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An exciting and diverse label, BGP`s roots stretch back to the birth of modern club culture in the late 80s. It was the first reissue label to actively court a contemporary audience, and likes to think that it does so to this day,. Reacting to, and also inspiring those who want to know where the samples come from, or join the dots between today's dance music and its past in funk, jazz and soul.
In 1987 when Ace Records acquired the UK rights to the Fantasy group of labels, they drafted two of the most happening DJs on the jazz scene: Gilles Peterson and Baz Fe Jazz, and then let them loose in the vaults. Their initial forays gathered up some past classics, and one hell of a new discovery in Billy Hawks 'Oh Baby'. In the second year, in a response to the oncoming acid house scene, Gilles pioneered a blend of funky jazz (mainly) from the Prestige vaults that was being called Acid Jazz. It was the start of a world-wide brand, and for a few years the only mainstream clubland alternative to the pounding 4/4 beat of house music. BGP released four volumes of the Acid Jazz compilations, the music that defined the old music part of that scene, and a slew of the original albums from which they were taken. It was on these albums that tracks including Pucho and the Latin Soul Brothers 'Got Myself A Good Man' first made their appearance.
The acid jazz scene was very big throughout the world, and it was the rare club sounds demanded by the clubbers that dominated its schedules throughout to the mid 90s. By this time the man at the label's helm was Brighton based DJ Russ Dewberry, who brought with him his experience as the promoter of the legendary Jazz Bops in his home town. These large-scale events 2000+ people - saw people travel from all over the world to catch acts such as Johnny Lytle, Big John Patton or, in its earliest days, Art Blakey, alongside many of the big names including the Brand New Heavies and Jamiroquai who emerged from the scene. Russ put together the Make Way For The Originals tour featuring some of the artists, such as Pucho and Melvin Sparks, whose records were released by BGP.
Russ was also the man at the helm when Ace took over the Vanguard catalogue, and released one of the most influential of all BGP releases. The "I Like It" compilation had as its opening two tracks the Jean Jacques Perry's moog funk monster 'EVA', previously sampled by Gang Starr, and then Camille Yarbrough's awesome poetic 'Take Yo Praise' which in the hands of Fatboy Slim became the #1 single 'Praise You'. These tracks became two of the most dominant reissued tracks of the late 90s.
In 1997 I joined BGP, after spells running Acid Jazz Records, and being creative consultant on Blue Note's "Blue Series" compilations. The acid jazz scene had spawned a whole world where re-issues were being bought up alongside the latest hip hop or indie releases. We introduced the Super Breaks compilations which showed where many of those hip hop 12s had (quite literally) taken their influence from, whilst the deep funk scene allowed us to delve into a largely untapped vault of hard and heavy funk that came out across the many labels which Ace represented, "Super Funk" was the result. We also kick-started a series of BGP 45s that kept DJs and would-be DJs the world over very happy.
BGP has introduced and championed all sorts of artists in its time from Pucho to Terry Callier, from funk to space age jazz. We have made a habit of taking the terminally obscure and making sure it gets recognition. What could be more fun?
Click here for a list of 7" Singles on Kent and BGP
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