Saturday 10th December 2022 is a date for your diaries, whatever plans you had, put them on ice and get your backsides down to the New Lion Brewery in Dartington where an evening of funky, jazzy and groovy tunes await you courtesy of JELLY JAZZ
To get you in the mood we caught up with Pete Isaac, the main man behind Jelly Jazz to chat about humble beginnings, booking superstar DJs and killer bands, his musical upbringing and his thoughts on clubbing over the past 30 years….
Pete, you are the founder and resident DJ for Jelly Jazz, please take a few moments to tell us more about what you do and where you do it….
Jelly Jazz has evolved and transformed into many shapes over the years, and for me personally is welded into my DNA, it's a defining aspect of who I think I am and an extension of my passion for music. The nuts-and-bolts of that is what any serious promoter has had to do, crucially that is develop a vision, and then all the other stuff like marketing, design, bookings, promotional activity etc follows on. Right now I do regular-ish events at The New Lion Brewery in Dartington and Cosmic Kitchen in Plymouth. Festivals too, notably one of the main stages at Boardmasters for the last 2 years has seen a Jelly Jazz takeover on the opening night of the festival, that's been lots of fun. I was also doing a fair bit in Europe until brexit completely destroyed everything.
Jelly Jazz is a fabulous name and has clearly stood the test of time! Were there any other names in the mix when you settled on it? If so, please share….
Ha, well it is honestly the first thing I thought of. Of course I thought it was silly to begin with, so I went round the houses trying to think of other names but came back to it and decided it was the best. Friendly, funky, warm, the connotations of 'wobbly' music fitted the eclectic mix that would be played, so that was that. This all happened over the course of one evening after the very first night at The Quay Club in Plymouth. That first session didn't actually have a name. I had put up some posters around Plymouth simply saying Jazz Funk at the Quay Club and it was just me playing the whole night. I think it was the 2nd Wednesday in January 1993, maybe even the first Wednesday, anyway, it was packed which was a huge surprise. Right place right time and all that. So I needed a name fast, 'Jelly Jazz' was born on week 2, a new poster was made with a logo that paid homage to Acid Jazz Records, and a strap-line that said 'oh for groovy people'. There were queues to get in, it basically exploded into existence!
It wasn’t long until Jelly Jazz developed an international reputation pulling in some heavy hitters including Gilles Peterson (Radio 6 Music), Norman Jay & Mr Scruff, were you surprised when you started to get enquiries form these names wanting to play at your nights?
Gilles only played once, he was very expensive but we had to have him play at least once in the life of Jelly Jazz! He was excellent of course and he continues to be a phenomenal ambassador for such a wide range of music. Norman came down many times back in the day, as did so many other 'name' DJs. This was all on Wednesday nights so it was kinda easy to book people, especially good for international DJs (and bands) doing UK tours, we were often the first night of those tours before heading off to bigger cities for the weekend shows.
Those first 15 years in Plymouth were also amazing, a packed and rockin' weekly club and the big live shows at The Academy and Warehouse. We had such a mad-for-it crowd, great music and great people at the end of the day. Because of that simple fact, many DJs happily came back over and over and over!
Taking things right back to the early days, tell me about your musical upbringing?
My parents didn't have a musical bone in their bodies, so nothing came from them! I guess I just did what most kids of my generation did when they got into music, experimented with different genres, and adopted various styles from those tribes. I did have a (terrible) quiff and blue suede shoes when I was listening to Eddie Cochran in the late 70s, cut off denim jacket with magic mushrooms embroidered into it when listening to Led Zep and the Stones in the early 80s, head full of dreadlocks when reggae was my thing in the mid 80s and on into indie stuff and acid house in the late 80s. I played congas in various funky bands for about 6 or 7 years, but it was with acid house in 89 that I first go into DJing. The whole early rave scene was just incredible, a proper road to Damascus period, I used to extol the virtues of Zenas nightclub like some kind of disciple to anyone that would listen. I guess those were the seeds of becoming a promoter.
Would you say that there was a certain track that created that light bulb moment and led you to setup Jelly Jazz?
