Jamiroquai (pronounced: juh-meer-o-kwy) are an
English
Alternative/
acid jazz/
funk/
soul/
disco band. Jamiroquai
were initially the most prominent component in the early-1990s
London-based
acid jazz movement, alongside
groups such as
Incognito, the
James Taylor Quartet, the
Brand New Heavies,
Galliano, and
Corduroy. Subsequent albums have explored
other musical directions such as
pop,
rock and
electronica. Jamiroquai has sold more than 35
million albums worldwide.
History
Formation
The band name is a
portmanteau of
Jam session and "iroquai", based on the
Iroquois, a
Native American tribe.
The original band was
Jay Kay (vocals),
Toby Smith (
keys)
Stuart Zender (
bass),
Nick Van
Gelder (
drums),
Wallis Buchanan (
didgeridoo). These are the founding members of
the Jamiroquai and were involved in the writing and production of
the first albums. The lineup of the band has changed several times,
and the longest serving and now core members of the band are lead
singer and songwriter
Jason "Jay" Kay and
drummer Derrick McKenzie (1994). Despite his self-professed
attempts to treat Jamiroquai as a band, Kay has always been at the
forefront of how the group is marketed, and has therefore always
had the lion's share of media attention, to the point where he is
viewed as almost a solo artist. He was the impetus behind the
formation of Jamiroquai, deciding to form the band after an
unsuccessful audition to become the singer of the
Brand New Heavies.
Sony Music
Jamiroquai's first single, "
When
You Gonna Learn", was released in 1992 on the
Acid Jazz label. Following its success,
Kay signed an eight-album record deal with
Sony BMG Music Entertainment.
The first Sony album,
Emergency on Planet Earth was
released in 1993. It was followed in 1994 by
The Return of the Space
Cowboy. The single "
Space
Cowboy" gained notice on the charts and in club rotation.
While
Jamiroquai was growing in popularity in the UK and Western Europe,
they remained relatively unknown to U.S
and other
international audiences. The band's international
breakthrough came with the third album,
Travelling Without Moving in
1996, which yielded two big hits, "
Virtual Insanity" and "
Cosmic Girl". The success of "
Virtual Insanity" was due in part to its
Jonathan Glazer-directed video,
which featured Kay's dance moves and some physics-defying images.
At the 1997
MTV Video Music
Awards, the creative
music video for "Virtual
Insanity" won four awards, including
Best Video,
Best
Special Effects,
Best
Cinematography, and
Breakthrough
Video.
In 2003 Jamiroquai compiled and
mixed a
DJ
mix album for the
Late Night
Tales series for
Azuli Records.
The track selection shows some of the band's
funk,
soul and
disco influences, including tracks from
The Pointer Sisters,
The Commodores,
Johnny
"Hammond" Smith and
Johnny "Guitar"
Watson.
The acid jazz flavours and ethnic influences of the first three
albums continued with the release of
Synkronized in 1999. Jay Kay's interest in
funk and
disco music were
shifting the band's directions towards such. By their fifth album,
A Funk Odyssey (2001), they
had evolved so drastically, that some critics and listeners would
remark they lost the 'Jamiroquai sound'. With the departure of more
and more original band members, including Wallis Buchanan and his
didgeridoo, Jamiroquai had become a very
different band than that of 1992. In spite of the changes, the
fifth album's first single, "
Little L",
reached #1 in many charts worldwide.
Their sixth album, titled
Dynamite was released on 20
June 2005. It reached #3 on the UK charts. The first single, "Feels
Just Like It Should" was released early in June, the second,
"
Seven Days in Sunny June"
released on 15 August 2005, followed by the third, "
Give Hate A Chance" on 7 November
2005.
Jamiroquai released a greatest hits collection,
High Times: Singles
1992-2006 in November 2006. The release of this album
marked the end of Kay’s eight-album contract with
Sony. The album reached the number 1 spot in the
UK album chart after its first week of release. The album featured
two new tracks, "Runaway" and "Radio". On 18 September 2006,
"Runaway" was given its first play by UK radio stations. It was
released as a single on 30 October 2006. Kay remarked that
compilation was released purely out of contractual obligation:
"2006, they're out of the fucking picture."
Post-Sony
In October
2006, Jamiroquai recorded a live session for Live from Abbey Road at Abbey Road
Studios
. Their performance was shown alongside those
of
Damien Rice and the
Goo Goo Dolls on the UK's Channel 4 in January
2007.
In
May 2006 Jamiroquai performed during the Laureus Sports Awards in
Barcelona
; the event was later televised by NBC in June.
In March 2006, Jamiroquai announced their switch to
Columbia Records. Future releases will
appear under the Columbia imprint.
During February in 2007 Jamiroquai performed the record breaking
Gig in the Sky in association with
Sony Ericsson.
After leaving Sony, the band began work on their seventh project,
and several collaborations and side-projects. In a very short
mid-2007 interview with
Jamirotalk, drummer Derrick McKenzie expressed his
satisfaction with leaving Sony as the beginning of a period in
which the band will have more creative control over their own work,
together with plenty of room for experimentation and lack of
pressure from a record company.
