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| Gaz's Rockin Blues - Club Classics Following on from last years highly acclaimed Top Ska album, legendary Ska Selector Gaz Mayall is back, with Gaz's Rockin Blues - Club Classics - a celebration of the 25th anniversary of his popular London club night of the same name - released on Trojan Records in January 23, 2006. Having first made his mark on the London club scene in the early eighties, playing a wild selection of vintage Jamiacan and R&B sounds, his aptly named Gaz's Rockin Blues nights, held every Thursday (now at the St Moritz Club, Wardour Street), continue to draw huge crowds. Comprised of celebrities, dreads, mods and skins, everyone is united by their desire to hear and dance to Gaz's latest selection of killer tunes. Now, for the very first time, a wide selection of Gaz's club favourites stretching from Blues and R&B from the 1950s, through to classic ska and rocksteady from the 60s, and 70s, have been brought together on a deluxe 2-CD set. Amongst tracks from the likes of The Kinks, Nina Simone, John Mayall, The Specials and Desmond Dekker. Gaz's Rebel Blues Rockers (Gaz's first band) features also, along with Joe Strummer's first band The 101'ers. Gaz MayallDJ's & hosts 'Gaz's Rockin' Blues', London's longest running one-nighter every Thursday night at St Moritz club in Wardour Street, Soho, where he occasionally plays live with his ska band The Trojans. He originally launched the club July 3rd, 1980, following a stint at the now-legendary Two-Tone club, Oxford Street (1979). The eldest son of the British blues legend, John Mayall, as a child of the sixties; Gaz was raised on a healthy diet of rhythm and blues, and frequented every beat, pop, rock festival and live venue. As a child, he first discovered reggae on the football terraces during the skinhead era (1968-1972). By the time he was 17, Gaz regularly purchased entire reggae and ska record collections for dirt-cheap prices at street markets that included Portobello Road and Brick Lane. A passionate and devoted fan of rock'n'roll, boogie woogie, traditional Irish music, world music, soul, and funk, Gaz was heavily influenced by a family friend and mentor, Alexis Korner - Radio One DJ and blues musician. These days, he owns a world renowned collection of predominantly black dance music ranging from the first tribal drum beats to the latest sounds in drum'n'bass. For the past twenty years Gaz has run his own record label Gaz's Rockin' Records, producing ska acts and recording artists around the world. Gaz launched the label in October '85 with the debut release of Potato 5's 7" and 12" inch singles, which inevitably led to the first album, 'Floyd Lloyd & Potato 5 meet Laurel Aitken' (1987). The record label was conceived alongside the promotion of the club, and was based on the sound system style of 1960's Jamaican ska labels that included Prince Buster, 'Coxsone' Dodd, and 'Duke' Reid. By the time Gaz formed his band The Trojans (1986), he recorded further ska singles and other albums on his own label. From there on in, he continued at a rate of about an album release or more per year. Mainly dedicated to the genre of ska and its hybrid offshoots, he eventually branched out and produced recordings of world music, including The Baghdaddies' critically acclaimed debut CD, 'Last Tango in Babylon'. Specialising in ska & reggae with a dash of soul, funk, R&B and world roots, The Trojans were formed from the ashes of the premature demise of Gaz's first band, Rebel Blues Rockers where brief emergence on the London pub/club scene lasted from early 1982 to mid '83. The Trojans' debut gig was the Astoria in Charing Cross Road (23 December 1986). The band supported the premier ska band Potato 5 and ska legend Laurel Aitken. In just under three years The Trojans headlined the same venue with the above acts supporting. During the formative years of the band, they recorded several albums that were well received in the UK, all released on Gaz's Rockin' Records. The band's first album, 'Ala-Ska', featured the classic single 'Gaelic Ska', and subsequently launched a whole new genre of Afro-Celtic fusion that has since become a hallmark of The Trojans' sound. Every year at Europes largest street festival, the Notting Hill carnival, Gaz's sound system has featured outside thThe Globe, 103 Talbot Road. Each year a different theme is used for the decor of the stage - Cowboys And Indians (2000), A Space Odyssey (2001), House Of Voodoo ( 2003), Pirates Of The Caribbean (2004). This year pays homage to Japan where Gaz has been perenially popular with 30 visits since 1986. So for 2005 it's Place Of Fu Manchu with a three storey peace pagoda, upholding Gaz's position as the best dressed sound system, and features The Trojans live, clad in orient express kit with Gaz at the helm leading a host of Gaz's Rockin' Blues top dj's.. Last year, Gaz Mayall released Top Ska on Trojan Records to wide acclaim. write your comments about the article :: © 2006 Jazz News :: home page |