TOP 40 JAZZ FUNK 1975-1981

[jazz_pilgrim]

First of all, NickNack - thanks for showing an interest!

Greg has got it exactly right - the Soul Mafia scene was separate from the mainstream commercial scene, but garnered a huge faithful following in the South of England. I was not a DJ but a [very regular!!] club goer.

The main 'Soul Mafia' clubs would play music right across the spectrum - you would get the mainstream soul, funk, jazz and disco releases of the day, but there was also a great emphasis on rooting out really good old records from the Seventies - whether it be soul, funk, jazz or disco. So, in one night's playlist in one of these discos, you got a mix of tunes from right across this spectrum. And at a few of ther clubs I used to go to - you would sometimes get a reggae room as well. All in the mix.

With time, this separate room scenario has steadily developed and you quite often had two rooms of different music within the same venue - one jazz, and one soul/funk, say. And you could go between either room. Today you might get five rooms or so ... Did that ever happen in the US, NickNack??

In terms of the overall mix of music played in the clubs I frequented, there was definitely a tendency to play a lot of jazz-influenced music. My friends and I grouped together as the Jazz Pilgrims (I am really a Simon!!) and we especially loved the jazz side. We took over a whole club - our Jazz Pilgrims DJ became the regular DJ there and we dominated the centre of the dance floor all night! A lot of those jazz anthems mentioned above were spun every week - together with the usual other soul funk and disco tunes. Once again - all mixed up.

NickNack - if you have a MD player, I'll send you some of the tunes on a Minidisk so you can have an idea what the music was like!

In certain clubs only jazz fusion was played. I remember a tiny Monday night basement club in around 1978 that specialized in this jazz fusion - it is where I first got hooked on the jazz side. Hard driving latin/jazz rhythms in a tiny atmospheric club - that was real sophistication for a young 17-year old!! :P The records were spun by a then unknown DJ who is now one of the biggest in the UK on today's music scene - Pete Tong.

Another example I remember was that in the London clubs around 84/85, jazz itself became very fashionable as a dance music - stuff like Miles Davis - Milestones, Lee Morgan - Sidewinder ..yes, all the sixties Blue Note stuff(together with all the new stuff) became the latest trend!! It was all kicked off by a local DJ who is now also a Nationally-known DJ - Gilles Peterson. How do I know this? Coz I was right there in the beginning when Gilles just coming to fame, and we became good friends at the time..

And all the while, the guys in the North of England were doing their own thing as well - Northern Soul, Jazz-Funk, Electro ...I actually became a Northern Soul fan for a few years in the late Eighties, going to some of the excellent clubs which were then available in London. The Northern Fans took their music very seriously ansd were incredibly knowledgeable. I mean - look at the knowledge of our very own Discodisk!! In all the years I have been into the music, I have met a lot of guys who know their music far better than I do - but few could ever match Discodisk! Respect to ya, bro'!! 8)

I am sure Greg and Discodisk will be able to elaborate on the phenonemon of separate rooms within the Northern soul scene that I mentioned because that was very common there as well. It probably started up North (guys??). You would get one room playing Wigan Casino classics, say, and one room playing modern soul, for example.

So what am I trying to say, NickNack? In short - in many of the clubs in the UK there was a great cross-section of black music spun from jazz through soul through disco and funk all in the mix which attracted a huge and loyal following. And there was definitely an emphasis on jazz-influenced tracks in certain of the clubs. This has definitely contributed to the British Soul fan's being knowledgeable about and having a deep appreciation for black-rooted music. There was definitely something big taking place!!

:)

[QUINNY]

And........from someone who never specialized to such a degree, I'd say that my own priority was to play anything that was danceable and sounded like it was meant. In other words, I'd say that possibly many UK jocks were like Nicky, in that we played a fairly wide cross section of tracks, except we maybe had a stronger 'rooting out' thing going on, 'cos we weren't exposed to his huge numbers of disco records first hand. I guess this is one reason why 'pure disco' with its slightly faceless, white sound never caught on as much over here. Invariably this led to a highish concentration of Jazz Funk toons, although the sub genre didn't really come into its own with the more mainstream crowd until early 1979 when records like Players Association - Turn The Music Up suddenly found favour on the radio airwaves. Then for about 6 - 9 months Jazz Funk exploded.
Many, many DJs (myself included) had been playing a lot of 'Jazz Funk' records ever since things like Cymande - The Message , early Kool & The Gang, Deodato Manu DiBango and the like in '72/'73 and the pure funk items such as Bohannon - Stop & Go, Midnight Movers Unlimited - Follow The Wind, Olympic Runners and the like.

