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numero group
chicago funk/r&B curators go off the deep end…literally.
words: Jessica hopper
“We take most of our meetings here during the
summer, around 10 or 11 feet,” says Ken Shipley
of Chicago Park District’s Olympic-sized pride
and joy–Holstein Pool. “We just hang on the side
during lap swims. If they had a wireless connection
here, we’d be here all the time. We tried
once to log on, but there is no signal down here.”
Shipley is a founding third of reissues label
Numero Group, and this pool is where much of
the creative thunder has rumbled “The sequencing
meetings for the Capsoul release were here,”
he remembers, almost wistfully. “We were humming
the songs, trying to figure out the order.”
Shipley and partners Rob Sevier and Tom
Lunt have quickly turned Numero from a curious
boutique outfit into a reissue zeitgeist–garnering
raves from casual fans to collectors, from NPR to
national mags. Numero brings the forgotten to
the fore with lovingly packaged CD collections of
artists known only to deep-crate diggers or those
who were around “back in the day.” “We started
[by] putting together stacks of 45s, sorting ‘em
by label and talking about how we were going to
find these people,” says Shipley. Their first choice
was Ohio’s long-defunct sweet soul label, Capsoul.
“In the summer of 2003, we went to Columbus,
Ohio and talked to (Capsoul founder) Bill Moss,”
says Shipley. “He gave us the go, and we’ve been
running with it ever since.”
In the last two years, Numero has amassed an
impressive and eclectic catalog, spanning from
Factory Records also-rans Antena (an all-female
French electro-samba band) to reissues from
Chicago funk label Bandit to the country gospel
of Fern Jones, who was the Patsy Cline of the
southern revival tent circuit.
What’s your favorite chicago institution? Numero Group: Holstein Pool.
While those releases put them on the map, the
next few are positively nuclear. First up is a primer
on Belizean funk, where calypso and James
Brown meet the hurricane-inflicted diaspora.
Then comes a 100-plus track Deep City boxset,
chronicling the Miami label, famously helmed by
Clarence Reed and Willy Clark, from 1964-68.
“The Deep City box started how all of our projects
do,” explains Shipley. “You finally get your
hands on this amazing single, and then think,
‘There has got to be more where this came from.’
Then you find some discography, and that leads
you to this wealth of people. And then, suddenly,
you wind up with never-heard-before acetates
dug up from Willy Clark’s wife’s closet.”
www.numerogroup.com
deeper soul records
a label makes chicago’s jazz roots swing for a new generation.
words: Joshua p. Ferguson phoTo: auBrey edwards
Deeper Soul’s Josh Deep
Josh Deep has only begun to scratch the surface
of all he has in store for his label Deeper Soul.
At just over a year in existence it has six releases
under its belt including original work and remixes
from Osunlade, Henrik Schwarz, Alton Miller,
IG Culture and Chicago jazz musician Kahil El
Zabar. Already, Deeper Soul is fulfilling its mission:
to release genre-defying music that is not
only heard but, more importantly, felt.
Josh says that growing up in Chicago has had a
heavy influence on his ideology. “Chicago has all
these types of music: blues, jazz, house, hip-hop,
soul. These experiences [all] incorporated [into]
a music I could feel–it was all soulful music to me
and I saw an ability to learn from those experiences
and create a new sound.” This new sound marries
modern production to a live jazz aesthetic, as
Josh aims “to create a greater synergy between live
musicians and studio producers.” “The response
that we get from that experience needs to happen,
and goes beyond articulation,” he avows.
As it happens, Deeper Soul is really starting to
cook. A slew of releases centered around El Zabar
are up next, including a double CD of original
material and remixes and an accompanying 12”
sampler featuring unreleased tracks. Kahil and
the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble are also touring
Europe this month, leading up to the Nova Arts
Festival in Bordeaux, France. The three-day festival
will find the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble performing
live with IG Culture and Josh Deep, plus
turns by Archie Shepp, Henrik Schwarz, Charles
Webster, Djinji Brown and a live painting exhibition
from HVW8.
Josh says Chicago has been a necessary catalyst
for all these projects, as has his friendship with El
Zabar. “When he and I started working together
it became very clear that for a period in time this
was going to be our future: to have this [relationship]
as a vehicle to get music which [Kahil] and
I feel has a strong cultural value to more people
and to bring groups of like-minded people
together.”
www.deepersoulrecs.com
What’s your favorite chicago institution? Josh Deep: If I had to try and nail it down it would be either Sonotheque or the Velvet Lounge.
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