Fireside Chat

Honest Jon's

Notting Hill, London

Honest Jon's opened as a record shop in 1974 and moved to its current location in West London's Portobello Road a few years later. In 1994 its owner (named Jon!) passed the business on to his long-serving staff Alan and Mark who, in partnership with Damon Albarn, have since set up the already legendary record label of the same name. Since 2002's sublime Mali Music, featuring Albarn, Afel Bocoum, Toumani Diabate and a host of Malian music makers, the Honest Jon's label has specialised in nothing except wonderful music. From post-war black music in Britain to highlife and afrobeat past and present, from '70s English folk to modern southern soul, they have followed their own path and unearthed some wonderful treasures along the way. RBMA managed to corner Alan Scholefield in the shop one evening for a chat about the shop, the label and the pleasures and pitfalls digging through the EMI archives...