Incognito

views updated Jun 27 2018

Incognito

Acid jazz group

For the Record

Sounds of Seventies for Nineties Ears

Londons Music Scene Inspired Eclectic Sound

Signed With Talkin Loud

Selected discography

Sources

By the mid-1990s, musical boundaries had become less and less restrictive and the term crossover used to describe musicians who ventured beyond their own genrecarried less and less meaning. Rap, soul, country, rock, and alternative music have all appeared at one time or another, sometimes simultaneously, on Billboards Top Ten chart. Vintage crooner Tony Bennett found fame in MTV circles while country music, once relegated to rural America and the urban South, entered the mainstream. Even the solid institution of jazz has seen a change in its scope, particularly in the way that acid jazz has blurred the distinctions between jazz, hip-hop, and R&B. As Island Records executive Peggy Dold explained to Billboard, You cant define acid jazz with one particular record or artist. There are nuances and differences in the music, which is very healthy. Enter Englands Incognito. Comprised of Jean-Paul Bluey Maunick, Joy Malcolm, Pamela Anderson, and Simon Hale, Incognito began making records in the early Eighties that took jazz and soul as a starting place, but arrived somewhere entirely different by way of street-smart creativity and experimental yet solid musicianship.

For the Record

Formed in 1979 in London, England by leader Jean-Paul Bluey Maunick (born c. 1957 in Mauritius; emigrated to England, c. 1967). Other core members include vocalists Pamela Anderson and Joy Malcolm and musician Simon Hale. Joined by others for recordings and tours to form a 12-to 15-member band, often featuring an orchestra section.

First recording Jazz Funk released in the U.K., 1980; signed with Verves Talkin Loud label, 1991; released Inside Life, 1992; single Always There from Inside Life hits Top Ten, 1992; vocalist Maysa Leak joins group for recording of Tribes, Vibes + Scribes, 1993; recorded and released Positivity, 1994; single Still a Friend of Mine from Positivity achieves highest commercial success for group, 1994; released 100@ and Rising featuring Barry Stewart, 1995.

Addresses: Record company Talkin Loud/Verve Forecast, 825 8th Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10019.

Incognito delivers Seventies-style R&B dressed up in Nineties garb with definite jazz underpinnings, a mood that follows the musical vision of the bands leader, Bluey Maunick. An adolescence in London, where R&B, funk, and jazz were tremendously popular, ensured that Maunick developed a strong affinity for artists such as Herbie Hancock, Stevie Wonder, and Earth, Wind & Fire. Jazz-funk [in the 70s] gave British kids a tremendous sense of freedom, Maunick told Newsday. It loosened them up on the dance floor in a way that no other music had previously, bringing together black and white for the first time. The lyrics suggested the positivity of life; it was an optimistic, life-affirming vibe.

Sounds of Seventies for Nineties Ears

Though the bands soulful rhythms usually escape criticism and attract listeners, their detractors point to the jazz element in their sound as a source of weakness. The venerable chronicle of the jazz scene, Down Beat, critiqued the bands 1994 album Positivity and found that Maunicks bland, laid-back tunes are no jazzier than, say, Sades. Elsewhere, Howard Reich of the Chicago Tribune said of a 1994 performance, Evidently, Incognito believes its horn players riffs constitute jazz, though these simplistic little melodic hooks, repeated ad nauseum, are pale imitations of the real thing. In his defense of his inspirations, Maunick declared in an interview with the Los Angeles Times, I dug Roberta Flack and Chaka Khan, but I equally dug Joni Mitchell. When you grow up in a society where music wasnt pigeonholed, you have an advantage. It was all just music in those days.

While Maunick plays the guitar and his compositions rely on steady percussion and occasional horn flurries, the attention generally falls on the bands vocalists. Singers Pamela Anderson and Joy Malcolm both demonstrate well-trained abilities to deliver sultry sounds reminiscent of Anita Baker. Critics generally agree that Incognitos jazz heritage is largely present in its lyrical delivery. Positivity, the bands 1994 album, made use of vocalist Maysa Leak of Baltimore, Maryland. Maunick hired Leak to appear on the groups 1993 release after an audition conducted over the telephone. Leaks alto voice so powerfully filled the record that the Tribunes Reich termed her vocals rife with voluptuousness.

Londons Music Scene Inspired Eclectic Sound

As Incognitos founder and leader, the bands history beginsand will presumably endwith Maunicks own. Born on Mauritius Island, near Madagascar in the Indian Ocean, Maunick moved with his mother to London at age ten. Inspired by the citys rich music scene, he formed Light of the World, an R&B/jazz band noted for the fact that they were one of the first black bands in London to receive critical attention. When that band came to a demise, Maunick formed Incognito in 1979. The band released Jazz Funk in 1980 and the record found its way to the British Top 30, where it remained for two months.

