Live: NORMAN JAY MBE

I don't usually promote gigs I'm not actually playing on on this blog, but for this guy, I'll make an exception.

"The DJs' DJ", or "The People's DJ", or the founder of the Good Times Sound System at the Notting Hill Carnival, or Mr Norman Jay MBE is visiting out shores for the Friends and Whanau Festival at Silo Park this Auckland Anniversary Weekend - and I reckon you need to be there.

Click here for more info.

Disclaimer: yes, OK, I was involved in bringing Norman to NZ some years ago. My business partner and fellow Trusted Friend, Murry Sweetpants and I had the great fortune to spend some time with him, and he's a diamond geezer. Despite being a Spurs fan.

LIVE: Expansions | Fri 8 Nov

It's All Good Presents
A Night Of Wide Vibes
EXPANSIONS
With
Jay Jeffrey
Bevan Keys
Nyntee
and AWDJ
From 8pm
Fri 8 Nov
GOLDEN DAWN
No Door - Bring Yr Smile

Facebook page here.

The scene is Anycity. The time is after dark. The day is the weekend, because any time after dark is, by default, the weekend. Work is over. The straight world has gone to bed, doors firmly bolted against the hustlers and the johns; the cops, the robbers and the mack daddies; the heads, the jazz cats and the beat freaks. This is the world into which we beckon you, brave listener.

Jay 'Fat Albert' Jeffrey, Bevan Keys, Richard 'AWDJ' Crafter and David 'Nyntee' Carroll delve deep to deliver the goodness. And the badness. Just the way you never knew you liked it. You'll hear tough jazz funk, syrupy sweet soul, Latin flavoured floor fillers, left-footed house, car chase music, cosmic lazer disco and plenty more besides.

This is how we get wide - with an open mind.

Radio Ponsonby Record Review: Norman Jay Presents 'Good Times' 30th Anniversary Edition

Norman Jay MBE Presents
GOOD TIMES - 30th Anniversary Edition
[Strut]

Disclaimer: I am a massive Norman Jay fan. He's an inspiration to me as a DJ. I've all his previous Good Times compilations, alongside others he has put together. I shared Red Stripe, curried goat and spliff with strangers while dancing to he and his brother playing at London's famed Notting Hill Carnival. I was even lucky enough to meet the man himself when Sweetpants and I brought him to New Zealand to play, some years back. So, there's your disclaimer, given before I comment on his latest Good Times compilation - a celebratory 30th Anniversary Edition, released by the Strut label. Thing is, regardless of my personal views, if you've even the slightest inkling of who Norman Jay MBE is then you know you're in for a top drawer selection of soul, funk, reggae, house, hip hop, doo wop and plenty more besides. Rare Grooves and very Good Times indeed.

4 stars from 5


I don't usually post tracklists or other details when I review an album, but I'm such a fanboy when it comes to Norman Jay, that I'm making an exception. Hey, rules are meant to be broken, right? Right. Oh, and another thing: purchase a physical copy - or track down the liner notes - as my man Lloyd Bradley has written a career-spanning sleeve note based on extensive interviews with Mr Jay. Just sayin'...

Mark Capanni | I Believe In Miracles
Avery Sunshine | I Got Sunshine
Ted Taylor | Ghetto Disco (Norman Jay edit)
Zalmac | Dreamin'
Terri Wells | Who's That Stranger
Little Anthony & The Imperials | I Don't Have Time To Worry
Mario Biondi | My Girl
Jacob Miller & Inner Circle | Tired Fe Lick Weed In A Bush
The Basement Khemist | Everybody (L.I.F.E.)
J Boogie's Dubtronic Science with Goapele & Capitol A | Try Me (People Under The Stairs remix)
Attic Tree | Voar
Curtis Mayfield | Victory
Dante | Freak In Me
Fries & Bridges | Forever This
The Detroit Experiment | Think Twice (Henrik Schwarz remix)
Ashley Slater | Private Sunshine