Two things really, a track called 'Got Myself A Good Man' by Pucho and The Latin Soul Brothers was played to me by the guitarist of a band I was in in around 1986, it was a mix of funk, Latin, jazz, with wicked drums that really caught my attention. And then going to Bristol see Outlaw Posse, Brand New Heavies and JTQ in 88 or 89 was life changing. Again, it was a mix of styles, funk, jazz, hip hop, dance and soul, it was like coming home. Of course when I actually started to DJ it was acid house, but by 93 I had gotten a bit bored and fried from the rave scene so returned to my love of jazz and funk and started Jelly Jazz.
Who would you say (band/artist/DJ) has had the biggest impression on you when it comes to music?
The band I have put on most over the years is The New Mastersounds, they have played so many shows for us in Devon and Cornwall, Oxford, and various festivals. I absolutely love their take on dancefloor jazz and funk. Eddie Roberts in particular is a guitarist that is in the same ballpark as Grant Green, straight up, and the whole band are incredible musicians. DJ wise I would have to say Chris Goss. I first met him at Soul Jazz Records in London back in 93/4, he worked there and used to sell me records every week. Eventually he came down to play and very quickly became a much loved guest DJ and great friend. His knowledge of music is very deep, and he's also a great designer and promoter, he has always been a role model for me. He has of course gone on to great things as head of the mighty Hospital Records. Also DJ Griff, my DJ partner at Jelly throughout most of the early years, we were very competitive with regards to who has the best records! That meant we both strove to find killer music all the time.
Do you remember the first record/tape that you bought? Do you still have it and do you still play it?
Sometime in the 70s, 'Wilber's Collection of Children's Favourites', a compilation LP that you got buy saving up Wotsits' crisp packets. I definitely got that and probably was the first record I got of my own volition. I don't have it now!
So many DJ’s have moved away from DJing with vinyl and prefer digital files instead, are you still 100% vinyl or do you tend to dabble in both?
100% vinyl. Although I dabbled with Serato for a year or 2, liked it as a novelty for a bit but then came to hate it. For me DJing with records and digging for records is what it's all about, I love everything about records. Looking at a laptop screen just looks and feels wack to me. But hey, I'm old and stuck in my ways.
Surely some of the more rare records that you include in your set must be worth a few quid?
Yes I have rare records, and also tons of obscure (and cheap) records. There's more joy in finding a record that no one knows about for £1 than spending £500. OK, there's also a lot of joy in finding a £500 record for £1! And the most important thing is does it sound good? A lot of the best funk ever recorded is cheap and easily obtainable.
You branched out into booking live bands to play at your nights, one that featured in the early days was Corduroy, I remember these from back in the day and fondly recall attending a few of their shows. Are you still booking bands on a regular basis?
I don't really do live stuff these days, just DJs, although I may do for a special party in 2023. Jelly Jazz's period with live shows was really in those first 15-20 years. We had such a huge following back then that we could confidently book bands from the USA for example and fill the Dance Academy in Plymouth or the Eden Project with 1500+ people. We put on a ton of bands and had so many incredible nights, too many to list, although I will highlight Pucho & The Latin Soul Brothers in 1998 in Plymouth. To have a US Latin Jazz legend who inspired me a decade earlier was a deeply satisfying thing.
Jelly Jazz events are renowned for playing funky floor filling tunes with a jazzy twist, can I assume that this is pretty much your bread and butter when it comes to your favourite styles/genres of music?
Absolutely. Jelly has always had jazz at its core, but any genre of music goes, as long as it is influenced or infused by jazz, funk and soul.
You’ve been promoting Jelly Jazz events for 30 years, what would you say have been the most noticeable shifts in attitudes to clubbing over the years?
