Incognito
Incognito (Inkognito) je jedan od vodećih, kultnih svjetskih imena moderne džez scene.
Nastali su krajem 70-ih i od tada ostaju vjerni vještom izvodjenju fuziji džeza i fanka.
Poslednje izdanje benda je CD ,,Transatlantic RPM”, koji se nalazi medju prvih pet albuma na listi Top Jazz Albuma, što dokazuje izuzetan kvalitet i trajanje na svjetskoj muzičkoj sceni.
Poznati su po brojnim hitovima, poput Deep Waters, Still a friend of mine i drugim numerama sa albuma ,,Positivity” , (1993.), jednim od njihovih najboljih ostvarenja, prodatim u skoro million primjeraka širom svijeta.
Bend karakterišu energični nastupi, dobra komunikacija sa publikom i ono što mnogi nazivaju Soulfull jazz, u slobodnom prevodu džez duše. Osnivač benda frontmen, producent, kompozitor,gitarista i pjevač - Žan Pol Blui Monik (Jean Paul Monique Bluey) ističe da je za njega Incognito jedna velika porodica, kao i da sebe smatra više isceliteljem nego zabavljačem.
- Ne radi se samo o sviranju da biste dobili aplauz, već i o komunikaciji i prenošenju jakog osjećaja utopije kojeg dijelimo svi. To je nešto što se ne dogadja svaki dan u našim životima – kaže Blui.
Već 30 godina Blui i Inkognito ostaju jedinstvena britanska avantura, njihovi albumi i singlovi bili su na vrhu top lista. Blui je producirao i aranžirao pjesme za
Čaku Kan (Chaka Khan), Filipa Bejlija (Philip Bailey), Džordža Bensona (George Benson) i Teri Kalijera (Terry Callier).
Ostrvljanin sa Mauricijusa, Blui, sa deset godina došao je u London.
Muzičari koji su definisali njegov stil, tj njegovi uzori bili su: Stivi Vonder (Stevie Wonder), Marvin Gej (Marvin Gaye), Santana i mnogi drugi, ali prije svega britanski bendovi Gonzalez i FBI, kako kaže – momci iz njegovog grada, koji su hodali istim ulicama.
Na White Field Jazz Festivalu u Bijelom Polju nastupiće u sastavu od 14 članova, od kojih 11 na sceni. To će biti njihovo prvo predstavljanje crnogorskoj publici.
Članovi benta:
Jean Paul Maunick - gitara
Lorraine Cato - vokal
Chris Ballin - vokal
Vanessa Haynes - vokal
Mo Brandis - vokal
Francis Hylton - bas
Pete Biggin - bubnjevi
Jamie Anderson - saksofon
Sid Gauld - truba
Alistair White - trombon
Matt Cooper - klavijature
Incognito
Biography written by Bluey
TRANSATLANTIC R.P.M.
Being a teenager in 1970’s London, you could not escape the music. It was all around you. Every pub had live music and there were several record shops on every main road. Basements and garages doubled up as rehearsal rooms for eclectic musicians and energetic teenagers getting their kicks playing Rock & Roll, Reggae, Ska, Folk, Jazz, Funk and Soul music, all preparing to take on the world!
There was a buzz in every record store. People searching through the crates to catch up on the latest offerings from across the pond. I’d be looking for the names… Harvey Mason, Steve Gadd, Ralph McDonald… “Hey heard the new one from Rufus & Chaka Khan”? In another corner funky folks would be boogying down to BT Express and Eddie Russ beneath huge sets of headphones and exploding afros! Long haired students with patches on their jeans trawling through the Prog Rock section.
That was the scene and I was hooked, line and sinker… those vinyl’s transported across the Atlantic had me buzzing like a junky looking for his next hit!
I would fantasize about boarding a plane to the USA and strolling into the studio to lay down tracks with Earth Wind and Fire, Chaka Khan, Stevie Wonder & Leon Ware... In regards to this album, three out of four isn’t bad for this island boy from Tottenham who several years earlier at the age of five on the beaches of Mauritius had decided that music would be his destiny!
STEP BACK, PINCH MYSELF!
Forward to the year 2010. My band (Incognito) is 31 years old and here I am at Flyte Tyme Studios (The home of hit makers Jam & Lewis). I am here to write and record with Chaka Khan and to collaborate with Al McKay (Guitarist of Earth Wind and Fire at their finest). Chaka tore it up on “Lowdown” occasionally stopping to tell friends who had entered the room, “Can you believe he doesn’t speak English”, followed by a burst of laughter (referring to the amazing voice and tone of Italian singer Mario Biondi who had nailed his part of the duet in Rome a few days earlier). Mario’s rich emotional voice was the first thing that came to mind when I had the idea of covering this Boz Scaggs classic.
Then I had the greatest honor of writing “The Song” with Chaka… It was surreal to say the least. I felt like had been transported back in the days and that I was in Rufus. And felt privileged to sit in the producer’s chair where my mentors Arif Mardin or Quincy Jones might have sat in the past. As soon as we got the lines, she threw down layer after layer, first take every time, it was thrilling!
