British band Incognito, is anything but. The group’s high energy performances, synergizing funk, soul, hip hop, as well as jazz have sealed their identity as a band known for its “must see live” performances, pumping out irresistible grooves and a message that’s always positive. Music lovers will have the chance to experience their brand of fusion on Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024 at the John Coltrane International Jazz and Blues Festival (JCIJBF) in High Point, NC.
Incognito
SOPHISTICATED FUNK
Credited as being the leading pioneer of acid jazz, Incognito, led by composer, producer, guitarist and singer Jean-Paul “Bluey” Maunick has hosted guest singers including Chaka Khan, Leon Ware, Mario Biondi, and Maysa. The band’s 1981 debut album Jazz Funk, was a worldwide success that hit No. 28 on the UK Pop Album Chart. It featured guest appearances by Hugh Masekela, horns-men Peter Sedona and Claude Deppa, and legendary Jamaican trombonist Vin Gordon. In 2001, the band took the London-based Mobo Award for Best Jazz Act.
Incognito has been described as a brand synonymous with sophisticated jazz-funk and top-notch vocal talent. Distinguished by its trademark horns, inspired by none other than Earth, Wind and Fire, Incognito has produced and collaborated with legendary artists, instrumentalists and songwriters including George Benson, Stevie Wonder and, who else — Philip Bailey.
The group’s most noted successes are in the singles charts starting with their breakthrough hit in 1991, a version of the Ronnie Laws tune “Always There”, featuring vocalist/singer/ Jocelyn Brown. It became a worldwide hit that made them smooth jazz heroes in the U.S. Their follow-up album Tribes, Vibes & Scribes, an update of Stevie Wonder’s “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing”, blew up on radio and further widened their audiences.
MUSICAL ALCHEMY
The albums that followed Tribes cemented Incognito’s place among the in-demand bands on the international stage. Positivity (1993) was among their best, crammed full of slick productions with universal hits like “Still a Friend of Mine” and “Givin’ It Up”. The album sold almost a million units worldwide. “We had a hit with an instrumental called ‘L’Arc en Ciel de Miles’ [from Tribes]. It was a simple tribute to Miles Davis, but that and ‘Deep Waters’ from our Positivity album were huge. It really struck a chord with American audiences,” Bluey recalls. “People identified with the songs, and that album sealed it.”
If Positivity sealed it, then 100 Degrees & Rising super-sealed it. Bluey brought in Joy Malcolm and Pam Anderson for some edge on vocals, and recorded at Abbey Road with a full orchestra, using Clare Fischer’s incredible string arrangements for Rufus as inspiration and the then-undiscovered, BAFTA-winning, British composer-arranger Simon Hale (Jamiroquai, Björk) to write the score.
As important as being entertainers who leave their audiences glad they came, Band leader “Bluey” sees himself and the band as “ambassadors for the human race,”. The group’s recording “Need to Know” is the theme song for the progressive radio and television news program “Democracy Now,”. In May 2015, Incognito recorded and released the single, “Send Your Love”, to raise funds for UNICEF to aid the people of Nepal following the devastating earthquake that year. Bandleader “Bluey” formed a separate group and released the single “Give and Let Live” in 2005 to help the Asian tsunami victims, and the people of Darfur in Sudan. It featured an all-star line-up including Steve Winwood. In 1994 the band appeared on a compilation album meant to raise AIDS awareness and funds for the African American community. The album was heralded as ‘Album of the Year’ by Time magazine. In October 2022, the band became the first group to be honored as part of Universal Music Recording’s “Black Story” series which honors British artists as part of the UK’s Black History Month.
