The resident deejay at Abundant JASON BARNETT.
Jason Barnett has been spinning the old vinyl for 10 years and is married to Kaz Lewis, the lead vocalist in the acid jazz funk band Beehive - winner of the best gospel act at this year's Music Of Black Origin Awards. He is also resident DJ at Abundant alongside DJ Steve Baker. Jason has been deejaying seriously for around the past five years and is well known in the UK Christian dance scene.
Jason plays a variety of styles on the dance floor, ranging from old funk and disco to drum and bass, speed garage and up tempo house and gospel garage. However, he is also well known for his spinning of jazz funk tunes on the dance floor! Jason has been a spearhead at Abundant over the last couple of years, making it one of the first Christian clubs in the UK. The summer of '96 saw the release of the long awaited Abundant album 'Subscribe To The Vibe'. The album was co-produced by Cameron Dante, Matt Wanstall and Martin Howes and features tracks by Marc Cooper, Quippo and Paul Cooper to name but a few. Jason has also deejayed at Isms & Schisms in Chelsea and the JFM club night.
At Greenbelt '96 Abundant had four very successful club nights and Jason deejayed alongside DJ Disciple and DJ Rap. Recently Jason was co-presenter with Becky Buteson on the mainstage at last summer's Greenbelt festival. I asked Jason what he thought about last year's Greenbelt club tent called Womb? He said, "Last year was a real success in terms of its rawness and it seemed that they poured a bit more money into it, which was good. Dance music is so important culturally in terms of the whole music scene that it's stupid for it to be ignored at a festival like Greenbelt."
You can catch Jason spinning his raw funkiness at Musicology at
Abundant, every Friday night at the Session Bar, 183 Kensington High
Street, London W8. Free before 11pm, £3.00 afterwards. For more
information call 0181 874 2262. - Andrzej Iwanowski