Jean-Paul Maunick, known as Bluey, longtime band leader of Incognito, has been awarded an MBE in the King’s Birthday Honours.
Long time regulars at Ronnie Scott’s where they regularly play New Year’s Eve, Incognito were formed at the tail-end of the 1970s by Mauritius born guitarist Maunick, who is 69, and Paul “Tubbs” Williams, growing out of the disco-funk ashes of Light of the World.
They debuted in 1981 with the album Jazz Funk, but the decade that followed was largely a quiet affair spent in relative obscurity or tinkering with various outside projects.
The real pivot arrived in 1991 when Gilles Peterson snapped them up for his Talkin’ Loud label, instantly positioning the band at the absolute vanguard of the roaring British acid jazz and club explosion of the time.
Over more than four decades, Incognito has behaved less like a conventional band and more like a fluid, ever-revolving musical collective. Led from the front by Bluey, the group has rotated through hundreds of world-class musicians and exceptional vocalists, including the likes of Maysa Leak, Jocelyn Brown, and Tony Momrelle.
Recent activity of Maunick’s in the 2020s beyond Incognito includes STR4TA with Peterson.
The achievements over that span are significant. They scored major global chart success with their 1991 anthem-like cover of Ronnie Laws’ ‘Always There’ featuring Jocelyn Brown, and followed it up with a stellar reading of Stevie Wonder’s ‘Don’t You Worry ’bout a Thing’ a year later. Their definitive 1993 album Positivity became a massive international crossover success, selling nearly one million copies worldwide.
Also figuring in the King’s Honours list just announced is pianist, keyboardist and trumpeter Dave Cottle, from Swansea, awarded a BEM for services to Jazz Music. He has been a central figure in the Swansea live jazz scene since the 1970s, organising the weekly programme at the Swansea Jazz Club since the 1990s. Born into the famous musical Cottle brothers dynasty, he frequently collaborates with his siblings, Laurence and Richard. He has also directed the 18-piece Power of Gower Big Band and has co-lead The Louis & Ella Music Show touring tribute project. He also founded the annual Swansea International Jazz Festival in 2014.
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