Soul II Soul’s Jazzie B

For over 20 years Jazzie B and Soul II Soul have made their mark as musical pioneers, inspiring and paving the way for a generation of artists and achieving legendary status with global hits such as ‘Back to Life’ and ‘Keep on Movin.’ BBM’s James Stapleton caught up with the legendary Jazzie B, to toast in the New Year ahead of his upcoming live sound system tour of Australia and New Zealand.

Mr Jazzie B, an honour and a pleasure to speak to you, are you looking forward to bringing the Soul II Soul sound system down under?

Cheers, we’ve done it before a couple of times before, but it’s been a while and I really like some parts of Australia, I think last time we were there was the ‘Butterfly’ tour in ’97. Definitely looking forward it.

What can the BBM readers expect this time round?

That’s a difficult question. What can you expect but a happy face, a thumping bass for a loving race…watch out for that one.

Taking it back, ‘Back to Life’ was the second single I ever bought, – what was the first bit of vinyl you picked up?

The first record I ever personally purchased ‘Is it because I’m black’ by Syl Johnson. I managed to inherit a lot of music from my older brothers you see, so I was very lucky.

That song was a coming of age for original British black music, in fact it was featured heavily by a young Will Smith on the pilot episode of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air…

Funny, every time there’s a re-run in the UK I get bombarded with emails; it was a great flagship for it all. It was a sign of the times on how things were.

How do you feel music has changed over the last 20 years?

I just think it’s great, I think it’s fantastic. I suppose in the early 1980’s, ignorance was blindness to the facts, there really wasn’t any outlet for club music, which is why pirate stations were so big. It enabled people like Norman Jay, Giles Peterson and myself to get where we are today, thank God for pirate radio.

If someone had told you 20 years ago that Dizzee Rascal, Tinie Tempah, Dappy and co. would be regularly topping the charts and flying the British flag would you have believed it?

Walking through a supermarket and hearing this sort of music is what I really find significant. Tesco’s, Selfridges, and Harrods, they play it all. They call it Urban now and it’s so prevalent, it’s really quite interesting. I wouldn’t have believed that 20 years ago.

What do you make of the strength of reality TV music shows such as X-Factor?

I do think the program is brilliant, it’s important and it fills a fantastic void. I grew up with Old Grey Whistle Test and Top of the Pops and that provided us with a benchmark.

So if Simon Cowell called you up and said we need you to replace Louis?

No thanks Simon. Thanks but no thanks; I’m sure there are better candidates out there who want to make fools out of themselves.

What do our pool of talent need to do now to keep British music strong?

I just think they should keep doing what they are doing. The cross-collaboration of artists is great and the Afro-centricity is coming through. Tinie, Tinchy the African influence is there, which is fantastic.

It will be interesting as well to see the merge of what essentially will happen in Australia and New Zealand as the Maoris and the various different aboriginal tribes, the other indigenous people etc., come together and look at the melting pot as a whole and bring something to the fore.

With so many people looking up to you, who do you look up to?

My mum.

Who are you listening to at the moment, which new acts get your seal of approval?

So many, Izzy Dunn, Chancellor, Joseph Macwan to name but a few. You can hear all of them on my radio show, BBC London 94.9fm on Friday nights. I spoon them out mate.

What’s the one song you heard you wished you’d written?

I wrote it! Hahaha! But it’s kind of true, I wrote the best song I could have written.

What would be Soul II Soul’s Christmas/New Year message to our readers?

‘Keep on movin’ don’t stop the hands of time, find your own way to stay. A happy face and thumping bass, Merry Christmas and a Happy new year to you all.

Well, with the 12 days of Christmas over and the New Year in full swing it’s ‘Back to life’ and ‘Back to reality’ for many as 2012 takes its bow, but not Jazzie B, who will be taking his Soul II Soul sound system on tour throughout February.

Tour Dates:

Feb 17 Soul II Soul, Tapapakanga Regional Park, New Zealand
Feb 22 Soul II Soul, The Governor Hindmarsh, Adelaide
Feb 24 Soul II Soul, Trak Live Lounge Bar, Melbourne
Feb 26 Soul II Soul, The Ivy, Sydney

By James Stapleton