Music
Influential UK house music producer Mr. G gets his soul and jazz groove on
Legendary UK house music producer and DJ Mr. G goes back to his roots and shares a Choice Mix of his earliest musical influences: soul and jazz.
It's for very good reason that Mr. G (real name: Colin McBean) rarely gets introduced without the word 'hero' attached somewhere. Across a career that's spanned two decades so far, the Londoner has brought a bass-heavy, analogue warmth to the UK house and techno scene, and is often referred to as the mater of tech-house.
In the early '90s, McBean was part of DJ and production trio KCC, who not only were at the forefront of UK house music, but, after they joined forces with The Rockin Crew sound system, also became one of the biggest stages at the Notting Hill Carnival. Later, he and KCC member Cisco Ferreira launched the groundbreaking live techno outfit The Advent, taking their raw but futuristic sound around the world. Then there's all his myriad solo projects, like the dub and reggae-rinsed Mango Boy, which brings his "Caribbean side, rough but not nasty", to the fore.
Listen to Mr. G's Choice Mix below:
With over 100 releases to his name, though, Mr. G is McBean's best-known outlet. Heavy on the kicks and propelled by deep-in-the-groove bass lines, Mr. G's soulful bangers, complete with hooky vocal samples, are almost the definition of tech-house. His live sets are the stuff of legend, too. Employing an MPC drum machine and sampler setup, Mr. G's work comes alive on vast, bass-heavy sound systems.
Kicking-off 2020 with the release of his eighth album proper, Mr. G Presents The Alien With Extraordinary Abilities, McBean is still very much in love with the grooves that first inspired him. On this "70s Flex" Choice Mix, he looks back to the start of his journey and revisits the music that shaped him: jazz, soul, funk and reggae.
"Jazz for me is the source," he once told Ibiza Voice. "Most of what makes me is that knowledge of jazz, swing, soul." Listen to Mr. G utilise that early education in the player above.