Attention span? Commitment? I'm a kid of the 70s when music scenes were very tribal. If you identified as a mod, or rocker, or hippy or whatever then you committed to that and immersed yourself fully in the culture of it. So I guess over the 40 years that I've been involved in music, I've seen a gradual homogenisation of youth culture that really gathered pace when the internet kicked off. Thankfully the warehouse scenes and acid house happened before phones and the internet, so those youth movements and the ones before it were all encompassing and free of scrutiny. Of course that's not to say people don't have a good time now, they do. But would they go to a club night week in week out these days? I doubt it generally speaking. That is proven by the fact that in the 90s the country was full of packed weekly club nights in all genres, but no so now. Right now it's all about 'events', and festivals, and in some respects 'experiences' that populate instagram accounts everywhere. Clubbing as I knew it in the 80s and 90s has sadly gone and because of phones and the internet will never happen in quite the same way again. That's life though, nothing lasts forever, and kids that never experienced something in the first place won't 'miss it'. Ask a 20 year old at a Hospital rave what they think and they'll tell you they are having a wicked time. In many respects what I think is irrelevant, young people absolutely should make their own movements within music culture, that's how it should be.
I met Korda Marshall once, who is a significant player at the top tables of the music industry, he was a keynote speaker at a music conference in Dartington many years back. He told me that the future was going to be all about niches, thousands of them! In those niches you still find the passions that I recognise, and his prediction has borne out. The huge clubbing movements have gone mostly, but there are countless pockets of fervent activity all over the country. And because everything is cyclical, there will be something new at some point that has the same effect as say acid house did in the 80s. Bring it on!
I used to work in a nightclub in Torquay (which shall remain nameless) that was very popular for dance music on a Friday night, I ended up leaving owing to things getting a bit ‘messy’, did you ever get tied up in any ’situations’ when running your club nights?
No! Thankfully the simple facts of Jelly Jazz being on a Wednesday night, and we played 'jazz' meant we didn't attract that darker side of clubbing. Sure, you might notice the odd person who had had something other than a few beers back in the day, but the atmosphere was about joy and the vibes were always peaceful. With a packed weekly night to never have any issues was a blessing.
Looking back over the past 30 years, please tell me a highlight that has stuck with you….
Sharon Jones and The Soul Providers (later the Dapkings) from New York at The Dance Academy in 1999 will always been one of the very best. It was their first ever show in Europe, and they absolutely rocked it. Listen to the whole show below.
Are there any DJs or bands out there that you’d LOVE to book but so far haven’t been able to?
I wanted to be the first person in Europe to book DJ Koco from Japan some years back, and it almost happened, but sadly didn't work out. And Cut Chemist was someone I would have loved to have come and play back in the day. As for live bands, blimey, I could say hundreds! But as an example, my mate Chris Goss again, he put on Brian Auger at The Jazz Cafe in the 90s with Mother Earth as his backing band, it was one of the best shows I've ever seen. The energy that night was palpable. I would have loved to have that show down in Plymouth.
It wouldn’t be a musomuso interview feature without me asking you to nominate a 10 track playlist that people can check out to get a flavour of what to expect at your live events…..
Oh god...this isn't a top 10 chart, just a selection….
1. Reuben Wilson 'Got to Get Your Own' (Cadet)
2. Edwin Starr 'Way Over There' (Gordy)
3. Sound Foundation 'Soul Foundation' (Smobro)
4. Barbara Randolph 'Can I Get A Witness' (Soul)
5. Jimmy Sabater 'Kool It' (Tico)
6. Sharon Jones & The Dapkings 'Pick It Up Lay It In The Cut' (Daptone)
7. The Vision 'Heaven' (Defected)
8. Billy Jackson 'T.C.B.' (Decca)
9. Carl Holmes 'Investigation' (CRS)
10. The Majestics 'Tighten Up' (Arc)
Lastly, you’re playing at the New Lion Brewery in Dartington on December 10th, will there be prizes for Christmas fancy dress?
No, we're not children!
We’d like to thank Pete Isaac for taking the time to chat to us and fill us in on the history of Jelly Jazz over the past 30 years. If you’re thinking of getting together this side of Christmas, why not head down to The New Lion Brewery in Dartington for an evening of amazing music, dancing, drinking and fun? Tickets are available HERE but don’t hang around….
