The one arm keyboard luminary is well known in the entertainment circle of Western Jamaica. Born on the 2nd of March 1954, the accomplished singer and musician hails from Hayes, Clarendon. In 1969 he went to live in Kingston until 1973. Ancel's first effort in a recording studio was inside the popular Randy's in downtown Kingston. He did a single called 'Riding On' on the Musical Barber label out of Mandeville.
In 1977 he joined a group called Solid Foundation and stayed with them for two years. After that he moved to Montego Bay to sing with Stamma and the Sounds of Mobay, with who he appeared on Reggae Sunsplash festival in 1980.
Johnny made the move for the United States in 1982, and formed his first own band 'Uprisers' in Pittsburgh city.
One of the things he likes to talk about is how he once reunited the famed Clarendonians with Peter Austin and Ernest Wilson. Both pioneer icons were at irreconcilable odds with each other for quite some time. When he came back to Jamaica in 1985, he invited Ernest Wilson to do back-up vocals for him. For the same studio session, he also invited Peter Austin for the same back-up duties, and that was how the reunion came about. Inside famous Aquarius studio, there was Burning Spear's personal Band called Burning. The songs recorded there were 'Moving Out' and 'True Love' with top musicians : Tony Green on the saxophone, Bobby Ellis on the trumpet, Dwight Pinkney on the guitar, Calvin on percussion, Nelson Miller on the drums and Maurice Gordon on bass. This was not the first time Ancel was working with Peter Austin. When the split came in the ranks of the Clarendonians, Ancel was asked to fill the breach. He thus teamed up with Peter Austin and their first single together was entitled 'Out Of Sight'. They later entered the annual Jamaica Festival Song competition in 1975. Their entry was entitled 'Paradise On Earth' which Ancel said was quite popular. However, it was not popular enough to prevent the late Roman Stewart from copping the award with 'Hooray Festival'.
After the release of 'Moving Out', Johnny moved to Miami and continued his career as a solo artist, singing with different local bands. He did a number of singles, notably were 'Faith, Patience and Love' and 'Stand Back' for a producer called Jolly in Miami. In 1988 Powell formed his second band Benja, a band which gained increasing popularity in the time in South Florida. They have performed on several festivals, played in most major clubs and were a big success in Andros Island in the Bahamas for an audience who not necessarily consider Reggae their prime choice of music.

The saddest part of his life was when he lost his left hand to what doctors termed as a cancerous situation in 1977. This did not, however, stop him from learning how to play keyboards. Initially he was taught by the late Bobby Vaugh in Montego Bay and also got further teaching from jamaican saxophinist Reuben Alexander.

Now approaching 70 years old, Ancel is still very active in his music. In previous years he performed at the Marcus Garvey Celebration and is currently working with the “Synergy Band” at Royalton Hotel in Negril under the stage name “Ancel P.” Let the one arm keyboard luminary life and music live eternally !

Produced by Ancel "Johnny" Powell & Patricia Wallace
Engineer: Melvin Williams
Recorded at Aquarius Studio (Kingston, JA) in 1985

Bass: Maurice Gordon
Drums: Nelson Miller
Guitar: Dwight Pinkney
Saxophone: Tony Green
Trumpet: Bobby Ellis
Percussion: Calvin
Keyboards: Winston Wright
Backing vocals: Ernest Wilson & Peter Austin from the Clarendonians

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Jaxmwax continue to excavate the gold mines of roots and dub; with this rare double header from Johnny Powell a particular shiny nugget. "Moving Out" is a riotous slab of political reggae with a supreme hook. "True Love" has a bit of lover's rock about it, and brings some lightness in contrast to the unruly A-side.

TRACK LISTING

Moving Out
True Love

Stunning document of a one-off performance by Powell and London Contemporary Orchestra at Barbican Centre, London.

Captured from a three-hour multi-channel recording of unheard music.

Unique acoustic rendering of a unique moment in time.

Performed in January 2022 alongside works by Jon Cage, Alvin Lucier, Micah Levi

First music on Diagonal after a brief pause for growing up and babies.

Special edition PMS 910c art by Guy Featherstone. Mastered by Russell Haswell.

