FROM JAZZ FUNK & FUSION TO ACID JAZZ: THE HISTORY OF THE UK JAZZ DANCE SCENE

After checking Snowboy's book signing at Gilles Peterson's legendary annual club session - Talking Loud & Saying Something - before Xmas I couldn't resist collecting together a bunch of quotes from the reviews of 'From Jazz Funk and Fusion to Acid Jazz..." and popping them up on Amazon. As Professor Robert Farris Thomson says, "This book is a classic..." and we felt that music loving Amazon regulars in the USA would appreciate some kind of overview.If you are interested in the unique impact of African American music... soul,funk,fusion, Latin & Brazilian jazz and JAZZ... on club culture in the UK, between the early Seventies and mid Nineties, this book tells that story. This a story about mostly Afro Caribbean youth and their white working class counterparts and how they created a slew of wikkid combative and fluid dance styles to deal with the rhythmic complexities of tunes like Lonnie Liston Smith's 'Expansions',Michel Legrand's 'Southern Routes',Art Blakey's 'The Feast',Byron Morris' 'Kitty Bey',Jane Cortez's 'I Saw Chano Pozo', Flora Purim's 'Vera Cruz', Janet Lawson's 'So High', McCoy Tyner's 'Love Samba', Herbie Hancock's 'Shiftless Shuffle',Jon Lucien's 'Listen Love', Fela's ' Water No Get Enemy', Sivuca's 'Aint No Sunshine... phew, the list goes on and the charts at the back of this book will have you freaking out! Believe!.This scene spread to the US via Giant Step in NYC who brought us artists like Groove Collective and Dana Bryant before giving us the ground breaking hip hop-jazz collisions that were Red Hot & Cool. It found kindred spirits in labels like the West Coast's Ubiquity Records and with DJ/producers like Master At Work, Joaquin Claussell, Ron Trent,Carlos Nino,Carl Craig et al.So, here are a few quotes from DJs, broadcasters, music critics, academics...'Couldn't put this book down - there's a lot of history here! A fine piece of work - respect to Snowboy for reminding me of a large chunk of my dj life'Gilles Peterson - BBC Radio 1: WorldwideIn sum, the cultural significance of this text is immense. It is a classic in the field of dance and music.Professor Robert Farris Thompson - Yale UniversityDripping with sweat and knowledge, this book has the driving rhythms of jazz dance down like a hi-hat beat. Master percussionist Snowboy is a fine proponent of this amazing underground scene.Robert Elms - BBC Radio LondonWhether you were there or not this book is a must have for fans of dance jazz. Snowboy has painstakingly pieced the story together. By printing his interviews verbatim he manages to get a great first person touch. Snowboy is a Don!Jez Nelson - BBC Jazz On 3 / Somethin' ElseAs a DJ and music maker with taste and knowledge as far as the eye can see, there is no better man than Snowboy to document this remarkably effervescent and unique corner of dance culture. Through the personal testimonies in this book, you'll see a whole world unravel before your very eyes, and in his painstaking efforts to give the phenomenon it's correct context, you'll also happen to be in possession of the most comprehensive guide to the UK underground clubbing scene of the last 4 decades that's ever gone to print.Mark Webster: TV & Radio Broadcaster + JournalistThere is a saying that goes: "If you can't remember something then you weren't really there". I was and I can't! Thank God Snowboy can. A book not so much researched as lived. This is a fascinating insight into what history may well come to decide was a period of musical activity far more influential than 'Brit Pop'.Craig Charles - Craig Charles' Funk & Soul Show BBC Radio 5"By the time you read through the various DJs' playlists at the back, you'll be scurrying back to your collection or boogalooing down to your retailer of choice. A specialist triumph."Daryl Easlea, Record Collector 369 - 4 StarsCotgrove's gathering of extensive testimony of an already seemingly lost world lays the basis for much wider future studies. At its peak, Jazz Fusion involved thousands of utterly devoted young males, whose commitment and enthusiasm would have been the envy of the UK dance world, if only they knew about it.Terry Monaghan - Dancing TimesThis is a book predominantly of use to insiders who want a comprehensive scrapbook to reminisce over, or to social historians looking for first-person accounts of 80s subcultures. It's written by an enthusiast for enthusiasts... and there's material here for a documentary or feature film that would no doubt be a great watch.Mark Fisher - The WireIt's much more than a niche story about jazz dancers. It shows how the scene cross pollinated with other movements in this incredibly fertile period for youth culture in the UK, whether it was Punk in the late Seventies or Acid House in the late Eighties. And that makes this an essential read for anyone with a passing interest in what makes the heart of young Britain beat.Andy Thomas - MondomixFrom Jazz Funk & Fusion To Acid Jazz is densely packed with information and cross referenced with great care and a no-nonsense approach. In all a great book for newcomers to discover a significant piece of dance history and the people and tunes that shaped it, and no doubt sure to cause spirited debate within the jazz dance community.Matthew Bazergan - Spine"A really incredible book -- and one of the best accounts of any music scene we've ever read!Dusty Groove - ChicagoThe story of a culture that didn't have one look, one sound and one path. A subculture that wouldn't fit nicely into a box and too often got written off before it got written down. It's not that I am just enjoying the book, I am thrilled to be reading it Damian Rafferty - FlyMark 'Snowboy' Cotgrove has superbly and successfully distilled and bound into 290 pages, the essence of a uniquely British Jazz Dance era and its infrastructure. It will rekindle fond memories of those who were there and educate in some depth those who weren't. A most captivating and enlightening read.'Steve Williams - UK Vibe[...]Longtime in the making and a true perfectionist as he is... Jazz guv'nor Snowboy has toiled long and hard to record a major concise part of music/dance history. 'From Jazz Funk and Fusion to Acid Jazz' does exactly what it says on the label, with interviews from the people that made it happen.Lee Tyler -Blues & SoulReading From Jazz Funk & Fusion to Acid Jazz has also made me feel enormously nostalgic for the Eighties, the decade that taught me most about jazz when (club) culture was still underground and exciting, reminding me of all those people and characters that built the scene, and filling in a lot of gaps in my own knowledge of the history. I just hope that the book reaches a few younger folk who will hopefully find it inspiring.Patrick Forge DJ / broadcaster - OkinawaSo... there you go. All you gotta do now is buy the book, start seeking out the music and then check You Tube to decipher IDJ's classic dance moves.The Spirit Of Straight No Chaser - alive and kickin'.Maximum Respek - January 2010

