kalima
biography



Formed in 1980, Factory avant-funk outfit Swamp Children mutated into acclaimed latin jazz outfit Kalima, releasing four albums between 1986 and 2002.

The Swamp Children formed in Manchester early in 1980, the original line-up comprising Ann Quigley (vocals), Tony Quigley (sax and bass), John Kirkham (guitar), Ceri Evans (keyboards and bass), Cliff Saffer (sax) and Martin Moscrop (drums). For six months the new outfit practiced at a rehearsal space shared with fellow avant-funksters A Certain Ratio and the nascent New Order. Ages ranged from 16 to 19, and only John Kirkham had any real prior experience, having played in Pink Military. The Swamp Children moniker was also applied to a one-off fanzine, largely the work of Ann.

Martin Moscrop already played in ACR, and Ann had provided the artwork for their single Flight and debut album To Each... Although the close association with A Certain Ratio lead many to assume that Swamp Children were merely an ACR splinter group, Swamp Children always pursued a more latin, bossa nova and jazz tinged agenda, and were a totally separate affair. And while the band adopted a post-punk attitude towards making music, from the outset their sound was heavily influenced by the records they were listening to at the time - Miles Davis, Brazilian jazz fusion and heavy funk dancefloor sides.

The band made their live debut at Manchester's short-lived Beach Club in May 1980, as support to Eric Random. Thanks to a double-booking another support band turned up and were turned away, having traveled all the way from Dublin for a string of British dates. The name of the band was U2...

Invited to record for Factory, the band cut Boy in March 1981 at Cabaret Voltaire's primitive Western Works studio in Sheffield. The track was co-produced by ACR frontman Simon Topping and Stephen Mallinder of the Cabs, and proved a fairly experimental affair. In June Topping produced two more tracks in Manchester, and the 12" single appeared in October to generally good reviews. Another track, Flesh, again produced by Topping, was recorded in July and donated to Belgian label Les Disques du Crepuscule for their deluxe compilation Fruit of the Original Sin.

In July the band also played at a Crepuscule showcase held at hip London venue Heaven, along with Marine, Richard Jobson, Repetition and Eric Random. In NME, Leyla Sanai enjoyed their 'truly authentic mixture of all that's acceptable in Nouveau Fun(k): Martha Tilson haircuts, a set quota of familiar cacophony, a certain (largish) ratio of influence to originality', while Chris Burkham was more dismissive in Sounds, calling the band 'pretty babies' who needed to 'grow up soon'. Michel Duval of Crepuscule did not agree, and invited the band to record for sister label Factory Benelux. The result was the 12" Taste What's Rhythm, recorded in March 1982 and featuring a small hours tune of touching, tender resignation to love in You've Got Me Beat. A live version of this track from a show at The Hacienda on 29 June 1982 also appears on the Factory Outing video.

During 1981 a new jazz scene developed in the UK, with groups like Weekend, Animal Nightlife, French Impressionists and Carmel forming a disparate vanguard. In Manchester the Swamp Children, ACR and the Jazz Defektors would hang out at Fevers, Legends and Berlin, three nightclubs where DJs Hewan Clarke and Colin Curtis introduced cool grooves to an intimate, knowing few. Even though most of the band had only begun playing their instruments for a short while, they found their own tracks dropped into the mix, and in turn refined their own chops. A similar scene also sprang up in London, thanks to DJs such as Paul Murphy and Gilles Peterson.

By the time the band recorded their album So Hot in August 1982 they had developed a distinctive sound of their own, less abrasive than fellow (free) jazz-informed Mancunians Ludus and Biting Tongues, although sometimes ideas outstripped musical ability. Standout tracks include Samba Zippy, El Figaro and Secret Whispers. Indeed the album received a Five Star rating in the Virgin Rock Yearbook for 1982, and was praised as 'one of the best records of the year' by Frank Worral in Melody Maker, who detected 'a shimmering kaleidoscopic brightness' as well as 'silky panache' and 'superb execution.' Also in August, the band played a London showcase at the ICA as part of a season of 'new jazz' billed as The Joy of Mooching.

During 1981 and 1982 the undeserved unpopularity of Factory with the music press in the UK did not assist the Swamp Children, and the label found it hard to market and promote a latinesque bossa group, who were now picking up favourable notices in papers such as Blue and Soul and Echoes. Indeed the band faced something of an identity crisis, for as the music became more sophisticated, and as they hit their twenties, their chosen name was no longer a comfortable fit. Despite having established a profile, therefore, it was decided to become Kalima, a name borrowed from a track on the 1978 Elvin Jones album Remembrance.

The original five Swamp Children were now joined by percussionist Chris Manis and two long term guest musicians, Andrew Connell on piano and keyboards and Jeremy Kerr on bass and vibes. The addition of Connell and Kerr meant that Kalima now included all of A Certain Ratio bar Donald Johnson, and in fact Tony Quigley would also be absorbed into ACR by the beginning of 1985. This convenient arrangement gave Kalima an enviable head start, while allowing the Ratios to explore their jazz chops within Kalima, and at the same time produce a harder, noisier sound in ACR.

Kalima's first single appeared on Factory (Fac 87) in January 1984 and signposted the direction the new band would take. The double a-side matched a smoky cover of The Smiling Hour, inspired by the Sarah Vaughn standard, and a languid bossa nova original, Fly Away, whose 7/8 time signature was to become something of a Kalima trademark. Radio airplay would remain a perennial problem for Kalima, but the band gigged far and wide, appearing at the Bass Clef, the Wag, Womad, Bracknell Jazz Festival and a prestigious London date at Ronnie Scott's. All were unusual destinations for a Factory outfit, but perfect for New Breed punters who quickly warmed to their capable blending of cool Fifties west coast jazz and latin fusion grooves.