TRACK LISTING

1. 3
2. 23
3. 6, 8
4. 13, 12
5. 10, 11, 4
6. 14, 23, 18
7. 19
8. 24
9. 20, 25
10. 26

Los Angeles, not unlike other great cities such as Detroit, New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia, has given birth to and nurtured many great musicians. One of those young, versatile musicians Los Angeles has produced was Wayne Powell. In High School he played percussion & tuba in the concert band, later he switched to baritone horn. Shortly after Wayne heard Lionel Hampton play vibraphone at the Paramount Theater in downtown Los Angeles, he purchased his own set of vibes. In 1965, Wayne decided to organize his own group which he called The Wayne Powell Octet. That same year he recorded his debut 33rpm record titled "Plays Hallucination".

"Plays Hallucination" is the one and only album by the Wayne Powell Octet. This is spiritual soul-jazz at its very best! A stunning treasure rarely to be found - unless it's on Mo-Jazz!

TRACK LISTING

1. Hallucination
2. Blue And Easy
3. Tutzy
4. Jurkit
5. More Blues
6. Duckin
7. Prelude To Ecstasy
8. Brown's Buckit
9. Quernemoen

Five Past Lives is a collection of letters to 5 significant male figures in the history of Johnny Powell, all of which have caused an important spiritual shift and re-direction of mental focus. ‘Five Past Lives’ explores the themes of co-incidence, synchronicity, beauty in death, the origin of suffering, the nature of mind itself, and the importance of extracting meaning from destructive incidents, or relationships.

Five Past Lives is a DIY release, recorded in isolation in a semi-derelict mill (a.k.a. the ‘Mitchell Brothers’ Studio) high on the Old Town moorland above Hebden Bridge. The found sounds and instrumentation all intertwine in a deliberate and focussed manner to conjur the atmosphere of each of the 5 letters.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Johnny Powell and co. smash out another pastoral suite of off-kilter folk melodies, psychedelic twisting instrumentals and organic electro-acoustic breakdowns, all topped by warped and emotive vocal flourishes. Brilliantly eccentric, but eminently listenable outsider indie for the soul.

TRACK LISTING

1. Song For Gabriel 04:55
2. Song For Chris 03:21
3. Song For Ivor 04:57
4. Song For Matthew 02:59
5. Song For David 04:30

Taken from Powell’s upcoming album Sport, the Frankie/Jonny 12” contains two tracks of signature Powell style but with the added luxury of vocals from Jonnine Standish of the lauded minimal electronic duo HTRK.Powell belongs to a very small pool of dance artists whose music is a style in itself.” Resident Advisor

“The whole thing is a giddy mess, slathered in squelchy bass synth, broken-Bontempi drumming, drunken-bumblebee arpeggios, and even gnarly hard-rock guitar riffing, just because.” Pitchfork

“Class A wind-up merchant and new beta techno mutant, Powell bends expectations to the fullest with a remarkably emotive, hook-riddled and tumultuous debut album called Sport for the original rave mongrels at XL.” BOOMKAT

Powell recently announced his debut album ‘Sport’ via e-mail to fans. Billboards featuring the producer’s email address appeared in London and New York and fans got in touch seeking details about his next record. Now he’s made a proper announcement.

Emerging five years ago with little announce but an instantly strong aesthetic both musically and design-wise, Powell’s sound immediately stood out in a world of producers making techno that sound took its cues from post-punk, turning the style on its head he made post-punk that had techno ideals.

‘Sport’ is an album that sounds like the perfect snapshot of his eclectic DJ sets and live gigs, Melon Magic NTS shows and the Diagonal imprint he co-runs with Jamie Williams (home to the releases from the likes of EVOL, Russell Haswell and Not Waving).

On the subject of ‘Sport’: “I called it that because I wanted it to be fun and playful, hence the games we’ve been having via these billboards,” Powell wrote in an email to one fan. “People think of my music in certain terms I think, but I don’t agree with them most of the time.

“Also, like sport, I think of this record as being something for mind and body. I mean, you’re shit at sport if you don’t bring both things to it, so yeah, the music is physical and you can dance to it, but I also want to drag people’s brains along for the ride too.

“It’s not a techno record, a dance album, a ‘no-wave techno’ thing, whatever the fuck that is. It’s just the sound of what goes in my head.”

Vocals on ‘Frankie [feat. Frankie]’ are by Jonnine Standish. Jonnine is a musician and visual artist bestknown as one-half of the lauded minimal electronic duo HTRK.