Jersey Street: Love Rising Up (UBU0069)

Ubuntu Music is excited to announce the signing of Jersey Street for the worldwide release of their long-awaited album, ‘Love Rising Up’, on 25th September 2020.

Jersey Street’s heady combo of Deep House, Spiritual jazz, Latin rhythms and raw soul saw them embraced by audiences all around the world when they first appeared on the scene. The band features ‘Manchester’s best kept secret’, vocalist Dawn Zee, who has been compared with the likes of Erykah Badu, Jill Scott and Lauren Hill.  

Previously, Jersey Street released two highly respected albums and a series of singles that were equally at home on the dancefloors of clubs such as Giant Step and Paradise Garage, as they were in the playlists of jazz and soul DJs. This saw the band release tracks on such legendary underground labels as Junior, Electric Chair, Defected, Hed Kandi, Naked and Yellow as well as touring throughout Europe as a powerful nine-piece live outfit. 

Now, in 2020, Jersey Street is back with a brand new album, ‘Love Rising Up’, that returns to their original jazz roots and steps away from the dance floor to draw the dots between the influences of Roy Ayers, Rotary Connection and Betty Davis to the more contemporary stylings of Anderson Paak and Floating Points, while stopping off for a drink with Nu-Yorican Soul along the way. 

The album is characterised by lush string and brass orchestration, some world-class musicianship, and an irreverent Manchester attitude, with the band’s classic song writing chops always at the forefront. 

According to co-founder Dawn Zee, “We began this process a couple of years ago as something very pure, based on the desire to make the record that we’d always wanted to, musically and sonically, without any reference to anything apart from our own taste. It ended up sounding better than we could have imagined, probably because of that very approach. It’s heavily song-based and draws on a wide range of influences. We’ve got some wonderful musicians on the album and we wanted to give all the players the freedom to bring their own vision of how it should sound. We’re really proud of it, and we hope it can bring a bit of happiness to all our fans and listeners. Hope everyone is irie. Stay blessed Xx.”

In addition to Dawn, the other founding members of Jersey Street have equally impressive credentials.

During a career of over 20 years, Matt Steele has played with the cream of International jazz/funk/soul artists, ranging from Peven Everett to Eric Marienthal, while focusing recently on music for film and TV. He is the long-standing Brand New Heavies keyboard player and arranger, has written with such standouts as Angie Stone and Siedah Garrett, and is currently a touring member of pivotal jazz-punk revolutionaries A Certain Ratio.

Founder member and lynchpin of Jersey Street, Neil Reid, had his first releases with legendary Mancunian manager Rob Gretton. His always-hip but timeless production skills were much in demand as the band carved a respected path between the worlds of Deep House and Nu-jazz, working with luminaries including Larry Heard and Uschi Classen, and being regularly played at clubs such as Giant Step and Shelter. Mainly a resident of Barcelona, Neil has recently been heavily involved in education as well as having a publishing contract with Sony/BMG Spain. The last two years have seen him getting his chops together in anticipation of taking Jersey Street on the road (now delayed until 2021).

Multi-instrumentalist Jasper Wilkinson won the Young Jazz Composer competition at the Royal Northern College of Music at the tender age of 15. He has gone on to write television commercials for national brands and has also composed for Channel 5, Granada, UKTV, Tyne Tees and BSkyB. Jasper is a writer and producer of a large number of released commercial recordings. Being a prolific guitar, bass and saxophone player, he is a first call guitarist and bass player and has played bass saxophone and guitar on scores of dance and other worldwide records.

Rounding off the roster are some of the best UK jazz and funk musicians whose playing captures the energy of their live shows. These such names as Steve Washington (Hugh Masekela), Dan Carpenter (Incognito, Chaka Khan), Mike Wilson (Lianne La Havas), Errol Rollins (The Human League, Corrine Bailey Rae) and The Haggis Horns (Amy Winehouse, Mark Ronson). 

Speaking about their new-found relationship with Ubuntu Music, Neil Reid commented: “We’re delighted to be in the Ubuntu Family as we were all blown away by the consistently high standard of playing and production on all of the releases. Martin (Hummel) is totally artist driven, and his passion for taking an artist’s original vision and bringing it to the widest audience possible was the clincher for us. Hopefully, it’s the beginning of a long and fruitful relationship with Ubuntu.” 

Martin Hummel, Director of Ubuntu Music, said, “Jersey Street a collection of exceptionally talented musicians who bring something magical to their music. There’s a genuine, gritty Manchester deep soul groove that’s simply irresistible. Manchester’s finest deliver an album that was certainly worth waiting for, as you are about to hear for yourself. It’s the antidote for the head, the heart and the love for music that eats you right up.”