As a DJ, percussionist & band leader Mark 'Snowboy' Cotgrove has been at the heart of UK jazz dance & latin scenes for decades (I recommend checking out the various Latin Section releases available, to see what he is capable of as a musician).This history of the UK jazz dance scene was obviously a work of love for him, and, as a publication isn't perfect. I suspect to fully appreciate all the depth of detail concerning the various clubs & events you would probably need to have been a regular on that scene. However as a guide to its development, and the key players who formed it, it provides a valuable introduction.Where the book really comes alive, for me, is in the various playlists that are scattered through the book, and collated in the appendix at the end. In the internet era these tunes are now readily accessible, and listening back to the records that birthed the scene, and propelled it forward, gives you a real sense of the boundless energy that those clubs and DJs must have generated amongst their devoted following.For someone who has long been interested in jazz, funk, Cuban, Brazilian and African music, this has provided me with the missing piece of the jigsaw that has finally linked all of these influences together - the dance floor. For that I will be eternally grateful.

Well got to the end, and about time to.What a good read ..Anyone who was into this jazz dancing scene should buy this book..Most of it based around the london scene, Shame...But then again thats where everything sort of started.. Except for the northern soul scene, ....Would liked to have had more pics off the dancers , But i know it took mark all is time to get this done and out as it was....So thanks to snowboy for getting it done....Now how about a book just on snowboys own story, etc....that would be a good read to....Shame killer jim was,nt in the book. as he still runs the notts jazz dance sessions....see you out on the floor..like Bruce says, Keep On Dancing.

Great book and insight into the Jazz funk/ fusion / Acid jazz scene at the time . Bought back many memories of my youth clubbing days in London. A shame there isn't any clubs that play this music anymore like back then.If your interested in this type of music buy the book.

An excellently written and well researched work, and a boon for all Jazzy Funksters!Nice one, Snowboy!Wish I could still move!!!😎🎼🎷

Great as a reference book....but unfortunately it is full of spelling mistakes and grammatical errors.....as an ex proofreader I found this very annoying