"U know, I just don't feel well enough for this interview. I mean ... my eyes are streaming, my head's spinning and my stomach is churning ? you're just not gonna get much of an interview out of me unless we talk about flu!"

{safm} Charlie Wilson{/safm}, Gap Band vocalist, is not a very happy man at the moment. First of all, he's got the flu which he'd been trying to sleep off until he was dragged out of bed for our chat. Then it's only hours before they're on stage for theii one and only promotional performance here ? the Christmas Radio London Soul Night Out in Leicester Square. How is Charlie going to perform when he looks like death warmed up at the hotel?

Currently unattached, he adds that although he welcomes the attention of young ladies who show romantic interest, "I'm from the old school, an old-fashioned kind of guy so I can handle myself in the proper way. Right now though, I'd say my career is my biggest priority I'll deal with romance later!"

It's not very often that a group hits the top spot on any chart with their first record but Levert (Sean and Gerald Levert and Marc Gordon) did just that last year with "(Pop, Pop, Pop) Goes My Mind" when the record, taken from their debut album entitled "Bloodline", became a black music No. 1. A little over a year later, with a solid stint on the road behind them, Levert are threatening to repeat their initial success with "Casanova", the insistent, hypnotic ditty produced by Reggie Calloway.

Let's go back to October 1986 to see what's happening in the music business those days. These Liners are from a populair magazine from the UK.

The music we listen to is an ever-changing thing with shifts and moves that can be as logical as they are confusing, but there will always remain throughout the evolution certain constants ? things that will remain familiar and reassuring.

Grover Washington Jnr's music is one of those constants and for well over a decade the great saxophonist has been creating a sound that has transcended fads and fancies and remained simply ... Grover.
Grover is currently plying his music around a good proportion of his country's fifty-two States and it was the morning after one such date in Georgia that we caught up with the Buffalo, New York native to discuss a brand new album for a brand new label.

WHILE, as a family group, Mason have that fact in common with the likes of the Jacksons, Pointers and Isleys, they have one further common factor with the Wilson Brothers, a.k.a. the Gap Band. Both families hail from the unlikely city of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

When B&S last spoke to Lanier & Co back in February of last year (was it really that long ago?!), the group were hoping that their third single for Willie Mitchell's Waylo label would be the one. While "Dancing In The Night" can't really be regarded as a hit in terms of the small U.K. market (having peaked outside of the Top 75 at No.78) it has at least brought them to the attention of a major label in EMI. Hopefully the single is selling sufficiently well to convince EMI to go with a follow-up, and maybe their now-completed album as well.

"We try not to be analytical", say David Frank and Mic Murphy, better known as The System. "We reckon all things must be equal and, when our time comes, we'll drink the wine".

Pieces Of A Dream is emerging as a highly pertinent tag for the supremely talented group of musicians who create music under that banner.

For the generation of black music fans of the last decade, it has been a personal pleasure to watch this band emerge and develop 'before our very eyes', so to speak.

They came together as teenagers under the guiding hand of mentor Grover Washington Jr. (probably as big an inspiration as any for the enthusiast who's spread his wings wider than the commercial edge of the genre), and started playing a form of jazz that introduced all the musical aspects this generation has enjoyed into one sound. Pieces Of A Dream almost personified what — in this country at least — was considered best in black music, and they became as a mirror for the music's followers.

FINDING out that Atlantic Starr? whose music has marked them as a real staple in anyone's black music diet for the past 9 years ? have only ever had one gold album came as a shock to me when keyboardists Jonathan Lewis revealed that very information during the course of our recent interview, held in conjunction with the forthcoming release of the group's Warner Brothers' debut, "All In The Name Of Love". You could, as they say, have knocked me down with a pennyfeather ? or some kind of feather!

In many circles, Bernie Worrell needs no introduction. From his work as a founding member and Musical Director of Parliament-Funkadelic to his contributions to the Talking Heads, Worrell has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Indeed, songs such as “Burning Down the House” and “Flashlight” wouldn’t have been the same without him, and Worrell’s keyboard prowess has only grown since those classic recordings. As one of the most sampled musicians in history, Worrell’s funky licks have graced hit songs by Dr. Dre, Snoop Dog, Ice Cube, En Vogue and more. “One generation needs to segue to the next generation. So now I work with the sons and daughters, and we coincide.”


Interview by Scott Preston read more on Cincy Groove

"{safm}Peabo Bryson{/safm} was far more involved with this album than he was with "Take No Prisoners". That was a successful album but he felt his biggest successes have always come on his own. I think that my songs best reflect my personality and that's when I fell the most comfortable.