Blue Rondo à la Turk (band)
| Blue Rondo à la Turk | |
|---|---|
| Origin | United Kingdom |
| Genres | Pop, Latin jazz |
| Years active | 1981–1984 |
| Labels | Virgin; Diable Noir |
| Associated acts | Matt Bianco |
| Past members | Mark Reilly Chris Sullivan Moses Mount Bassie Mick "Lloyd" Bynoe Art Collins Geraldo d'Arbilly Kito Poncioni Christos Tolera Tholo Peter Tsegona Daniel White |
Blue Rondo à la Turk was an early 1980s British musical ensemble, whose music featured elements of salsa, pop and cool jazz. The group placed two songs on the UK charts (1981's "Me and Mr. Sanchez", and 1982's "Klactoveesedstein"), but is perhaps better known in retrospect for launching the careers of several players who went on to form the sophisticated jazz/Latin/samba/pop group Matt Bianco.
Blue Rondo à la Turk was a floating collective of jazz and salsa oriented musicians, more-or-less led by singer/lyricist Chris Sullivan, whose stated goal for the band was "to bring back show biz". Sullivan co-wrote most of the band's original material; he also painted the distinctive cubist art that adorned most of the band's releases.
For the earliest singles (1981's "Me and Mr. Sanchez", and 1982's "Klactoveesedstein"), the group was a six-piece: Sullivan, Christos Tolera (vocals), Mark Reilly (guitars), Mike Lloyd Bynoe a.k.a. "Choco Mick" (drums and timbales), Kito Poncioni (bass) and Geraldo D'Arbilly (percussion). All had assorted co-writing credits on the band's material, with Sullivan, Poncioni and Reilly being the most frequent contributors. Pete Wingfield produced "Me and Mr. Sanchez", which entered the UK Singles Chart on 14 November 1981, peaking at number 40. "Me and Mr. Sanchez" was also number one in Brazil for three months and was the theme tune for the 1982 World Cup.
The band's follow-up single "Klactoveesedstein" was produced by Kevin Godley & Lol Creme, and entered the chart on 13 March 1982, reaching number 50.
The group added Moses Mount Bassie (saxophone) as a member for their third single, "The Heavens Are Crying", written by the band with Clive Langer. This track was produced by Langer and Alan Winstanley, and failed to chart. The fourth single, recorded with the same line-up, was called "Carioca", and featured a co-writing credit for soon-to-be-official member Daniel White. Produced by Mike Chapman, this single also failed to chart.
Blue Rondo à la Turk's debut album, Chewing the Fat, was released in 1982 and included all four of their singles released to that time. Added to the line up for the album, officially swelling the group to a ten-piece, were Art Collins (saxophone), Tholo Peter Tsegona (trumpet), and Daniel White (keyboards). Chewing the Fat appeared on the UK Albums Chart, entering the chart on 6 November 1982 where it remained in the chart for two weeks.
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