Funky weekend

Get dancin’ on Friday night.

Connisseurs of eighties UK funk will be in for a treat at Birmingham Town Hall on Friday night.

Celebrating their 35th anniversary with a new album, Amplified Soul, Incognito are still at the head of the acid jazz pack. Having formed in 1979 and releasing the now classic Acid Jazz album in 1981, the band have gone on to release a staggering 15 studio albums in addition to 6 remix albums. This is a chance to hear one of the true pioneers of their generation performing.

If that’s not enough, for a quarter of a century the James Taylor Quartet have set the standard for the coolest sounds in funky acid jazz. Witness one of their legendary live gigs at the Town Hall and see why they’ve quietly become a byword for distinguished British creativity.

And finally, the wonderfully-named Brummie band Rotunda of Wonder perform tunes from one of the most amazing originators of funk, Tower of Power. Their sensational ten piece live show is made up of some of the greatest musicians in the UK and promises to be full of the energy and funkiness of the original band, whose last performance at the Town Hall stopped the traffic as the venue was besieged by screaming fans, although that probably had something to do with the presence of two fans who themselves were in a band called Take That.

Tickets £19.50 from www.thsh.co.uk