STOP PRESS: New Interview with Ubiquity now published.

But what started as a primarily retro-groove (acid-jazz if you will) label, has now started to open it's wings and embrace the exciting new talents of today's young producers and musicians. 'Audio Alchemy: Experiments in Beat Reconstruction' first signaled Ubiquity's intentions for showcasing new experimental artists. This ground-breaking compilation premiered the talents of artists such as DJ Wally and Swingsett, the genius of Cut Chemist, Q-Burn's Abstract Message, and a whole host of genre bashing, beat maestro's. The second 'Audio Alchemy' followed soon after in similarly eclectic style.

However, this year sees the label go full circle with their new compilation 'No Categories', their most ambitious collection to date. 'No Categories' embraces the old and brings in the new to close the gap on genres and sub-genres, and create the perfect sound of musical enlightenment. Latin Jazz legend Pucho's shares a jazz woodbine with the Thievery Corporation on a down-town train, driven manically by drum and bass newcomers Live&Direkt, whilst laid back experimental jazz heads Slide Five dish out the tickets. Suffice to say it's a scorching trip.

To go back to the beginning, the flame of Ubiquity started life as a small specialist record store on Haight Street in San Francisco. Respected Los Angeles DJ's Jody and Michael McFadin moved to San Francisco in 1989 and set up The Groove Merchant record store not long after.

The store became an Aladdin's cave for lovers of old and hard-to-come-by 60s and 70s soul jazz and rare groove records, and a haven for all enlightened DJs and producers searching for obscure breaks and beats. It wasn't long before the Luv N' Haight label was created to deal with re-releasing some of these extremely rare and long forgotten gems.

Also the label made a point of contacting the original owners and musicians who were only to pleased to see their songs re-packaged and re-released for a new generation of fans.

The second release, a 12" by new band Vibes Alive also made history as the first 'Acid-Jazz' record to be released by an American label. Andrew Jervis - press man for Ubiquity, and well known DJ writer,and one of the main men behind Bugs and Better Daze - remembers these times with fondness... "I moved out here in 1991 and the first thing I did when I got to town was to call the phone number on my recently purchased Luv N' Haight Nathan Davis "Tragic Magic" 12". It turned out to be the number for Michael and Jody at the Groove Merchant, so I ran down there with my new tunes and soon we were DJ'ing together, and I scored myself a job at their store."

The Ubiquity imprint was created soon after and became an outlet for the new wave of groove orientated dance music, especially for home grown talent. Nothing highlights this period more than the Home Cookin', Mo' Cookin' and Still Cookin' series of compilations, which became a blueprint for the US Acid Jazz scene. The success of these compilations enabled the label to help develop the highly individual talents of artists such as Greyboy, Better Daze, Bugs,and Slide Five.

A third label also appeared under the Ubiquity umbrella, called CuBop. This dealt exclusively with Latin-Jazz excursions from respected artists such as Bobby Matos, Tokyo's Soul Bossa Trio, and Pucho and the Latin Soul Brothers. Again the emphasis was in integrating the old with the new, a stance which seems to be an integral part of the Ubiquity ethos.

The Ubiquity family today boasts an impressive line up of music affectionado's and serious DJ's and musicians. Currently Ubiquity employs 6 full time workers and one intern, whilst a team of street promoters have recently been employed in various cities across the US to help spread the vibe. Apart from legendary DJs Jody and Michael, the label also boasts the talents of DJ Tomas - of the Umoja Hi-Fi system and one half of Live and Direkt-, head of production Dave Smith - plays bass in a funk band called 'C'mon Feet'-, and Andrew Jervis himself. Andrew and Tomas DJ together regularly and also host a Friday Night session radio show on KUSF 90.3FM in San Francisco.

As to the future, Andrew is understandably optimistic and enthusiastic. "Ubiquity is in a constant flux and we embrace musical change", he explains."This year will be the first that we will release a straight jazz record, and hopefully the first that we release a straight ahead rock record. At the same time we'll continue with our journeys into club, hip hop, rare groove and Latin Jazz." A little later in the year will see the debut album from Skyjuice (aka Dave Biegal, one half of Bugs) ,the release of Bobby Matos 'Sessions' - a fourteen year retrospective-, Dave Pike's 'Bophead', and Johnny Lewis rare groove re-issue 'Shuckin' and Jivin'(on Luv N'Haight).

But for the uninitiated my advice is to head straight for 'No Categories' and then you'll see what all the fuss is about.