Jazzie B - Masterpiece: Created By Jazzie B (Soul II Soul) (2008)

The Masterpiece series continues highlighting those who have shaped modern dance music by alighting on Trevor Beresford Romeo, aka Jazzie B, a man who made inestimable inroads for British black music with Soul II Soul. After cutting his teeth in his early teens with South London sound systems, Jazzie started the collective as a floating party injecting funky soul into the warehouse scene which blew up at Covent Garden’s Africa Centre in the mid-80s with acid house. They started making records, exploding globally in 1989 with anthems like Keep On Moving, followed by their epoch-making debut album.

Jazzie now sits as one of the elder statesman of this country’s black music scene, here presenting a history of his musical roots. The first two discs present vintage soul and funk from the likes of Archie Bell, Harold Melvin, James Brown, Kool & The Gang, Cameo and the startling proto-house of Serious Intention’s You Don’t Know, before hitting a smoother 80s stretch. Disc Three’s acid house lift-off unleashes Chicago bombs by the likes of Mr Fingers and Frankie Knuckles, hip-hop from Cypress Hill and Slick Rick, closing with new Soul II Soul outings proving the man’s flame still burns as bright as the sounds on this marvellous compilation.