Right On!
Paul ‘Smiler’ Anderson
Paul Anderson, better known as Smiler, is a DJ who collects and plays a wide range of vintage Black music. He is equally at home spinning jazz, blues, doo wop, ska, reggae or Afro-Latin sounds. He has played at Right On! a number of times over the years, never failing to amaze crowds with his deep and varied selections.
Smiler started seriously collecting records in 1983, and was inspired by DJs Toski, Paul Hallam and Richard Early after attending clubs like Sneakers and The Phoenix in London. He put on his first event in 1985 and soon began to DJ around the South of England before becoming a regular on the London circuit. From 1988 until 1992 Smiler ran the influential King's Tavern R&B club in Reading.
In 1986, Smiler got into the jazz scene and started going to Paul Murphy's sessions at the 100 Club, The Purple Pit at Camden's Electric Ballroom and The Purple Pussycat, as well as clubs run by Baz Fe Jazz and Dave Hucker. Around 1989, Smiler started to attend events run by Giles Peterson and Patrick Forge such as the now legendary Dingwalls Sunday afternoon sessions. He also attended Russ Dewbury's Brighton Jazz bops.
photo © Claudia Elliott
Inspired by these clubs, Smiler began to run his own jazz events in Reading with Keith Matthews in early 1992. During the height of Acid Jazz's popularity they ran clubs called The 4th Dimension, Cymbalism, Outrageous, and Full Circle.
More recently, Smiler ran a night in Reading called Rude! covering many genres of vintage Black music. He has also authored a number of books on the history of the mod subculture.
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