Al came by the studio the next day and took out his trusty Red Gibson 335 and began to play, I was grinning from ear to ear as his guitar lines intertwine with my rhythm guitar which had been pre recorded in London. I was floating on a cloud. “Hey play back Al’s solo Mo” I joyously exclaimed… Goose Bumps! Chaka singing the words “Remember way back in the day, I would sing and you would play” as Al teased his guitar melodies around her voice…Yeah, Goose Bumps for sure!
http://www.youtube.com/IncognitoOfficial
FREAKY DEAKY
“When I first met Marvin, we looked at each other and smiled, we did not say a word, we just exchanged glances… A freak instantly recognizes another freak”! Here I was, listening to the stories, laughing and vibing with the legend! Singer/songwriter Leon Ware greeted me with a loving hug at his home and studio in Marina Del Rey. Leon is Mr. Gadget and he shows me his latest purchase with glee, it’s the new I Pad and he’s loving it! “What have you got for me”, he asks with that mischievous boyish smile of his. I nervously play him “Line in the sand” he leans over and tells me that he likes it… I am immediately relieved and happy. “I’d like to change a few things if you don’t mind”, he asks… “Please feel free to change anything”, I say. Then he leans over again and whispers close to my ears, “I’d like to change some of the words to suite my style”, and he gets even closer and very quietly says, “Cos I like to sing to the flower” accept he did not use the word flower.
His banter was always followed by his usual bust of laughter. Yep that’s Leon, freaky deaky!
The man’s voice is as soulful and sensual as it was on “The spirit never dies” from his self-titled debut album from 1972.
RHYME AND REASON
The Californian sunshine tries it’s best to mellow me out, but the headiness of these exhilarating sessions sends me out on the crest of another wave and I find myself free falling through the cascading rhymes of Lucky I am, his mind is as sharp as a razor, his flow pure street hustle… Tony Momrelle is in town doing Jay Leno with Sade… Let’s head down to Ray Parker’s old studio at Paramount and record the choruses. We head out of Silver Lake.
Sundays have never been like this!
Mo (My buddy, my engineer, my co-pilot) and I stroll down the sundrenched avenue to the hired car, should be a nice drive to Burbank North Hollywood, we’ll stop and chow down on the way. I watch as a Mexican family dressed in their Sunday best cross the road carrying food as though they were going to a party, the smallest of the children gives me a smile as if he too was thinking what I was thinking…”Today is a good day”!
MY LADY TOLD ME SO…
I was desperately trying to get in touch with Christian Urich of Tortured Soul in the hope that I could send him a track for us to collaborate, but no success.
As I was preparing to go to Heathrow airport to catch my flight to L.A. via Calgary (Canada) my wife could see that I was getting a little nervous and edgy, she told me to relax and open myself to the experience and that everything would fall in place.
So there I was chatting with her on Skype in Calgary trying to kill the 3 hours waiting time when I hear a voice calling “Hey Bluey what are you doing here”… And there he was… Cowboy Johnny Christ himself… Christian Urich! “I’m living in L.A. now and I’m heading home, where are you heading”?
I reply, “To L.A. to cut a tune with you, that’s where I’m heading”. That’s serendipity!
A few day’s later Mo and I find ourselves getting a breakfast burrito and following the cowboy on his steel horse to his studio where he lays down all that good stuff that we knew he would. He sings “Baby kiss me let’s fall in love again” before breaking into his trademark falsetto. The man is super-talented, and everything is falling into place.
SPOKEN MELODIES
It was a transatlantic connection of a different kind that resulted in “Gotta” our collaboration with Philadelphia’s melodic spoken word artist Ursula Rucker.
All done via the web…we still haven’t met each other, but right from the first phone call we knew that we understood each-others heart. We cut right though the crap that prevents so many artists from connecting creatively and spiritually. Ursula’s contribution took us on a journey to a place that we had never been before, and we love it there!
HOME COOKING
It had all started in London’s bohemian Oxton Square a year ago with Matt Cooper, Pete Biggin, Francis Hilton, Thomas Dyani and myself jamming and laying tracks sat in a circle. Interrupted by several recording and touring projects we left the tracks to marinate and returned from time to time to add spices like brass and vocal harmonies.
The band had been touring and we had built a strong rapport, every one was on top of their game. We all threw down knowing that we had something special on our hands. When I headed out to the USA the band’s camaraderie was such that I felt they were with Mo and I the whole time we were there. Every artist I approached gravitated to the sound we were making.
Home girl Maysa was first to start the transatlantic revolutions. She somehow fought the jet lag and summoned the energy to deliver a moment of pure emotional soul the morning after our 30th anniversary gig at the O2 in London. Joy Rose, Tony Momrelle and Vanessa Haynes followed suite and brought my lyrics to life with stunning performances.
From then on there was no doubt in my mind…the revolution had already started!
TAKING IT TO THE STREETS
Now comes the real purpose of our endeavors… Taking the music to the people!
So far the only hint our live audiences have had of Transatlantic R.P.M. has been the cover of Banda Black Rio’s “Expresso Madureira” and if their reaction is anything to go by, we are heading for glorious journeys world-wide and joyous adventures in the land of music, the place where we belong.
New album and the World Cup, “All is fine in the warm sunshine”!
Shine On,
Peace
Bluey
