Jamiroquai is a popular British band whose musicians worked in such a direction as jazz-funk and acid jazz. The third record of the British band got into the Guinness Book of Records as the world's best-selling collection of funk music.
Jazz funk is a subgenre of jazz music characterized by an emphasis on the downbeat, as well as the frequent presence of analog synthesizers.
The British team is led by Jay Kay. The group has released 9 worthy studio albums, sold over 30 million copies. There are many prestigious awards on the shelves of the team, including the Grammy Award and 4 MTV Awards.
Musicians were not afraid to experiment with sound. So, in the band's repertoire there are tracks in the style of pop-funk, disco, rock and reggae. The performances of the group deserve considerable attention. Often musicians appear in bright stage costumes, the design of which is developed independently.
History of creation and composition of the team
At the origins of the Jamiroquai team is its permanent leader Jason Louis Cheetham. The musician is so devoted to the project that he is often called solo.
Jason Louis Cheatham was born in 1969. The guy's mom is directly related to creativity. Adrian Judith Pringle performed under the pseudonym Karen Kay from the age of 16. She performed jazz compositions. Interestingly, the woman raised her son alone. And only as an adult man, Jason found out who his biological father was. By the way, dad was also associated with creativity.
The teenage biography of a guy cannot be called exemplary. He wandered and used drugs. In the early 1990s, with the help of familiar musicians, Jay recorded his first professional track. We are talking about the song When You Gonna Learn?.
The presented song was liked by music lovers. Sony signed a contract with the young artist for 8 studio albums. Jason urgently needed to create a group. Actually, this is how the Jamiroquai group appeared.
In addition to Jason, the first line-up of the new group included:
- keyboardist Toby Smith;
- drummer Nick van Gelder;
- bass guitarist Stuart Zender;
- DJs DJ D-Zire and Wallis Buchanan.
In the future, the composition of the team changed from time to time. By the way, not only the musicians changed, but also the instruments. For example, trombone, flugelhorn, saxophone, flute and percussion began to sound in the band's tracks.
To date, the old members, in addition to Jay Kay, are drummer Derrick McKenzie and percussionist Shola Akingbola. The presented musicians have been playing in the band since 1994.
Music by Jamiroquai
In 1993 Jamiroquai added their debut album Emergency on Planet Earth to their discography. The collection managed to top the British charts.
Music critics positively perceived the creation of the group. They called the compositions of the collection a psychedelic mix of hard funk rhythms with soul melodies of the 1970s of the XX century. The album sold over 1 million copies.
Soon the musicians presented the second album. The collection was called The Return of the Space Cowboy. Interestingly, in the United States of America, video clips for the most popular songs of the album: When You Gonna Learn?, were banned. The public did not like the works because of the demonstration of footage of Nazi "gatherings". And Space Cowboy because of the text that promoted that drugs are cool.
The peak of Jamiroquai's popularity was after the presentation of the third studio album. The record Traveling Without Moving, which was released in 1996, hit the top ten.
Sales of the collection, whose title seems to be taken from the line of Vladimir Vysotsky "Running on the spot is reconciling", amounted to 11 million copies. From the list of songs that were included in the album, music lovers especially liked the songs Virtual Insanity and Cosmic Girl. The first track was awarded the prestigious Grammy Award.
In the following works, the musicians did not hesitate to experiment with sound. The group Jamiroquai appeared compositions in the style of techno. The fifth record can be characterized by electronic sound, and the sixth collection included elements of funk, rock, smooth jazz and disco.
In 2010, the band's seventh studio album was released, after which the guys went on tour. Only 7 years later the musicians presented the eighth album Automaton.
In an interview, Jay Kay said that the development of artificial intelligence was the inspiration for the creation of the disc. As well as technology in the modern world.
Jamiroquai group today
2020 was not the most fruitful period for the musicians of the Jamiroquai group. The fact is that due to the coronavirus pandemic, almost all concerts had to be canceled. And some of them carry over to next year. The planned tour of the group in Europe, North and South America, unfortunately, did not take place.
On the pages of the social networks of the team, Jay Kay posted photos in which he looked like a Russian summer resident-pensioner. The musician said that self-isolation is the best period in his life. He enjoyed this time with his family.
