Gizelle Smith

The Golden Girl of Funk Gizelle Smith at Hideaway Jazz Club London
Saturday, 14th Jul 2018
The Golden Girl of Funk Gizelle Smith at Hideaway Jazz Club London

Hot off the back of the release of her second solo album (‘Ruthless Day’ released on Jalapeno Records), the 'Golden Girl of Funk' makes her Hideaway debut.

And being tagged ‘The Golden Girl of Funk’ is a title well deserved for the singer-songwriter who stormed from obscurity onto the funk scene almost, as the front woman of Hamburg-based funk band, The Mighty Mocambos.

Her first single 'Working Woman' became an overnight smash and a prime-time club favourite of funk & soul DJs worldwide. Initially released on the Finnish private press label Old Capital, producer legend and Grammy nominee Kenny Dope (Masters at Work, Bucketheads) picked up and remixed the song for his own label Kay Dee Records. Her album 'This is Gizelle Smith and the Mighty Mocambos' (Mocambo, Legere, Soulbeats) was released late in 2009 and was a great success in the funk and soul circles all over the globe, and whilst the depression of the music industry peaked, nearly 10,000 copies of what has been referred to as a jewel in today’s music-landscape, have been sold with only the help of a couple of small, independent labels and her growing, underground reputation.

Her latest album, ‘Ruthless Day’, is an energetic and harmonically rich, funk record with exciting arrangements that at times evokes the sound of Rotary Connection and Cymande in their prime. Yet it’s also undeniably modern and relevant at a time when new the new breed of progressive funk pioneers like Childish Gambino, Thundercat and Mr Jukes are all commanding significant media attention. The golden girl of funk? Damn right! Gizelle Smith is a force to be reckoned with…