What others have written here is more or less my take on things too. There were relatively very few pure Jazz Funk venues but they were hugely influential in what was (a) released in the U.K and (b) therefore what much of the country's club goers danced to. The JF scene was very fashion conscious both in dress and especially music. I personally wasn't overly happy with the pretentiousness that went with it and the smug sense of superiority that tended to come across, but it did turn up quite a few great records to play (along with the inevitable dross). There again, I was a relatively old man by then, who'd probably gone through all that shit a decade or so earlier. I realize that it shouldn't have meant a damned thing, but I did note a sense of ill will towards the JF scene from many of those outside of it. In that respect it did parallel the Northern Soul scene.

BTW: The Chick Corea tune @ #1 has to be a fix of some description or another doesn't it? I've certainly never heard it.
Why B. Baker sooooooo high? Not one of the greatest dancers on the JF scene surely? To some extent more like a radio record with its constant turnarounds that are very disjointing.
It was very interesting to see that the top 5 or so had scores in the 80s and 90s whereas all the rest were 50 or below. Such a huge gap suggests the lists were biased towards current playlists at the time of the surveys, but that's always going to happen, eh?
Funkadelic - Jazz funk?????? and so lowly too?

[Greg Wilson]

I was never a part of the Northern Soul scene, so I can't comment on that - Discodisk has all the first-hand knowledge there.

During the early 80's there was sometimes a Northern Soul room at the Jazz-Funk All-Dayers. Northern was very much on the wane at this time, so this was hardly reflective of the massive scene of the 70's. Now and again there'd be a room that featured just Jazz Fusion.

The main room would always cover a range of black music styles - Jazz-Funk and Fusion, Funk, Soul and Disco, before Electro-Funk gatecrashed the party. The music was 'upfront' (i.e - not what was being played in the more mainstream clubs). This wasn't so much to do with elitism, often records that had become UK hits, and were now being played at more commercial venues, had been featured on the Jazz-Funk scene months before (becoming hits in the first place as a result of the support by DJ's on this scene).

NickNack: Did you have anything like All-Dayers (or All-Nighters for that matter) in the US? A number of the most popular specialist black music DJ's in the region were brought together at a generally large venue, which was open from around 2pm until midnight (Sundays or Bank Holiday Mondays). The various DJ's did spots throughout the day, with people travelling in from cities and towns from miles around (in the same way that they had for Northern Soul events).

Quinny / Jazz-Pilgrim: Maybe 'Central Park' by Chic Corea was a track that was especially popular in the North (remember that the 2 charts are both from Northern sources). It's from an album on Polydor called 'Secret Agent'. There was no 'fix' as you suggest Quinny, this was an absolutely huge tune on the scene (probably discovered by Colin Curtis). BTW B Baker might have been slow but it was a popular dance track, it wasn't just the uptempo stuff like Azymuth 'Jazz Carnival' that were favoured by the dancers.

As has been said previously in this thread, these charts should only be viewed as snapshots of the era, and not definitive. It would be good to find a similar chart from the South, maybe this would balance things out a little.

Mastercuts did a series of excellent 'Classic Jazz-Funk' compilations in the early 90's. If you want me to copy these off for you NickNack I'd be happy to do so.

[Forrrce]

'Central Park' was a bit of a London tune. I have it on 12".

[QUINNY]

When did 'Central Park' get released? If it was '81 that might explain a few things as that was my most desperate year as a DJ. Couldn't find enough work, so I missed out on quite a bunch of things.

[Forrrce]

'Central Park' is from 1978.
Quinny, you'll probably recognise the LP cover.

[QUINNY]

Oh well, it's obviously one that got away. Never saw it, don't remember any big buzz about it (at the time). Perhaps I was just frightened off by the words 'Chick Corea'. Who knows?