7th Album and Beyond
On 11 January 2008, Jay Kay himself posted a news item in which he
thanked everyone who wished him the best for his birthday, and
announced that the writing process for the new album has just
begun. Only a day earlier, drummer Derrick McKenzie posted an
article on his
MySpace weblog that the recording process for the same record
has also begun.
On 15 January 2008, the band confirmed that the recording process
begun. According to the news item, eleven tracks have already been
written for the new album, with more to come. As of now, none of
the tracks' names are known.
On 13
February 2008, the band announced from their website that it will
perform at the World Stage of the Rock in Rio — Madrid
festival, being held in Arganda del Rey
, Madrid
with others
artists who have (then) yet to be announced.
On 28 February 2008, Jamiroquai performed at the Khodynka Arena in
Moscow, Russia at the launch of the new Audi A4 car.
On 22 June 2008, Jamiroquai performed at the Wianki Festival in
Kraków, Poland.
On 4 July 2008, the band performed in front of a 75,000 people
audience in the Rock in Rio Madrid festival.Tour dates were planned
for July and August of 2008.
Jay has personally stated that 2009 will bring a new Jamiroquai
album. The album is uninfluenced by major record labels and will
bring forth a new direction for the band.
On 5 April 2009, Jamiroquai performed at the closing concert of
Malaysian F1 Grand Prix in Sepang International Circuit Malaysia,
and on the 9th of April Jamiroquai played at the Sentul
International Convention Centre in Jakarta, Indonesia.
On 24 August 2009, Derrick McKenzie was interviewed on playvybz.com
and talked about the upcoming album. He stated that Jamiroquai is
now signed with
Universal Records
(UK) and that they have recorded more than 40 new tracks. Also the
new album will be recorded live and have a style similar to the
first three albums with the use of strings and horns. He claims the
album will have less of a "disco sound" and will be a lot more
funky and soulful.
Buffalo Man
Buffalo Man is the name of the silhouette
character featured on most of the covers of
Jamiroquai's releases.
Origins
Buffalo Man was created sometime prior to the release of
their 1992 single
When You Gonna Learn, allegedly it was
originally sketched by the band's primary songwriter and front-man
Jason Kay as
Buffalo Man is
seemingly a
self portrait silhouette of Jason wearing a
buffalo hat. The mark has been used on almost
every commercial (and sometimes non-commercial) release of the
band's output in some form or another; usually the unique symbol is
pictured unaltered, but there have been times where it is shown in
a stylised manner to suit the artwork or song.
Notable variations
Over the years, Buffalo Man has seen some temporary changes or
interesting thematic uses:
"
Half the Man",
The Return of the Space
CowboyFor the single "Half The Man",
Buffalo Man
is on the cover as a keyring with a heart in the clasp representing
the fact it is a love song and the keyring itself is split down the
middle in two halfs to represent the song title.
Buffalo
Man also has a silver heart.
"
Space Cowboy",
The Return of the Space
CowboyFor the single "Space Cowboy",
Buffalo Man
is present on the cover as a shaped cigarette paper for a
half-complete cannabis joint, in reference to the song's praise of
the drug.
"
Virtual Insanity",
Travelling Without
MovingFor the single of "Virtual Insanity", Buffalo
Man appears in the place of the Ferrari
horse in an
homage to Jason's love of sports cars. For the album cover
to
Travelling Without Moving, the artwork is similar, but
takes on an embossed effect and is seen on a metal grille.
"
Cosmic Girl", "
Everyday"For these two releases,
Buffalo Man is pictured with a star over his heart and two
intersecting orbital rings.
SynkronizedWhile the design
remained fundamentally unaltered, Buffalo Man has been turned into
a
laser-cut mirror and
photographed from interesting angles by Midori Tsukagoshi. On some
editions, for the disc itself, no ink has been used on the
character, but the same stone background found on the front cover
has been used for the rest of the disc, thus allowing the consumer
to recreate the photographed effect.
A Funk OdysseyFor this
album, the Buffalo Man was notably absent from the cover; instead,
the laser lights formed an outline of the Buffalo Man logo, which
could be seen much more clearly in the album's liner notes.
DynamiteOnly the US release featured a gold Buffalo Man.
Other releases saw a picture of Jay Kay instead.
Text logo
The regular text logo.
Just like the Buffalo Man, the Jamiroquai text logo has also had
several variations depending on the theme. The oldest version of
the logo is the one seen on the
Acid
Jazz Records release of
When
You Gonna Learn. In comparison to the current text logo one can
see that the old Acid Jazz Records version of the logo was more
angular at points, together with the letters being much thinner.
Several variations of the current logo also exist. Releases of
"
Cosmic Girl" and the promo CD of
Everyday had replaced the
dots above the 'i' letters with stars. Other slight, temporary
variations include a slight vertical stretch of the typeface, as
seen on the cover art of
A Funk
Odyssey.
Discography
See also
References
- Jamiroquai | News | Laureus Sports Awards performance
photos - 22 May 2006, 23:28 (BST)
- Jamirotalk : International Jamiroquai Fan
Discussion Forum
- Jamiroquai - Official Website / Home
- Jamiroquai | News | Derrick McKenzie blog update - 11
January 2008, 13:33 (GMT)
- Jamiroquai - Official Website / Home
- Jamiroquai - Official Website / Home
- Jamiroquai - The Funkin Site
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