The Sunday Soul Session Presenter Jez - Forty Years a Soul Boy, Funkateer and Jazzer
​
It all started back in 1980 with Earth Wind and Fire's classic 'I Am' album, a double LP set of accessible jazz fusion called 'Bitter Suite' and 'Slipstream The Best Of British Jazz Funk', a compilation representing the emerging Brit Funk movement pioneered by the likes of Hi-Tension, Light Of The World and Level 42. It was the compilations which sowed the seed while Earth Wind and Fire remain my favourite band to this day.
​
First let's look at how that 'Bitter Suite' compilation on CBS shaped my development as an avid consumer. When I first heard 'Just Around The Corner' by Herbie Hancock it blew my mind! A driving and funky bass line with Herbie's keyboards and synths delivering melodies and textures which to me were new and exciting. Then there was MFSB's 'Mysteries Of The World' with it's instantly recognisable bass signature as well as the title track from George Duke's 'A Brazilian Love Affair' album which would become just about my favourite album amongst the 4,500 I've collected to date.
Then there was 'The Best Of British Jazz Funk'. Short lived it was, however the Brit Funk movement was the UK's answer to the classic sounds delivered by US acts during the 70's. The album was made up of cuts from the likes of Incognito, Light Of The World, UK Players, Central Line and Freeez all of whom derived inspiration from the classic edgy and accessible fusion of Eddie Henderson and Alphonse Mouzon; the driving funk of Parliament/Funkadelic, Slave and The Ohio Players; the soulful grooves emerging from Philadelephia International and Hi Records; the Stax and Motown Sounds which had filled the 60's and spilled over into the 70's. Even the disco era, despite its oft berated and somewhat unfair reputation, gave us classic sounds which became an inspiration for a range of records which often came out of London and which spread across the UK. I had established a basis on which I could explore. A music in which I could engage and, over subsequent years, discover that it knows no boundaries.
​
The formative years helped me find a musical direction and were the foundation for me to immerse myself in a musical world which never stops delivering joy and surprise. The sounds which emanated from my hifi during the early years are still sounds which find their way onto a turntable or into a CD drive now, however these days they've been supplemented to a kaleidoscopic degree, absorbing Mainstream and Classic Jazz, Bebop and Hard Bop, Big Band and Vocal Jazz, Free Jazz, Jazz Funk and Acid Jazz. There's Classic Soul, Modern Soul, Funk, Northern Soul and R&B. There's Blues and there's World Music, Trip-Hop and Downtempo. There's music which has emerged out of Cuba, Brazil and Africa. There's music without frontiers from Asia, Eastern Europe and Scandinavia. 40 years has allowed me to go on a long journey of exploration which continues to know no bounds and is constantly delivering new musical surprises.
​
It's a broad range of styles as you can see. For The Sunday Soul Session it was important that the focus was on the soulful side of the music I love as well as on music which is accessible and which guarantees to give the show the potential to reach and satisfy a broad audience. The objective of The Sunday Soul Session is always to find this audience and deliver quality music which appeals.
The Sunday Soul Session will move you in every way. Every show goes out of its way to bring you the finest in soul, funk, disco and jazz-funk. Check it out and feel the groove! I know you're going to love it.
​
https://www.mixcloud.com/jeztoole/
​
Jez (23/5/2021)