Interview with Jean Paul "Bluey" Maunick
– Incognito Milan, 23rd September 2010
by: Eva Simontacchi
Jean Paul "Bluey" Maunick and Eva Simontacchi
This evening at the Blue Note in Milano, the very much acclaimed "Incognito", pioneers
of the British acid jazz scene. Their leader is vocalist and guitar player Jean
Paul "Bluey" Maunick, a British artist born in the Mauritius. Their first album
"Jazz Funk", was released in 1981. With the
amazing voice of Maysa Leak, Maunick is able to create a style that merges jazz
and funk, obtaining unique atmospheres. Ten years later this new style will be named
acid jazz. Il 1991 Incognito come back
on the international setting after a period of silence with "Inside Life", but the
next album "Tribes, Vibes and Scribes" (1992) obtains
an enormous success, and definitely consacrates them. The album contains a rearranged
version of "Don't Worry About A Thing" by Stevie Wonder. Il
1993, Incognito come out with another
successful album, "Positivity". Decades of activity during which Incognito
have always been faithful to their style and idea, which is that of a sound that
may be danced but also listened, and that merges the sophistication of jazz with
the warmth and sensuality of soul-funk. The music is involving, the arrangements
beautiful and rich in horns and percussions, and the groove irresistible, increasingly
oriented to contemporary R&B.
I meet Jean Paul "Bluey" Maunick in the backstage, and in his easy and friendly
style, he replies to all my questions before the performance.
This new project, did you say it was like the "closing" of a circle after
31 years of Incognito and 14 records? You're not going back to something,
but this is what you believe in, it's your sound…..
Jean Paul "Bluey" Maunick: Well, this is a chapter that you go from what you are
influenced by to actually working with the things that influence you in the first
place. So it's a cycle which is why it's called "Transatlantic R.P.M.". I could
have called the album "Transatlantic" which is like the ocean that divides America
and my home, the U.K, but I chose "Transatlantic R.P.M." because R.P.M. means revolutions
per minute, as on the old vinyls, the records, and it was the old vinyls that got
me into this music, listening to people like Chaka Khan, Earth Wind and Fire
and people like Leon Ware, and now on this album the circle is completed, the actual
revolution is actually complete because I'm actually working with Chaka Khan,
with members of Earth Wind and Fire and Leon Ware, so people whose records I bought
and actually influenced me are actually a part of my life and this chapter in a
sense is a closing chapter for at least me, actually being back in touch with the
things that influenced me.
How do you feel about all this happening? Did you know it was going to happen
at some point?
No, it's something that you dream of as a child. Most people who get into
music is because they hear something. It could be some child watching some pop show
and they see it and then they stand in front of the mirror with their hair brush
and they sing. It was pretty the same thing for me when I heard the music on the
beaches of Mauritius, when I heard the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, when I heard
James Brown
for the first time… You know, I emulated it, even though all I had as an instrument
was just an oil drum and some bamboo sticks. I would become the drummer. In the
Beatles I would become the bass player, in
James Brown's
band just because I had an oil drum with a big fishing wire across it, you know…
So, our imagination is very strong and most people who are successful in this business
at a carreer, is because their imagination is strong, and they can take the imagination
to inspiration and from inspiration to their reality, to their creation. So it's
imagination to inspiration to creation.
Now that you've "rounded the circle", where is your imagination leading you
next?
Because I travel a lot, I think it's my journeys that will kind of dictate
what I do. It's either going to be an album that's full of international presence,
you know, maybe going to Cuba or Brazil… This will happen at some time, whether
it's the next album or not, because sometimes I get these ideas…. I remember a few
months ago, the idea was totally to go to Cuba and Brazil and record the next record.
But now I've been touring and I'm at home and I've managed to build a small room
where we can record drums and the drums are sounding so fantastic, and I'm thinking:
"I wanna just stay here and just record everything now", you know, I may do the
album starting next week, or I may not start till the new year. It really depends
on the moods that surround you when you have the time to do something. So I'm coming
to this first space in time now I will have to start recording will be in December
and that will dictate where my spirit is. You know, we have like many people, our
life is not cut and dry. You may make plans, but then a volcano may happen and you
can't fly somewhere because the volcanic ash is in the air. You didn't plan for
that volcanic ash…. You know, I've got my brother-in-law who has been diagnosed
for cancer, and life will be dictated by: are we going to stay at home and be with
him or are we going to say we've got get on with what we're doing and travel? So
questions are always asked, and my life is no different to people's lives who are
constantly having to reassess and reroute their journey.
What about your band? In what way do they contribute or participate to your
project, because, of course, this is a multi-ethnical beautiful,
wonderful experience?
