - and initially pop groups such as Haircut 100 and Wham tapped into the style and sound to help launch their careers.
Grant demonstrates how this scene was hugely significant in cutting through racial boundaries in the clubs and was instrumental in raising the profile of black and white musicians working together, notably Spandau Ballet who collaborated with Beggar And Co to produce the classic pop song 'Chant Number One'.
He explains how, during the success of the Jazz and Brit Funk period, "chanting" materialised in the discotheque and nightclub. This football crowd style of interacting with the music and DJ underlined the voice of a new generation which can still be felt today
Comments
I never thought about Brit Funk leading to early Wham! and Haircut 100 but it makes total sense. I love Haircut 100's Favourite Shirts and Lemon Fire Brigade has got to be one of the sunniest lite-funk ditties ever.
Never a fan of Level 42 at all, liked Beggar & Co's 'Mule' but I bloody love me some Shakatak. Often slated for being formulaic, light-weight, cheesy, shite lyrics blah blah blah...but I think all those ingredients sound perfect together here.
Love Easier said Than Done.
I'll get me coat .
I cosine most of this. "Southern Freeze" and "Hi Tension" still get spun on the reg. Incognito's "Sunburn" and "Parisienne Girl" too. L42's hits are not entirely representative of their work. You can't front on Mark King; he is notorious for the hyper-slaps but his groove work is impeccable. "Kansas City Milkman" and "True Believers" is good stuff.
No doubt they had their grounding in those late 70s club nights where jazzed-up funk was the currency of the day, but Brttfunk remains an under-exploited seam of goodness.
As I prepare for a BF 12"s auction on the bay, here's some random stuff that will slip under the populist doc radar:
Tee Mac - Sound Of The Universe
Nick Straker Band - Straight Ahead
I- Level - All My Love
David Bendeth - Feel The Real
Incognito - Summer's Ended
Jazz Sluts - Fuchi
And it goes without saying, the Chaz Jankel albums, Ai No Corrida, Rah Band, Beggar & Co with Rising Son etc etc
Hi Tension were ground zero for most, that first LP still sounds fresh; Incognito need to have their own section along with LOTW, killer first albums that can still cut a rug.
And then the whole Rah n Shakatak polished sound that got gasface mostly, then derided as cheese, but listen now and all you get is goosebumps at the sheer quality of writing, playing, production; all shot through with a knowing edge that may make non-Brits unimpressed, but speaks loudly to us of sunny summer evenings of our chip-strewn and beer-sodden youth when the world was innocent and the future without horizon.
WMIC?
Two good, dirt cheap common comps from back in the day when the force was strong...
Brilliant comp.
:cheese:
David Grant doe - yay or nay? Forgotten he was even in Linx, I remember him just for the pop. That and 'Carrie and David's Popshop'.
Brings me back to this thread.
http://www.soulstrut.com/index.php/forums/viewthread/61897/