Keb Darge’s brand of funk is about passion, energy, authenticity and belief. Specialising in compiling otherwise unobtainable, incredibly rare 45s alongside fellow fanatics DJ Shadow, Ian Wright, Snowboy, Darge has championed his sound for almost a decade at his now legendary Deep Funk club nights at Madame Jo Jos in London. Keb’s obsessive musical archive plots the trajectory of funk from its Northern Soul, R&B and boogaloo origins through to the disco and jazz-funk period.
Legendary for the choicest and rarest collection of Funk 45’s known to man, Keb Darge has spent nearly 10 years travelling around the world collecting and thrilling audiences with his own distinctive style of Funk, this in turn has brought this long neglected music back to the dance floors for which it was made! Inspired an international revival of DJ’s digging in the crates to unearth a wealth of Black American soul music which was all but destined for obscurity.
Keb Darge started collecting Funk and Soul in 1972, before becoming engrossed in the Northern Soul scene. He was one of the top dancers at Wigan Casino, and was voted number one Northern Soul DJ for several years running. He made the switch from Northern to Funk and Soul in the mid eighties, and is now recognised worldwide as the number one rare Funk DJ on the planet. Constantly in demand worldwide he still sees Jo Jo’s as his home and refuses to play elsewhere on a Friday unless it is part of a long haul tour. He has done numerous compilations on his own and with names such as The RZA (Wu-Tang Clan), DJ Shadow, Pete Rock, and Kenny Dope Gonzalez, who he now runs Kay-Dee Records with. A New York based label that is bringing us the tunes played on the Friday nights at Jo Jo’s. He now writes, arranges, and produces new tunes for the club so that his playbox never goes stagnant.
Useful Links:
http://www.kaydeerecords.com/
http://www.discogs.com/artist/Keb+Darge
http://www.madamejojos.com/
http://www.telfordswarehouse.com/