With A Certain Ratio re-emerging in 1984 with Life's a Scream, the second Kalima record finally appeared in October 1985. The Four Songs ep (Fac 127) comprised latin-tinged Land of Dreams, the scattish Sparkle, a moody So Sad and - best of all - the vibrant swing of Trickery. Self-produced, the record revealed a dedicated band with a singular vision. Debut album Night Time Shadows was released in July 1986 (Fact 155) and offered a tighter, sexier, more dance-orientated sound than before. Stand-out tracks among the nine songs include the sensual ballad After Hours, the Latin bounce of Start the Melody and frantic drummy instrumental In Time.

Sadly, all good things must come to an end. By 1986 Kalima were an eight piece band, plus manager, and becoming difficult to sustain financially, as well as overstretched. When ACR had toured America in the summer of 1985 the remaining band members took to performing a more experimental, acoustic set as a small unit, The Kalima Quartet. Personal and musical conflicts now crept in, since A Certain Ratio had completed their long-delayed fourth album, Force, while the hyperactive Andy Connell found himself part of a bona fide chart band, Swing Out Sister. The original line-up of Kalima released one more single, Whispered Words (Fac 147), in April 1986, but that autumn Connell withdrew from both ACR and Kalima, and was followed by Kerr and Moscrop soon afterwards. At the same time savvy manager Nathan McGough departed to take charge of the Happy Mondays, with the result that Kalima was left with only half a band and no management. Ann recalls: 'The departure of Martin, Jez, Andy, Chris and Nathan marked the end of an innocent era, and the band were never the same. But not in a negative way.'

Kalima were briefly joined by Martin Hennin on bass, and completed a six week tour of Hungary. During this confusing transitional period the band were determined to carry on gigging and recording, although regularly having to try out new musicians was hard, since each newcomer had different chops, not always compatible with Kalima's style or direction. Nonetheless, the new band recorded a new single in February 1987, Weird Feelings (Fac 187), also featuring guest Khairie Ghadal on trumpet and flugel horn.

Following the Hungarian sojourn, Martin Hennin and Cliff Saffer gave notice, but happily Kalima afterwards settled on a stable line-up featuring bassist Warren Sharples, David Higgins on drums, Andy Boothman on percussion, and Matthew Taylor, Bernard Moss and Tony providing the sweetest, horniest brass section in the north-west. New management also arrived in the form of Robin McMillan.

Thus a new chapter opened for Kalima: new styles and influences, more percussion, a bigger brass section, and finally the chance to emerge from the shadow of ACR. The result was the album Kalima!, recorded at the end of the year with Michael Johnson (New Order, New FADS) producing. By now the band were becoming increasingly popular in Japan and the Far East, as well as on the so-called 'acid jazz' scene closer to home. Kalima became a regular fixture in London at Gilles Peterson's Sunday afternoon sessions at Dingwalls, on one memorable occasion being joined onstage by Pee Wee Ellis and Haji Akbar, both blowers from the James Brown horn section, as well as meeting Flora Purim and Airto Monera.

Kalima released an impressive best of compilation in Flyaway in 1989, but found themselves out of step with the 'Madchester' fashion, and instead focused their energies on London, where they played dates with luminaries such as Roy Ayres and Arturro Sandoval. In a perceptive NME review of a show at the Wag Club, Dele Fadele wrote that 'the greatest misconception about Kalima is that they're jazzy, conjuring up images of fez-capped groovers, going through cooler-than-thou routines. They're actually indefinable, flitting through a feast of genres with consummate ease.'

Live gigs at the Wag, Bass Clef and - best of all - Sunday afternoon sessions at Dingwalls with DJ Gilles Peterson meant that Kalima retained a profile in London, while a band-affiliated club back in Manchester, Django's, showcased bands such as Swing Out Sister, and featured regular DJs Hewan Clarke and Colin Curtis.

The third Kalima album, Feeling Fine, was recorded at the end of 1989 with Tim Oliver producing. Once more the line-up changed, with a new drummer (Ian Kelly) and percussionist (Andy Boothman), but the latin vibe remained as strong as ever. Entirely self-written, Feeling Fine boasted a new commercial edge, and was considered their strongest set since Night Time Shadows three years earlier. On release in August 1990 reviews were glowing, recognising that Kalima were no mere jazz wannabees.

Kalima also scored a modest club hit with a 12" featuring two radical remixes of Shine, one by Tim Oliver and the other courtesy of Gilles Peterson and Patrick Forge. Warmly embraced by Jazz FM, and rated highly by Blues and Soul magazine, the tracks are still dropped by DJs today, and feature as extras on the expanded 2005 edition of Feeling Fine.

Despite these limited successes, Kalima still found themselves struggling bravely against the odds. Warren Sharples left, to be replaced on live dates by Peter Condor. Flushed with Mondays and Madchester cash, in September 1990 Factory Records relocated from their original office on Palatine Road to smart but costly new premises in the city centre. New faces appeared, and just as had Kalima lost their initial innocence with the departure of Martin, Jez, Andy and Ceri in 1986, now the core trio of Ann, John and Tony found the label too had undergone a sea change. Feeling Fine sold well enough as a coterie album, but didn't trouble the mainstream, and as Tony Wilson candidly admitted in the sleevenotes for the Palatine retrospective, the band: 'Never got the credit. Blame the company.'

Following a show at The Boardwalk with pop/funk hopefuls Ashley and Jackson, Ann and John elected take a sabbatical from music, while Tony continued to play in A Certain Ratio. Factory collapsed at the end of 1992, but happily Kalima returned with a fourth album, In Spirit, on their own Kin label in 2002, and played a handful of gigs as a trio.

James Nice
Revised September 2008

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