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20-588: The James Taylor Quartet (or JTQ ) are a British four-piece jazz funk band formed in 1985 by Hammond organ player James Taylor following the break-up of his former band the Prisoners , and in the wake of Stiff Records ' bankruptcy. The band consists of James Taylor (organ), Mark Cox (guitar), Andrew McKinney (bass), and Pat Illingworth (drums). Recordings and live performances often include vocalist Yvonne Yanney. The James Taylor Quartet's first single, "Blow-Up" (a funked-up version of Herbie Hancock's main theme from

40-665: A UK identity was Light of the World, formed by Kenny Wellington, Jean-Paul 'Bluey' Maunick and other musicians. Acid jazz is jazz genre, but its emphasis on groove just like funk, hip hop, and club dance music. Incognito , The Brand New Heavies , Jamiroquai , and the James Taylor Quartet helped the acid jazz movement surge in popularity. UK group US3 signed to Acid Jazz Records , founded by Peterson and Eddie Piller . US3 covered " Cantaloupe Island ", originally recorded by Herbie Hancock . Bruton Music Bruton Music

60-460: A lot of improvised solos. The band recorded their signature tune "The Theme from Starsky and Hutch " featuring Fred Wesley and Pee Wee Ellis of the JBs in 1988 and this was included on their next album Wait a Minute (1988). Their popularity as a live act led to the release of the live album Absolute – JTQ Live in 1991, which attempted to capture the experience of the band in concert (even though it

80-518: A rough, up-tempo, almost punk -like style, that was primarily focused on Taylor's Hammond organ playing. Their second album, The Money Spyder (1987), was the soundtrack to an imaginary spy film, applying the band's style to Taylor's own compositions. While promoting these albums, the James Taylor Quartet developed a reputation as a live band. The live set emphasized on rhythm driven music, with elements of modern dance music , despite including

100-590: The Bruton Music company. A series of releases were made available for use by the media industry in TV advertisements, programmes, films etc. The James Taylor Quartet have also released three albums under the name New Jersey Kings . These are similar in style to the core funky Hammond sound of JTQ, but have tended to be recorded live in the studio resulting in a more natural yet raw sound. Some performances during 2005 included an augmented horn section and have been promoted as

120-672: The Rhodes Piano or electric guitar, bass guitar , organ, particularly in jazz fusion . Herbie Hancock played ARP Odyssey synthesizer and clavinet on album Head Hunters (1973). Jennifer Lopez popularized "jazz funk dance" in the sketch comedy In Living Color . The controversy may have helped jazz find a larger audience. By contrast, pop audiences found it "too jazzy" and, therefore, too complex. Some mainstream artists in jazz used specialist producers to commercial success. Larry and Fonce Mizell produced jazz-funk artists such as Johnny "Hammond" Smith , Gary Bartz , Roger Glenn,

140-670: The Blackbyrds, and Donald Byrd . In the UK's nightclubs of the mid-late 1970s, DJs including Colin Curtis in Manchester , Birmingham 's Graham Warr and Shaun Williams , and Leeds -based Ian Dewhirst and Paul Schofield championed the genre, along with Chris Hill and Bob Jones in the South. London-based jazz funk pioneers drew a new audience to jazz: notably pirate radio stations Invicta 92.4 and JFM. In

160-593: The James Taylor Funk Orchestra. During 2005, Nigel Price (guitar) replaced David Taylor. As part of the EFG London Jazz Festival, the James Taylor Quartet were backed by a full orchestra when they played at Cadogan Hall in London on 21 November 2018 for the premiere performance of their new album Soundtrack from Electric Black , which preceded the album's release on 30 November on Audio Network. It

180-841: The Life" reached the top 40 and the accompanying album Supernatural Feeling (1993) reached the top 30 on the UK Albums Chart . The next album In the Hand of the Inevitable (1995), featuring Alison Limerick as guest vocalist on three songs, saw a return to the Acid Jazz label, where it remains the label's biggest selling album. Since then, the James Taylor Quartet have returned to their original style of instrumental Hammond-led jazz funk workouts on albums. Cover versions such as " Whole Lotta Love ", " Dirty Harry " and " Jesus Christ Superstar "' are still recorded in

