Jack Smooth

Jack Smooth, real name Ron Wells, born in London 1970.

Ron is often credited as the pioneer of Jungle techno, and certainly an early architect of Drum and Bass, in particular the 'Intelligent' or 'Liquid' variant.

During his career Ron produced over 200 dance music records, spanning many genres. He usually focused on creating his own chord structures and melodies using synthesizers, as opposed to relying on sampling the work of others. His music embodies an electronic, ambient techno signature with production standards that are recognisable as more 'polished' than typical underground dance music.

Ron began his musical life as a Pirate Radio DJ in 1987 on the Crystal, Medina & WLR stations in London.

During 1987 Ron met Chris Simmonds at Medina Radio and they went on to form Wax Factory Productions in 1989. Wax Factory were one of the first UK dance music labels to deal directly with record shops - not having a distribution deal. In years to come, Wax factory would earn cult status as an underground UK house and techno label. Many, to this day, believe that their productions were from the USA, due to their authentic Techno sound.

Around 1991 Ron formed Sound Entity Records as a solo project where he was introduced to Phil Wells of Basement Records by DJ Loftgroover. Ron and Phil quickly developed a powerful relationship where Ron went on to produce and co-write the majority of the first 30 releases on the label. The Basement Records label today is often credited as the most influential label that the Jungle Techno scene produced.

In 1992 Ron masterminded the hit single Trip to Trumpton project with Urban Hype, where he co-wrote and produced the single. The single reached no 6 in the National Charts and kept its top ten status for one month.

1993 saw Ron forming Fast Floor Productions (sub label of Basement Records) with Paul Clarke, where they produced many Jungle Techno anthems. Their music was highly regarded for its combination on musicality and dance floor presence by many DJs, in particular, Top Buzz. In 1994 Fast Floor produced an LP called "On a Quest For Intelligence" which has gone on to demand crown jewels prices on the second-hand music market.

In 1995 Ron Wells and Paul Clarke formed Earl Grey. This was specifically a drum and bass / jazz crossover project. They signed to MCA music publishing and Carl Cox's Worldwide Ultimatum label to release the LP "Purveyors of the New Groove".

In 1996 DJ Dr S Gachet invited Ron to join him in producing a 2 hour mix for BBC Radio 1's One In The Jungle show, which was aired in December of that year.

During 1996 Ron and Paul could sense that a decline in the music industry was on the horizon. This led them to take the decision to leave music behind for a while and concentrate on starting a commercial business. They changed their name to Fast Floor Multimedia Ltd in 1997 and embarked on building a marketing communications company, which still exists today.

Moving into business however has not meant the end of Ron and Paul's music careers. They both have a considerable number of works within the Sonoton Music Library in Germany and they continue to write music to this day.

External links

• Jack Smooth discography at Discogs
• Jack Smooth at Fantazia
• Jack Smooth at Roll Da Beats