The records success notwithstanding, musical tastes in Britain, and London especially, shifted from the lush and soulful to the sparse and erratic. Punk bands began to consume the charts and clubs looked to new bands such as the Clash and the Buzzcocks to occupy their stages. Seemingly a casualty of musics evolution, Maunick held firm to his style and found work producing other acid jazz bands that continued to forward the genre. Maunick told Londons Guardian, I was still searching for my place in the scheme of things, but trying to stay true to music.

Signed With Talkin Loud

Maunicks fortunes took a dramatic turn for the better in 1991. A well-respected club DJ, Giles Peterson, took control of a newly formed Verve Records division, Talkin Loud Records. Talkin Loud, affiliated with Verve, itself a division of Polygram, was charged with signing bands that fell beyond the boundaries of its more traditional corporate parents. With Petersona veteran of Londons thriving club sceneat the helm, Talkin Loud sought out Maunick and gave Incognito a second life. Maunick surrounded himself with the core group of Joy Malcolm, Pamela Anderson, and Simon Hale, but for each of Incognitos four Talkin Loud releases, he added several additional musicians to make for a bigger, more orchestral sound.

A string of successful albums and a few high-scoring singles solidified Incognitos place in acid-jazz circles. Still a Friend of Mine, from 1994s Positivity was the bands commercial high-water mark until the release of 1995s 100® and Rising. Maunick brought in singer Barry Stewart to record on the album, which features a bit of flamenco guitar in addition to Incognitos trademark blend of Seventies rhythm with jazzed-up vocals. Because Maunick prides himself on his ability to meld diverse musical styles into a single coherent groove, it comes as no surprise that in discussing the record he told the Los Angeles Times, Im like a musical vampire. I need the fresh blood to give me that musical life source, the feeding source, to inject into my new ideas.

In addition to scouring the musical landscape for sonic rejuvenation, Maunick busies himself at the producers console, working with big-name artists like Stevie Wonder, Chaka Khan, and George Benson. The transition for Maunick from behind the mic to behind the board for artists of such caliber comes as a singular thrill for the 38-year old. Why, its like getting a call from God, he told the Los Angeles Times of his work with such platinum artists. Incognito, in all its line-up permutations, has built a solid club following and with Maunicks experience as a producer and his inexhaustible quest for fertile territory, critics and fans envision only bigger and better things for one of Britains top acid-jazz ensembles.

Selected discography

Inside Life, Verve Forecast/TalkinLoud, 1992.

Tribes, Vibes + Scribes, Verve Forecast/TalkinLoud, 1993.

Positivity (contains the single Still a Friend of Mine), Verve Forecast/TalkinLoud, 1994.

100@ and Rising, Verve Forecast/TalkinLoud, 1995.

Also recorded and released the LP Jazz Funk in the United Kingdom, 1980.

Sources

Billboard, December 17, 1995.

Chicago Tribune, May 8, 1994.

Down Beat, August 1994.

Guardian, (London), June 2, 1995.

Journal and Constitution (Atlanta), June 9, 1995; June 12, 1995.

Los Angeles Times, June 7, 1995; June 9, 1995.

Newsday (New York), May 22, 1994.

Rolling Stone, June 16, 1994; October 19, 1995.

Schwann Spectrum, Winter 1995.

Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale), July 30, 1995.

Vibe, August 1995.

Washington Times, May 14, 1994.

Rich Bowen

incognito

views updated May 23 2018

in·cog·ni·to / ˌinkägˈnētō; inˈkägniˌtō/ • adj. & adv. (of a person) having one's true identity concealed: [as adj.] in order to observe you have to be incognito | [as adv.] he is now operating incognito. • n. (pl. -tos) an assumed or false identity.

Incognito

views updated May 29 2018

Incognito ★½ 1997 (R)

Art forger Harry Donovan (Patric) is approached by a couple of British art dealers and a Japanese broker to forge a Rembrandt for a Japanese client. He checks out the painter's style by traveling to Amsterdam and Paris, where he falls for art expert Marieke (Jacob). Harry forges the painting and then gets doublecrossed and caught up in murder. Convoluted plot; lots of cliches. Original director Peter Weller was replaced by Badham after two weeks of filming. 107m/C VHS, DVD . Jason Patric, Irene Jacob, Rod Steiger, Thomas Lockyer, Simon Chandler, Michael Cochrane, Ian Richardson, Pip Torrens, Togo Igawa; D: John Badham; W: Jordan Katz; C: Denis Crossan; M: John Ottman.

incognito

views updated May 18 2018

incognito XVII. — It. — L. incognitus unknown; see IN-2, QUAINT. Abbreviated incog XVII.

incognito

views updated Jun 11 2018

incognito an assumed or false identity. The word comes (in the mid 17th century) from Italian, literally ‘unknown’.