Origin and early success (1981–1982)

Blue Rondo à la Turk was a floating collective of jazz and salsa oriented musicians, created by singer/lyricist Chris Sullivan who arrived in London from Merthyr Tydfil in the mid 1970s.^[2] His stated goal for the band was "to bring back show biz".^[3] In the band’s first interview, Sullivan said of their sound: “Call it Latin American jazz with funk and African leanings – plus a few others because all of us have adventurous musical tastes.”^[4] Sullivan co-wrote most of the band's original material; he also painted the distinctive cubist art that adorned most of the band's releases.

For the earliest singles (1981's "Me and Mr. Sanchez", and 1982's "Klactoveesedstein"), the group was a six-piece: Sullivan, Christos Tolera (vocals), Mark Reilly (guitars), Mike Lloyd Bynoe a.k.a. "Choco Mick" (drums and timbales), Kito Poncioni (bass) and Geraldo D'Arbilly (percussion).^[5] All had assorted co-writing credits on the band's material, with Sullivan, Poncioni and Reilly being the most frequent contributors. Pete Wingfield produced "Me and Mr. Sanchez", which entered the UK Singles Chart on 14 November 1981, peaking at number 40.^[5] An early gig took place at the Blue Note in Derby that same month.^[6] "Me and Mr. Sanchez" was also number one in Brazil for three months and was the theme tune for the 1982 World Cup.

The band's follow-up single "Klactoveesedstein" was produced by Kevin Godley & Lol Creme, and entered the chart on 13 March 1982, reaching number 50.^[7]

The group added Moses Mount Bassie (saxophone) as a member for their third single, "The Heavens Are Crying", written by the band with Clive Langer. This track was produced by Langer and Alan Winstanley, and failed to chart.^[5] The fourth single, recorded with the same line-up, was called "Carioca", and featured a co-writing credit for soon-to-be-official member Daniel White. Produced by Mike Chapman, this single also failed to chart.

Blue Rondo à la Turk's debut album, Chewing the Fat, was released in 1982 and included all four of their singles released to that time. Added to the line up for the album, officially swelling the group to a ten-piece, were Art Collins (saxophone), Tholo Peter Tsegona (trumpet), and Daniel White (keyboards). Chewing the Fat appeared on the UK Albums Chart, entering on 6 November 1982 and remaining on the chart for two weeks peaking at 80 on the second week.^[8]

Line-up changes, second album, and dissolution (1983–1984)

Following the release of the debut album and its minimal chart success, Blue Rondo à la Turk fractured, with Reilly, Poncioni and White exiting to found the soon-to-be-chartbound group Matt Bianco.^[9] Collins, Tsegona, Mount Bassie and Bynoe also dropped out around this time, leaving the group a trio: vocalists Sullivan and Tolera, and percussionist D'Arbilly.

The slimmed down group also slimmed down their name to simply Blue Rondo, and issued two non-charting singles: "Slipping Into Daylight" (1983), and "Masked Moods" (1984). Both were written by Sullivan with outside collaborators, and produced by Steve Brown.

Both singles were included on the Blue Rondo album Bees Knees and Chicken Elbows,^[5] which was released in 1984 — by which time the band had already broken up.^[1]