A night with Greg Wilson

"What we were treated to that night was a session of the finest electronic soul music played by a true master of the craft that is djing"

When considering the whole ethos behind this page I wanted to include a piece regarding Greg Wilson, a dj that has made a personal and long lasting impact on the way that I appreciate music not only as a dj put also as an enthusiast.

As there's so much information regarding Greg and the pivitol role that he plays within the UK dance music community one would simply be reduced to either explaining what others have said before or having to rely on a cut and copy approach to complete this final written piece.

Instead I'm going to use a personal experience that I shared with a few close friends when together we first came in contact with one of the greats of British dance music culture.

Bestival 2006

After a night of wondering around the Bestival site, my friends and I remembered reading the festival guide earlier that day.

Upon reading we discovered that there was going to be an appearance by The Original Hacienda Resident DJ and God Father of UK Electro Funk taking place that same night, namely Greg Wilson.

As we were just yards away from the area we all wondered into the marquee eagerly looking forward to hearing and seeing what was later to prove a defining moment not just at the festival but also for my friends and myself in relation to music.

30 minutes to go and on walks Greg, Revox Reel To Reel all set up and what looked like a laptop, what no records or cdj's, things are definitely going to get interesting now.

Smiles and waves were exchanged between the dj and obviously some of the crowd that were more than in the know about what lay ahead.

Eagerly we waited to hear what Greg was going to sound like and also what all that equipment was going to be used for.

Midnight comes and on comes the dj.

To our amazement his first tune drops the pace down (hold on this is a bit different) it's midnight on the Saturday of a UK Festival, everywhere else is going nuts to stadium rocking bands and big time djs and we're here listening to sub 120 bpm dance music (best we stay, this could get even more interesting)

And sure it did.

What we were treated to that night was a session of the finest electronic soul music played by a true master of the craft that is djing.

Our new home for the night steadily got busier and busier as Greg shifted through styles and tempos, at one point all of us where paired off in boy/girl fashion slow dancing like it was the end of the night circa 1980, of course it wasn't but you can imagine the scene.

Now don't get the wrong idea from this as Greg isn't all about down tempo beats which is something the heads that read this will know very well, he just has that ability to shift gears effortlessly between pace whilst never losing the interest of the dance floor.

Rewinding a few years, I was a keen listener of Electro that was available on the now legendary Electro Compilations series through Streetsounds in the 1980's. Later I would discover that Greg played a significant part in bringing this music to our shores here in the UK.

This was very fitting as the tune I remember most from that night was Al-Naafiysh (The Soul) which Greg dropped later in his set to a rapturous response from all the old school heads right through to a younger generation that were enjoying the music as much as we all were (by now we were already lifelong devotees)

This ability to move young and older generations on any dance floor is something that many would like to aspire to but rarely achieve but does Greg make a fuss about this? not when I have had the pleasure to speak to him regarding his music and ethos on the occasions that we have both met whilst djing.

This is just one of the memories that I will take with me in what's been an enlightening musical journey over the years. Theres a few more I could speak about but that's maybe for another time, in the meantime I'm going to let the music do all the talking.

Trust the dj, trust The Wilson!

electrofunkroots.co.uk

Final edited version of The Broadcast Loft Party night we did with Greg in 2007 at The Ocean Rooms in Brighton. This was the first time that Greg came back to Brighton in over 23 years since his previous visit as part of a Hacienda Tour that took place in the city.

Comments by Ali