This was a reflection as well as a response to social issues the kids who were out on the street rioting in ’81 were the same kids who came into the clubs. Much of this Brit-funk was deemed far too commercial for the up-front venues, but with it now seeping into the pop realm, and electro just on the horizon, seismic shifts on the scene were afoot. During the ensuing years, they enjoyed international success, developing an increasing pop sensibility as they transitioned from cult to conventional. This was most apparent with Level 42 who, from their independent roots on Elite Records, signed to major-label Polydor-their first album placing top twenty. jazz-funk had evolved around the desire of artists to hear their music played in the clubs, their Brit-funk offspring had their eye on the prize, tailoring their music more to the commercial marketplace. With all this activity afoot, it was said to be Hill-who else?-who coined the term Brit-funk (also Britfunk), a term subsequently spread wider by James Hamilton’s Record Mirror column, a must-read for DJs. The smooth cool of Mansfield-Allman’s approach was most certainly a precursor for Sade, then a face on the London fashion scene and destined for übercool stardom three years down the line. Surface Noise employed the same stop/start tactic on their top thirty hit “The Scratch” a few months on, but “Southern Freeez” resisted the cliché. This was a further example of the jazz-funk scene’s ability to break records, whichever side of the Atlantic they originated. “Southern Freeez” featured a sublimely understated vocal from uncredited singer Ingrid Mansfield-Allman, which referenced the Freeze, a short-lived dance inspired by Californian jazz pianist Rodney Franklin’s “The Groove,” a top ten hit the previous year, and said to have originated under Chris Hill’s instigation. Jean-Paul “Bluey” Maunick’s former group Freeez, now signed to Beggars Banquet (who would issue two Best of British Jazz-Funk volumes in ’81 and ’82), went top ten that March with “Southern Freeez,” gifting listeners a classic of the genre-the LP of the same name also climbing into the top twenty. With the recent release of Gilles Peterson and Jean-Paul “Bluey” Maunick’s masterstroke, STR4TA’s Aspects, coupled with the importance of social justice concerns in the new decade, the time is now to document this misunderstood and crucial era of England’s homegrown music history. The scene made an impact far afield of London Town, stretching to all corners of the U.K., with its influence lasting well into the late-’80s and early ’90s with the birth of acid jazz and the rebirth of Incognito. acts like Light of the World and Incognito creating their own spin on the sound. imports like Herbie Hancock’s Head Hunters, ultimately leading to homegrown U.K. DJ and music historian Greg Wilson details this layered story that begins as specialists took to fresh U.S. During racial and social turmoil in England-an unrest that exploded in the ’81 riots-a burgeoning music scene began bubbling over, displacing the white scene of Northern soul with a Black British movement of jazz-funk and creating in the process tiny islands within the Isles where racial unity and Black empowerment could thrive.
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