UTAH JAZZ
Lovers of the soulful, funky side of drum & bass will have a new champion for 2005 in the shape of 25-year-old North Londoner Luke Wilson – better known as Utah Jazz. Luke has actually been a DJ and producer for a while now and worked with Alex Reece on their Fallen Angels 21 label, but he’s now firmly ensconed at his new home at V Recordings. Following the release of ‘Jumpstart’ on Hospital Records and a recommendation from DJ Patife, Bryan Gee quickly snapped him up for V.
“My Liquid V EP is scheduled for release around March or April”, explains Luke, “which will include ‘Done & Dusted’. ‘The Deep End’ and ‘Do My Thing’, plus one more track I haven’t finished yet. I’m also doing a remix for Wookie.”
The Utah Jazz sound is pretty hot on the dancefloor too and as well as being soulful, it’s also packed with energy and incendiary funk. Not surprisingly, Luke’s recently secured a residency with Movement and trips to Slovenia, Poland and Germany are already lined up for early 2005
DANNY BYRD
The on-going resurgence of those funky, soulful grooves, coupled with the continual development of original vocals in drum & bass, has to be one of the most keenly discussed topics at the moment. One such instigator of just this culture is Danny Byrd, he is one such producer who is committed to pushing this side of the scene forward. ‘Manhattan’ on DJ Ron’s now defunct Picasso label marked Danny’s debut release and laid the path for a handful of releases in the mid nineties on Bristol’s Tribe imprint too.
via Dogs on Acid