[NickNack]

Guys,

I came back to apologize for not responding. I've got all your responses so as soon as Bernie stops cracking the whip (just kidding... 8) ) like Arnold, I'll be back. :D

[gvtaylor]

I remember the Disco/Jazz funk days like they were yesterday. I myself originate from Leeds in The North of England, and started as a 14 year old Northern Soul Boy. I started attending All Nighters/Dayers as soon as I was 16 (Cleethorpes & Sheffield All Nighters, forgot the name of the venue!) in 1977.
I attended a 3rd Anniversary Ritz All Dayer in April 78 which had the unwise mix of playing one hour of Northern, then one hour of Disco/Jazz Funk! There was a sort of stand off tension between the two groups of music followers, almost a few fights broke out. I was there as a Northern Soul Boy, complete with baggy trousers, brogue shoes and short neat hair looking in fasination at the Disco/Jazz Funkers. They seemed to be so much more relaxed, blowing whistles, doing the bump and generally letting their hair down. The music I heard that day was also a revelation, EWF "Runnin", Joe Sample "Many Stops Along The Way", Lee Ritenour "Fly By Night", Evelyn King "Shame", Ripple "The Beat Goes On" & Ashford & Simpson "Don't Cost Ya Nothing" (what a bass line). I was on such a high when I left that day, life changing event. I quickly became engrossed in the UK Disco/Jazz Funk scene, got a lot of grief in the beginning from my Northern mates! I was still going to Cleethorpes for about another six months where for the first two hours a DJ played some new Disco releases, tracks like Players Association "Disco Inferno", Ripple "The Beat Goes On" & George Benson "On Broadway". I used to buy records every week, as much as my wallet could afford! I purchased as much Jazz as I did Disco, and by 1980 mostly Jazz releases (including the pricey Japanese imports, £15.00 back then). I remember with great affection the Rafters & Ritz Club in Manchester, The Central in Leeds, The 100 Club on Saturday afternoons in London (only 30p to get in). Then there were also the classic All Dayers & Weekenders, Blackpool Mecca, Nottingham Palais, Manchester Ritz & Isle of Wight (saw the debut performance of Level 42, where the band originate from). The DJ's back then that I use to follow were Ian Dewhurst, Colin Curtis & Ian Levine, Colin been the more radical in choice of tracks (Levine was purely Disco by 79). I feel that like with the Disco scene in the States that there was a sort of family vibe to the scene, lot of people knew or recognised each other, even if they had come from miles away (which was often the case, we would often travel hundreds of miles to a good gig). I can remember the moment I first heard the Dave Benoit track "Life Is Like A Samba", rushed up the stairs at the Ritz to ask Curtis what it was. The memory of Azymuth's "Jazz Carnival" & Atmosphere's "Dancing In Outer Space" blowing up massive in the clubs, little did I realise back then that I would end up having a beer at a barbeque in the back garden of Alex Malheiros (bass player in Azymuth) in Rio 20 years later! I also had the privelidge of interviewing Flora Purim & Airto for a radio show in the mid 90's (also met Marcos Valle & Joao Donato in Rio a few years ago).
I still collect quality Disco, Soul, Jazz, Latin & Brazilian. I'm also still spinning out, also do a radio show on www.soul24-7.com called "Happy Jazz". I also play new releases like Koop & Kyoto Jazz Massive, but they don't inspire me as much as the old stuff (mostly play old stuff at home). The early material from Azymuth released in Brazil is among their best, EP on Polydor 1975, debut album on Som Livre 1975 & Aque Nao Como Mosca on Atlantic 1977 are probably their best work along with the first couple of releases for Milestone. I got more into the hard edged Jazz in the 80's, obscure European,U.S. & S.American releases alongside 60's straight Jazz.
Having spent a fortune over the years on rare and obscure records I still get just as much enjoyment from my classic £10-15 Soul, Disco & Jazz classics. I'm sure some of them are worth more than that now, with the revised interest in 70's music!
I also met my wife in Brazil while I was there digging for records in the mid 90's, as I said that day at the Ritz was life changing (also bloody expensive!!! ha ha :P )

Mark "Happy Jazz Radio" (Music to put a smile on your face :D )

[DISCODISK]

Originally Posted by gvtaylor

and started as a 14 year old Northern Soul Boy. I started attending All Nighters/Dayers as soon as I was 16 (Cleethorpes & Sheffield All Nighters, forgot the name of the venue!) in 1977.

samanthas :P though by 77 you could mean K.G.B :o