The thing is, when you open up your doors to family and friends, the band
is somewhere between that. They're just more than your acquaintance and your work
friends because you're sharing something which is spiritual and tangible and is
your everyday reality, so they become somewhere between family and friend. I've
worked in offices before, I worked in factories. I can safely say I made friends,
but when you work with somebody in a band it's more than a friend because you share
something which is a common bond, which sometimes you don't even have with your
family. Music is the bond and it's a glue that cannot be explained unless you actually
play music. Even artists in their community don't have that, because what they do
is they paint for themselves, it's a selfish place for them to be. For us, we have
that selfishness but then we have the sharing kind of like quality about what we
do, so we rely on each other, we rely on somebody to have a good mood to be able
to perform ourselves, we rely on somebody who's got a problem to overcome that problem,
or we become the help to somebody who has a problem so they can solve it and we
can get on with the bond of playing music and giving it to people. Some people are
more spiritually closer to our music than others so sometimes people come into the
band and they don't quite understand that, so therefore we don't really last the
pace of time, you know, something happens….Not to say they aren't great musicians,
or that they don't want to have a great career, they may even have a greater career
than mine but working as a unit……. Choosing musicians is like choosing your life
partner.
How does a new song bloom? Do you get inspiration from everyday life? From
travelling? From what you see around you?
It's exactly as you say. You could walk past a wall and something is written
on that wall on a poster, an article in the newspaper, a magazine, something your
child says. The sunset, the sunrise, dark clouds, blue skies, you know…. Good relationships,
bad relationships; something that you smell, something that you taste. A new instrument
that inspires you to write, an old instrument. Colors, hues, shades, the words of
other people, overhearing conversations, listening to great singers, listening to
poets, reading books, radio, television, computer…. Information. As long as it's
inspirational you will get a song from it. Many times we read something and it becomes
something that stays within us and becomes part of who we are as personality. If
you are 15 or 16 years old and you read Jack Kerouac's "On The Road" and
it makes a connection with you, you are either going to go hitch hiking you know,
you are either going to want to live this fantasy life seeking music and love and
life on the road, or as a songwriter you will be inspired to not only live it but
re-write the story for yourself within your songs because you don't need to write
the book again; it's been written already. So influences are from everywhere but
one of the things that separates the songwriter from any other form of writing is
that we have this extra texture that becomes the soundtrack of other people's lives. So What you put around the words, the words
make a connection with somebody but then when they hear the sound, the melody, they
just have to hear the first note of a song and they go: "Oh, that's our song!" It's
like opening up an old picture book. It's like opening up an atlas to the World,
just by hearing the first three notes of a song, and you're in.
Concert:
This evening's lineup at the
Blue Note includes
the following artists: Jean Paul "Bluey" Maunick (vocals, guitar and banleader), Vanessa Haines
(voice), Tony Momrelle (voice), Kelli Sae, (voice, invited from the U.S.
by Jean Paul Maunick), Francesco Mendolia (drums and percussions), Matt
Cooper (keyboards), Francis Hylton (bass), Sid Gauld (trumpet),
Alistair White (trombone), Simon Willescroft (sax).
Il set begins with "Talking Loud" (Bull, Richard; Maunick, Jean Paul;Harvey, Graham)
continues with "As" (Stevie Wonder). The sound is involving and the artists
bring forth and spread tangible energy, rhythm, warmth and great skills. The concert
continues with "Life Ain't Nothin' But A Good Thing", "1975",
"Expresso Madureira", "Still A Friend Of Mine", Low Down" sung by special guest
Mario Biondi,
"Put A Little Lovin' In Your heart", "Colibri", "Omega", "Always There", Reach Out"
"Every Day", "Nights Over Egypt", e "I Hear Your Name".
The concert night was fully booked and the
Blue Note was
packed with fans and listeners. We are not surprised by the success of this evening.
We are talking about a band that has a history, a unique style and which is able
to communicate in an unmistakable style that creates great impact on the listeners.
This evening we also had the joy of listening to the amazing voice of Kelli Sae,
invited from the U.S. bu Jean Paul Maunick for the concerts. She had already collaborated
with Incognito in the past on various occasions. Jean Paul Maunick introduced
the various songs and presented the project during the concert, and also sung an
involving and amusing piece. One of the most beautiful concerts of Incognito
at the Blue Note
in Milano.
Note on the Album: Incognito – Transatlantic R.P.M. (2010)
1. Lowdown (Feat. Chaka Khan & Mario Biondi) 4:29 2. Everything That We Are (Feat. Lucky I Am) 3:56 3. 1975 (Feat. Joy Rose) 4:38 4. Your Sun My Sky (Feat. Maysa) 4:04 5. Line In The Sand (Feat. Leon Ware) 4:23 6. Gotta (Feat. Ursula Rucker) 4:12 7. Let's Fall In Love Again (Feat. John-Christian Urich (Tortured Soul) 4:23 8. The Song (Feat. Chaka Khan & Mario Biondi) 5:09 9. Put A Little Lovin' In Your Heart (Feat. Tony Momrelle) 5:24 10. All Of My Life (Feat. Joy Rose) 4:49 11. Expresso Madureira 5:27 12. Life Ain't Nothing But A Good Thing (Feat. Vanessa Haynes) 5:59 13. Make Room For Love (Feat. Tony Momrelle) 6:02 14. Can't Get Enough (Feat. Mario Biondi) 3:59 15. The Winter Of My Springs (Feat. Tony Momrelle, Joy Rose & Lurine Cato) 0:41 16. Tell Me What To Do 5:20
