Ian & Rob (Global Rhythm Connection)
Summary
Long standing DJ partnership since 1989, spreading our energetic and infectious love of music across many top European venues and UK Festivals. Renowned for rocking dancefloors at events such as; Bestival, Love Supreme Festival, Brighton Jazz Bops, Jazz Café, Ibiza Soul Week, Bournemouth & Caister Soul weekenders, Phoenix Festival, Strawberry Fields Festival, Café Del Mar and many more.
Our show name “Global Rhythm Connection” emphasises exactly what we do. Joining worldwide music genres and people together, with a unique energy, by mixing up various styles of Latin Big Beat, Soulful/Funky House, Brazilian Grooves, Nu Jazz flava’s etc. We also have a deep collection of Old School Jazz, Latin, Funk, Rare Groove and Soul gems therefore we understand musical roots and their origins. Over time, we have built up our music library from hunting down Vinyl, CDs, Media in many places around the world whilst on our travels.

History
1987 > Where we met?
Our love and passion to dance brought us together, becoming friends on a club dancefloor in Kent at the King Charles Hotel-Gillingham, both around 16 years old. We also had an addiction to collect vinyl records, which had started from a very early age.

1987-1989 > How did we get inspiration to start DJing?
We went out dancing in London, Kent, Essex, Ibiza to clubs such as The Slammer, Sleeve, WAG, Milk Bar, Limelight, Astoria, Camden Palace, Jazz Bops, M25 Raves, Prestatyn Weekender, Southport Weekender, Dingwall’s, Cock Happy Doos, Amnesia and Es Paradis. We were inspired by many top DJs at these events such as Pete Tong, Gilles Peterson, Louie Vega, Kenny Dope, Alfredo, Jeff Young, Robbie Vincent, Chris Hill, Russ Dewbury, Paul Trouble Anderson, Westwood, Nicky Holloway, Eddie Gordon, Dave Dorrell, Mark Moore to name but a few. Loved the music in these clubs and on radio, so we decided to start DJing.

1989 > Our DJ Start
We started promoting local events in Kent (Rochester, Maidstone, Canterbury) on our own, and with some local DJ friends – events such as Orgy in Rhythm (Sunday Afternoon Jazz Session), Raisin Hell, Livin’ Easy, Sahara Jazz, Penny Theatre. We played a lot of Jazz, Funk, Latin, Soul and mixed in new music such as House, Hip-Hop and Acid-Jazz. Managing to gain local recognition quickly, we were added to the Camber Soul Weekender line-up.

1990-2000 > Key Moments
Our wider break came from when James Taylor Quartet attended our local Kent Jazz gigs (Dave & James Taylor were Mod friends from school). JTQ booked us as DJ support for their gigs in London’s Town & Country Club (JTQ, Brothers Like Outlaw, Nightcrawlers live)
This opportunity resulted in being spotted by Jazz Café promoter Adrian Gibson, with whom we then had regular Mean Fiddler London residencies, at the Jazz Café, Subterranea , Cross Bar, Point 101 and the mega Phoenix Festival in Stratford-Upon-Avon. Plus, other key residencies including the Brighton Jazz Rooms (with good friend Russ Dewbury), and the HI-HAT/Blue Note (Snowboy/Eddie Piller).
Our DJ net widened to such events like Renaissance with John Digweed/Sasha, The Yardbird Suite (Cooker-Leeds), Into Something (Compost Records-Germany), London’s Club UK and Velvet Underground.

1992-2015 > Caister Soul Weekender
During this time, we also cemented ourselves into the new phase of Soul Mafia DJs at Caister Soul Weekender, with a mix of the original Soul Mafia + new DJs introduced. We achieved a long-term achievement, and played at Caister for around 23 years, mainly in the club room environment due to our love of stretching the musical boundaries to an eclectic dancefloor.

Artists DJ support
At the point of the Jazz Café and Phoenix Festival we were lucky to work alongside 100s of artists and other DJs. DJing before and after artist live shows, for example, with the likes of Roy Ayers, Donald Byrd, Gil Scott Heron, Terry Callier, Herbie Hancock, Pucho & His Latin Soul Brothers, Azymuth, Isaac Hayes, The Blackbyrds. Also, the new wave from Talkin’ Loud, Acid Jazz, Dorado, 4th B’way, various US labels, such as Nuyorican Soul, Jamiroquia, Ronnie Jordan, Galliano, Urban Species, Gang Starr, A Tribe Called Quest, The Roots, House of Pain, Pharcyde to name but a few.

2000-Now > Key Moments
We continued with Caister, Jazz Café, Brighton Jazz Rooms throughout the 90’s, 00’s years, and naturally got into playing at many events that we still play at to date. Events such as our good friend Bob Master’s Revenge of the Soul boy gigs, Bournemouth Soul Weekender, Ibiza Soul Week (certainly a career highlight was spinning at the iconic Café Del Mar), Terry Jones’s Come On Over, Soulful Strut, ModCast Weekender, Soul/Jazz Boats, Latin-House Clubs etc. And amazing festivals such as; Bestival, Love Supreme, The Cambridge Night Festival and Strawberry Fields.

Present and Future:
Our mission is to carry on with our energetic Club Sets and sharing music with our established audience, whilst becoming ambassadors to a new generation. The opportunity to be a part of this lovely Mi-House/Mi-Soul family and hosting our “Global Rhythm Connection” radio show is the ideal platform to spread our music to others around the world. We are chuffed to be part of the team and expect to hear Afro-Brazilian-Latin-Soul-Funky dance flava’s that will certainly energise your day.
The journey for us is all about music that entertains your ears, so let’s do this together!
Peace & Love
Ian & Rob (Global Rhythm Connection)

Our Mixcloud feed:

Our Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/globalrhythmconnection/

DJs that have inspired us
Masters At Work
Gilles Peterson
Pete Tong
Jazzy Jeff
Trouble
Russ Dewbury