gonzalez

Gonzalez was a loosely knit, British-based aggregate with a revolving-door membership of anywhere from 10 to 30 players. Their specialty was a mostly instrumental melange of funk, jazz, soul, and (later) disco, though they did employ vocalists for selected tracks on most of their albums. Their core early membership consisted of saxophonists Mick Eve, Chris Mercer, and Geoffrey "Bud" Beadle, keyboardist Roy Davies, and guitarist Gordon Hunte; collectively, their previous credits included Georgie Fame's Blue Flames, Juicy Lucy, John Mayall, Keef Hartley, and the Night-Timers, among others. First convening in 1971, Gonzalez grew to include bassist DeLisle Harper, trumpeter Ron Carthy, saxophonist Steve Gregory, drummers Richard Bailey and Glen LeFleur, and vocalist George Chandler (among others) by the time they released their self-titled debut album on EMI-Capitol in 1974. Cuts like "Funky Frith Street" and the Latin-tinged "Saoco" later became popular among connoisseurs of obscure funk.