Grupo X - Well X-POSED

(This is an interview with Jonathan Enright for my Journalism Module at the Leeds College of Music)

One of Europes Leading Latin Jazz Groups, their latest album ‘As Hills Go By’  is something a little different and lets face it we need a change. By Adam Hirst

This Summer, successful latin outfit Grupo X return with ‘As Hills go by’ their latest album. With three successful albums already out there this new album should be equally vibrant. I have been speaking with Trombonist Jonathan Enright, the man with who it all began back in 1996.

When I asked Jonathan how the band came to form his answer was by all means unique “I got asked to put together a band for a gig in London, where I lived at the time. I’d been thinking of starting a band and I’d been writing some tunes, so this was a good opportunity” explained Jonathan. Interestingly the bands albums are recorded on Jonathans own record label Loft Recordings. ‘As Hills go by’ is the bands fourth album and as Jonathan told me “It’s a collection of original songs. We’ve changed direction from the Latin soul sound of the earlier albums and delved into our musical roots. There’s funk, soul and jazz” so a broad style selection available from them this summer, a tasteful change of pace from their successful previous albums. ‘Waiting all day’ their latest single from the new album, is a stylish number of soulful jazz that reminds me of Jamiroquai in his good days. Like the entire new album, ‘Waiting all day’ is about love, hope and redemption. According to the bands website, their “hoping this new album will strike a chord in these tough times.”

Jonny and Finn - Who tells the old lady in front were not Take That?

“Definitely X-POSURE [their first album]” Jonathan says to me as I ask him which album means the most to him “I’d know idea what sort of reaction to expect, so when we started getting good reviews from around the world and license requests for tunes from the album it was really exciting. It was the first time I’d been involved in the whole process –writing tunes, recording them and releasing them on my label, so it was a good experience” I then asked Jonathan how they were promoting their new album which will be launched at Pizza Express, Soho, London on 1^st August “Our press and publicity is being handled by favoritism and we’re using all the usual social networking sites to promote our music”.

The band who have now been together for a lengthy 14 years have obviously, well to put it nicely, matured since the 1990s and this in mind I asked Jonathan what has changed within the band since 1996? “Apart from being older and wiser (in most cases), we’re not much different. For me the main thing that has changed is that I’ve got a young family and no longer live in London. So it makes touring a bit less of a thrill, although I still love performing with the band as much as ever. Musically we’ve learned a lot from our own experiences and from the musical collaborations we’ve done as a band with artists such as Joe Bataan, Jimmy Bosch and Jack Costanzo” Nicely put from Jonathan the band have a great sense of family behind them which is essentially lost across most working musicians but surly with family lives to live, where and when the band get together must be a problem these days “We’re all busy geographically spread around the country, so it’s difficult to fit in regular rehearsals. But if we’ve got some gigs coming up, we get together for a couple of days in London and run through the set, refining the tunes, and making sure everything’s sounding as good as it can. For the new album we went away for a few days and rehearsed in a place in the Peninnes. It was great having more time to spend on the music with none of the distractions you get in London”.

So what have the band got coming up over summer other than the Album Launch “We’re playing at Craig Charles’ Funk and Soul Show at Band on the wall, Manchester on July 30^th and we’re at Canary Wharf Jazz Festival on August 14^th”.

A band many readers may not have heard of before, but I bet most will have subconsciously tapped along to one of their tunes. Grupo X have been around the block a few times now and I very much recommend you stop to see the Hills go by this time.