Bees Things & Flowers

by Incognito

Overview

The U.K. soul collective Incognito's acid jazzy roots predate the format that became smooth jazz by a few years, so it's not exactly appropriate to call Jean-Paul "Bluey" Maunick and company's retro pop-soul-jazz vibe "smooth jazz." Nonetheless, on this typically dreamy, cool vibin' and supersensual release, they picked up on the ubiquitous genre trend of 2006 -- doing lots of cover versions. At least they take a unique approach to them, as the seductive, guy-girl trade-off vocals and sweet, horn-spiced ornamentation on "Summer in the City" comes after a whole minute of moody, mysterious film score type music. Their take on America's "Tin Man" and Earth, Wind & Fire's "That's the Way of the World" (which reaches dreamily towards nine minutes) are pretty by the book but more soulful (naturally) than the original and ultimately pretty irresistible. And at least they also dare to cover less obvious tunes like Roy Ayers' "Everybody Loves the Sunshine," which gets things off to a mellow but optimistic note. Incognito also dares to try a unique approach to the whole cover phenomenon, doing sparsely arranged takes on four of their own classics -- "Always There," "Still a Friend of Mine," "Everyday" and "Deep Waters." This stripped down approach allows his vocalists, which include Carleen Anderson, Jocelyn Brown, Maysa, Joy Rose, Imani and Tony Momrelle the center stage they so richly deserve. With this ensemble, the deep soul vibe is everything, so whether they're doing old pop songs, remakes of their own tunes, or originals, we're still dancing in the laid-back late summer sunshine. ~ Jonathan Widran

Product Details

Release Date:	10/03/2006
Label:	Dome Records
UPC:	5034093412087

Tracks

1. Everybody Loves the Sunshine
2. Everyday
3. Summer in the City
4. Always There
5. Raise
6. Still a Friend of Mine
7. Tin Man
8. Crave
9. Deep Waters
10. You Are Golden
11. That's the Way of the World

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Incognito   Primary Artist
Sid Gould   Flugelhorn,Voices
Bluey   Guitar (Acoustic),Vocals (Background)
Ski Oakenfull   Piano (Grand),Celeste,Organ (Hammond)
Karl Vandenbosche   Percussion
Matt Cooper   Fender Rhodes,Piano (Grand),Drums,Fender Rhodes,Piano (Grand)
Tyrone Henry   Vocals
Maysa   Vocals,Vocals (Background)
Warren Zielinski   Violin
Adrian Smith   Viola
Alison Dodds   Violin
Luke Parkhouse   Drums
Richard George   Violin
Chris Worsey   Cello
Darragh Morgan   Violin
Imaani   Vocals
Tony Remy   Bouzouki,Guitar (Acoustic)
Tony Momrelle   Vocals
Everton Nelson   Violin
Simon Hale   Conductor
Andy Ross   Flute,Voices,Sax (Tenor)
Trevor Mires   Voices,Trombone,Euphonium
Sid Gauld   Flugelhorn
Jocelyn Brown   Vocals,Featured Artist
Carleen Anderson   Vocals
Dominic Glover   Flugelhorn
Sarah Brown   Vocals
Joy Rose   Vocals
Francis Hylton   Bass
Ian Burdge   Cello
Lucy Wilkins   Violin
Gillon Cameron   Violin
Celine Saout   Harp
Reiad Chibah   Viola
Cath Haggo   Violin
John Metcalfe   Viola
Richard Bailey   Drums

Technical Credits

Jean-Paul "Bluey" Maunick   Audio Production,Composer,Producer
Millenia Ensemble   Performer
Niall Acott   Engineer
William Jeffrey   Composer
Charles Stepney   Composer
John Sebastian   Composer
Tony Remy   Re-Arranged
Paul Allen   Composer
Steve Boone   Composer
Ski Oakenfull   Composer
Simon Hale   Re-Arranged,String Arrangements
Simon Cotsworth   Mixing,Engineer,Producer
Dominic Glover   Horn Arrangements
Ronnie Laws   Composer
Maurice White   Composer
Roy Ayers   Composer
Richard Bull   Composer
Verdine White   Composer
Matt Cooper   Composer,Re-Arranged
Mark Sebastian   Composer
Stuart Hawkes   Mastering
Tinku Bhattacharyya   Management
Mitchy Bwoy   Design,Photography
Donald Clark   Assistant Engineer
Peter Hinds   Composer
William Jeffery   Composer
Dewey Bunnell   Composer