Incognito is a British acid jazz band. Their debut album, ''Jazz Funk'', was released in 1981.

Jean-Paul 'Bluey' Maunick Jean-Paul Maunick (born 19 February 1957, Mauritius), better known by his stage name Bluey is a British guitarist, bandleader, composer and record producer. He has led the British acid jazz band Incognito since its formation in 1979. With Inc ...

is the band's leader, singer, guitarist, composer, and record producer. The band has included Linda Muriel, Jocelyn Brown,

Maysa Leak Maysa Leak (born August 17, 1966) is an American jazz singer better known by her mononym Maysa. She is well known by fans of smooth jazz both for her solo work and her work with the British band Incognito. Early life and career Leak attended ...

, Tony Momrelle,

Imaani Imaani Saleem (born Melonie Crosdale on 1 January 1972) is an English singer, best known for representing the United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest 1998 in Birmingham with the song " Where Are You". The song placed second in the contest ...

, Vanessa Haynes, Mo Brandis, Natalie Williams,

Carleen Anderson Carleen Cassandra Anderson (born May 10, 1957) is an American singer and musician. She is known for her work with the Young Disciples and numerous collaborations. Her distinguished solo career began in 1992. She is the acclaimed composer, writer ...

, Pamela (PY) Anderson, Kelli Sae, and Joy Malcolm.

History

Incognito - Leverkusener Jazztage 2016-AL3944

Incognito was founded by Paul "Tubbs" Williams & Jean-Paul "Bluey" Maunick in 1979, as an offshoot from Light of the World. Light of the World was a substantially sized group and following various changes to the lineup, the founding members Breeze Mckrieth, Kenny Wellington & David Baptiste – inspired by American

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

bands such as

Funkadelic Funkadelic was an American funk rock band formed in Plainfield, New Jersey in 1968 and active until 1982. The band and its sister act Parliament, both led by George Clinton, pioneered the funk music culture of the 1970s.John, Bush. Funkade ...

forming offshoot bands like

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

– formed

Beggar & Co Beggar and Co (also written Beggar & Co) are a British jazz-funk group formed by Kenny Wellington, David Baptiste and Neville 'Breeze' McKrieth, originally members of the group Light of the World. Overview Beggar and Co's first single was "(S ...

. Bluey & Tubbs went on to form Incognito. However, there has seen a re-connection over the years in Light of the World with various former members, alongside their other commitments. Incognito has had intermittent success in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, with their breakthrough 1991

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

of the Ronnie Laws tune " Always There", featuring Jocelyn Brown, which made No. 6 in the UK. The group's 1992 single, "

Don't You Worry 'bout a Thing "Don't You Worry 'bout a Thing" is a song by American singer-songwriter Stevie Wonder, released as the third single from his sixteenth studio album, ''Innervisions'' (1973). It reached number 16 on the US ''Billboard'' Pop Singles chart, numb ...

" saw similar success, reaching No. 19 in the UK. They have also been a favourite of various re-mixers, including

Masters at Work Masters at Work is the American garage house production and remix team of "Little" Louie Vega and Kenny "Dope" Gonzalez. The duo has produced music together under the names MAW, KenLou, Sole Fusion, Hardrive, and Nuyorican Soul. They have been ...

David Morales David Morales (; born August 21, 1962) is an American disc jockey (DJ) and record producer. In addition to his production and DJ work, Morales is also a remixer. David Morales has remixed and produced over 500 releases for artists including Ma ...

Roger Sanchez Roger Sanchez (born June 1, 1967) is a Dominican-American house music DJ, remixer and producer. He won a Grammy Award for his remix of " Hella Good" by No Doubt in 2003, and is best known for his song " Another Chance", which was an internati ...

and

Jazzanova Alexander Barck, Zelt Musik Festival 2015 in Freiburg, Germany Jazzanova is a German Berlin-based DJ/producer collective consisting of Alexander Barck, Claas Brieler, Jürgen von Knoblauch, Roskow Kretschmann, Stefan Leisering, and Axel Reine ...

, and have released several albums consisting almost entirely of

remix A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...

es. In 1994, Incognito appeared on the

Red Hot Organization Red Hot Organization (RHO) is a not-for-profit, 501(c) 3, international organization dedicated to fighting AIDS through pop culture. Since its inception in 1989, over 400 artists, producers and directors have contributed to over 15 compilati ...

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

, '' Stolen Moments: Red Hot + Cool''. The album, meant to raise awareness and funds in support of the AIDS epidemic in relation to the African American community, was heralded as 'Album of the Year' by ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' magazine. In 1996, the band contributed " Water to Drink" to the AIDS-benefit album ''

Red Hot + Rio ''Red Hot + Rio'' is a compilation album produced by Béco Dranoff and Paul Heck as part of the Red Hot AIDS Benefit Series intended to promote AIDS awareness. This installment is a contemporary tribute to the bossa nova sound, especially the mus ...

'', also produced by the Red Hot Organization. Their song "Need to Know" is the theme song for progressive radio and television news program ''

Democracy Now! ''Democracy Now!'' is an hour-long American TV, radio, and Internet news program hosted by journalists Amy Goodman (who also acts as the show's executive producer), Juan González, and Nermeen Shaikh. The show, which airs live each weekday at ...

''. In 2021, the band reissued a celebratory, 40th anniversary, 106 track retrospective of their debut album, ''Jazz Funk''. The Brit funk pioneers have released a music video for the track "You Are in My System." The deluxe reissue features a 52 page booklet with liner notes written by Charles Waring and a selection of the band's archive photos. In October 2022, the band was the first group to be honored as part of Universal Music Recording's "Black Story" series which honors Black UK artists as part of the UK's Black History Month.

Discography

References

External links

Official Incognito website

Incognito discography, album releases & credits
at

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

Incognito interview by Pete Lewis
in ''

Blues & Soul ''Blues & Soul'' is a British music magazine, established in 1967 by John Abbey. ''The Independent'' has noted ''Blues & Soul'' as being the equal of magazines such as '' NME'' and '' Q''. ''Billboard'' magazine has called ''Blues & Soul'' "a ...

'' magazine (July 2010)
Incognito interview by Chris Mann
at Smooth-Jazz.de (September 2008) {{DEFAULTSORT:Incognito Musical groups established in 1979 Acid jazz ensembles English jazz ensembles Smooth jazz ensembles Heads Up International artists Verve Records artists Blue Thumb Records artists Mercury Records artists Talkin' Loud artists Chrysalis Records artists Narada Productions artists English funk musical groups British soul musical groups Musical groups from London

History

Discography

References

Further reading

External links