Bangs & Talbot

Ex-Style Council keyboardist Mick Talbot and pioneering acid jazz DJ Chris Bangs informally used this functional moniker to promote the release of their 2022 '60s R&B-inspired album, Back to Business. In 1987, a couple of years prior to the Style Council's dissolution, Bangs reputedly coined the phrase "acid jazz" while playing a London set with the label's ultimate co-founder, Gilles Peterson. Along with Galliano, Bangs released some of the earliest material on the Acid Jazz label. In 1990, Peterson jumped ship and founded Talkin' Loud, which released Galliano's debut album, 1991's In Pursuit of the 13th Note. It was during the sessions for that record that Bangs, while producing it, met Talbot, who contributed keyboards. From the mid- to late-'90s, the pair enjoyed a productive period, releasing four albums of smooth, light, beats-driven jazz as Soundscape UK, and three as the similar-sounding but more streetwise Yada Yada. Separately, over the next decade, Bangs released jazzy and progressive house under various solo and collaborative names such as Original Soulboy, the Path, and Spirit of the Boogie, some of which was released on his Dadhouse label, formed alongside Dave Jarvis. In the meantime, Talbot became the touring keyboardist for Gene, reunited with Dexys Midnight Runners -- after a short early-'80s stint with Kevin Rowland's act -- and toured the world with Candi Staton. During the 2010s, Bangs immersed himself in creating music for film and TV, while Talbot appeared on the high-profile 2014 Wilko Johnson and Roger Daltrey album Going Back Home. As the 2020s approached, Bangs & Talbot enjoyed a modest cash windfall following the digital licensing of their Soundscape UK and Yada Yada material. They decided to pump the proceeds into what ultimately became 2022's Back to Business, a record preceded by the single "Sumthin' Else." The album featured many previous collaborators, including Brand New Heavies guitarist Simon Bartholomew alongside Julian Burdock, Roger Beaujolais, and Dave Priseman.
© James Wilkinson /TiVo