200-607: The first Austin Powers film. As well as their own recordings, James Taylor and members of the quartet have collaborated with Tom Jones on the duets album Reload and featured on records by the Wonder Stuff , Manic Street Preachers , the Pogues , Kingmaker and U2 . They were also the house band on Gaby Roslin 's short-lived Channel 4 chat show in 1996. In the late 1990s, James Taylor began composing and recording library music for

220-432: The label include, David Arnold, Hal David , Brian Dee , George Fenton, Alan Hawkshaw , Irving Martin , John Paricelli, the James Taylor Quartet , and Norman Warren. The music released by the label is generally for film, television and radio projects. As of April 1978, the label had sixty albums in twenty categories available. They had also gone in the direction away from the recognized library format but catering to

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240-460: The late 1980s, rare groove crate diggers–DJs in England who were interested in looking back into the past and re-discovering old tunes– Norman Jay and Gilles Peterson achieved prominence. While the majority of jazz-funk bands are American, British jazz-funk artists and bands emerged in the late 1970s and early 1980s. They were encouraged by club DJs such as Chris Hill and Robbie Vincent , who

260-521: The needs of the client. They had also taken on Jack Dorsey, Tony Hiller, Richard Hill, John Hawkins, Alan Hawkshaw, Johnny Pearson, Dennis King and Miki Anthony as their writers. Also that year, Bruton Music had entered into an agreement with Regent Recorded Music for representation rights in the United States which was until October 1983. In 1979, the Bruton Music song "Hit and Run" by David Easter

280-416: The same spirit as the band's debut "Blow-Up" single, but the albums are mainly original compositions. Live gigs regularly feature a vocalist and showcase songs from the soul period of the band. They received a Music of Black Origin nomination for their second live album Whole Lotta Live (1998). The James Taylor Quartet produced a bona-fide film theme of their own, when they contributed to the soundtrack of

300-642: The seminal 1960s film of the same name ), was released in 1987 on the Re Elect the President label, which would later become the Acid Jazz label. The track was championed by the NME and John Peel , appearing in Peel's Festive Fifty chart for 1987. The band's debut seven track mini album, Mission Impossible (1987) followed and predominantly comprised covers of 1960s film themes such as " Alfie ", " Mrs. Robinson " and " Goldfinger " in

320-595: Was a record label that was associated with music library type recordings. A range of notable artists have contributed music to the label. Bruton Music was founded by Robin Phillips in 1976/1977. They originally operated from ATV Music ’s offices in Bruton Street, London. At some stage, Michael Jackson ended up owning the label. It was later sold to the Zomba Group . Artists who have composed and or contributed music to

340-603: Was influenced by Herbie Hancock . The Mizell Brothers were producers for many jazz and soul artists. Examples of early jazz funk albums include Miles Davis' On the Corner (1972) and Jimmy Smith's Root Down (1972). The Last Poets , Gil Scott-Heron , Lightnin' Rod , T.S. Monk , Pleasure , Boogaloo Joe Jones , Lenny White , Don Blackman , Monk Higgins , Wilbur Bascomb , the Blackbyrds, Donald Byrd and Les DeMerle and Michael Henderson released jazz funk albums. Jazz funk musicians used electric instruments, such as

360-443: Was originally intended for production use only, but Audio Network decided to put Soundtrack from Electric Black forward for a full commercial release. Jazz funk Jazz-funk exhibits several distinctive characteristics. A first characteristic of jazz funk has simple structure based around one or two riffs, and second characteristic of jazz funk has a harmonic structure that allows musicians to improvise. Modern jazz funk music

380-436: Was recorded 'live' in the studio, the audience cheering being overdubbed later). In the early 1990s, the band changed direction and released a string of song-based albums to appeal to the then fashionable soul and acid jazz scene in the UK. They featured vocalists such as Rose Windross of Soul II Soul , Alison Limerick and Noel McKoy . McKoy became a permanent member of the band for part of this period. The single "Love

400-413: Was then on BBC Radio London , and Greg Edwards , who had a show on London's first commercial radio station, Capital Radio . They launched a jazz festival in 1980, where the jazz-funk band Light of the World performed. Jazz-funk was also played on Europe's first soul station, Radio Invicta , and pirate radio stations such as Solar Radio , Horizon, and Kiss FM . The first of these bands to establish

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