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When
originally formed by D J Maxi Jazz in 1990, The Soul F C was a ground
breaking concept that, as the decade progressed, became more and
more accepted as a step forward in bringing both hip-hop and jazz
to the ears of the public at large.At the time Maxi was signed to
Acid Jazz and performing
PA's with his DJ's at venues up and down the country and all over
Europe. His decision to form a band sprang from the loneliness of
the long-distance PA and particularly from a collaboration with
Jah Wobbles band 'Invaders of the Heart' which saw Maxi contributing
lyrics to the album and also touring briefly. He enjoyed the way
the music changed from gig to gig (impossible with dub-plates of
hip-hop beats) and immediately put together a band that came to
be known as The Soul Food Cafe'. Maxi then took the band all over
Europe, warming up the stage for the likes of Jamiroquai & Mother
Earth in Amsterdam, Soul II Soul in Barcelona, Galliano in Switzerland
along with French hip-hop crew Supreme NTM and Overlord X (way back
in the day) with short tours of Germany, Norway and France. After
leaving Acid Jazz in '92, Maxi released three critically well-received
EP's on his own "Namu" label, that featured members of
the group on various tracks but owing to congenital financial ineptitude
was never able to showcase the whole band until 1995 when a deal
was struck with Revco Records, a label with whom Maxi felt comfortable.A
period of serious rehearsals was followed by weeks in Revco's studio
recording eight live tracks and four hip-hop cuts. |
 The
line-up of the band sees Morgan Zarati on drums & percussion,
(Level) Neville Malcom on 4-5 string fretless & upright basses,
D J Keith Lawrence on the dex, T C plays guitar, Chris Jerome on
piano and keys, Ramon Layselles on alto-soprano saxes and flute
with Mary Joy's soulful vocals.The album is a glorious mix of upbeat
jazz and funk featuring sparkling musicianship, bags of soul and
most importantly for Max, real songs. The lyrics spring from Maxi's
deep faith in Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism (a faith also shared
by Mary Joy) and reflects his extremely positive outlook on life,
love and humanity. Not a gun lyric in sight.Alongside this project,
Maxi has also been contributing to and touring with Jason
Rebello's band (Europe and Brazil), Fumi, an up-an-coming
London funk outfit currently on UK wide tour, sponsored by Levi's
and Yves St Laurent, gigs with jazz hip-hop fusioneers Akasha, a
group that also features Andy Gangadeen on drums (one of Maxi's
personal heroes) and most recently providing the direction for 'FAITHLESS'
a band put together around Maxi's lyrics and the baby of
mega-house producer Rollo Armstrong for Cheeky Records.
"INSOMNIA" (2nd single from the
"REVERENCE" album) went to number 2 in the German charts
and the album sold very well throughout Europe and the U.K.
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