MYLE MANZANZA – ONEPOINTONE (LIVE AT THE BLUE WHALE)

Tags

blue whale los angeles, jazz, los angeles, myle manzanza, new zeland, one point one, usa, west coast

First Word are proud to present ‘OnePointOne’ from Myele Manzanza, recorded live at the legendary Blue Whale in Los Angeles. The son of a Congolese master percussionist, New Zealand born Myele first gained international attention as one third of NZ soul act, Electric Wire Hustle. After six years of performing, recording and touring with the band that he formed, he left in 2013 in order to release his solo debut One (BBE).

By this time Myele had become an in-demand musician, culminating in 2014 when he joined dance music pioneer Theo Parrish as the drummer of his live outfit The Unit. As a drummer and a sideman he continues to tour internationally and collaborate with a broad range of artists including Mark de Clive-Lowe, FW label-mate Ross McHenry, Sorceress, Amp Fiddler, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Marcus Strickland, Recloose, Jordan Rakei and most recently joining Australian contemporary dance company, KAGE, in their forthcoming dance and drum based performance Out Of Earshot.

His roots in jazz and African rhythm, (as well as his childhood love of hip hop and dance music) bring a uniquely diverse take to his music. This is evident on OnePointOne, where he fuses a traditional jazz trio with a string quartet, underpinned with an undeniable hip-hop swagger. The album features the stellar talents of pianist/programmer Mark de Clive-Lowe, and the Quartetto Fantastico string quartet led by Miguel Atwood-Ferguson (Suite For Ma Dukes), virtuoso bassist Ben Shepherd and guest vocalists Nia Andrews and Charlie K. The dynamic rendition of City Of Atlantis was deftly arranged by Miguel Atwood-Ferguson and captured in a stunning live video by Eric Coleman of Mochilla (Timeless, Suite for Ma Dukes)

As well as live takes on some of the material from his debut album, there are covers of Theo Parrish, Jill Scott and the late, great Bobby Hutcherson, capturing an intimate performance from a fearless artist at the hub of the resurgent West Coast Jazz scene.

MYLE MANZANZA: Facebook, Soundcloud, Soundcloud

MYLE MANZANZA – ONEPOINTONE (LIVE AT THE BLUE WHALE)

YUSSEF KAMAAL – BLACK FOCUS (Lp preview)

Tags

black focus, brownswood, london, yussef kamaal

The borders between London’s musical tribes have always been porous. For Yussef Kamaal, the sound of the capital – with its hum of jungle, grime and broken beat – has shaped a self-taught, UK-tipped approach to playing jazz. In the states, the genre’s long-running to-and-fro with hip hop – from Robert Glasper to Kamasi Washington – has reimagined it within US culture. On Black Focus, Yussef Kamaal frame jazz inside the bass-saturated, pirate radio broadcasts of London.

Taking inspiration from the anything-goes spirit of ‘70s jazz-funk, on albums by Herbie Hancock or the Mahavishnu Orchestra, it’s a loose template with plenty of room to experiment. The pair, made up of Yussef Dayes and Kamaal Williams (aka Henry Wu), have had little in the way of formal training. Instead, their musical tastes – and approach to playing – are indebted to Thelonious Monk’s piano as much as the drum programming of Kaidi Tatham.

“It’s all about the drums and the keys,” Williams says. “Not to take anything from anyone else, but that’s where it all originates from: the chords, the rhythm of the chords and the drums.” Born out of a one-off live session to perform Williams’ solo material for Boiler Room, it soon became a project in its own right. Coming together as Yussef Kamaal, they played a series of live shows where little more than a chord progression would be planned before taking to the stage

Bringing that unspoken understanding to the recording sessions (engineered by Malcolm Catto of The Heliocentrics), the unplanned, telepathically spawned grooves retain the raw energy of their live shows. “It’s not so much about complete arrangement, it’s more about flow,” Dayes says. “A lot of the tracks are just made spontaneously – Henry will be playing two chords, I’ll fill in the groove and we’ll just leave the arrangement naturally.”

Both hail from South East London, crossing paths in 2007 as teenagers playing their first pub gigs around Peckham and Camberwell. Dayes drums for cosmically-inclined, afrobeat outfit United Vibrations, while Williams – on top of drumming and playing keys in different incarnations over the years – has made waves with his solo, synth-draped house 12″s for much-fêted labels like 22a and Rhythm Section.

YUSSEF KAMAAL: Official site, Facebook

YUSSEF KAMAAL – BLACK FOCUS (Lp preview)

MENT LJUBLJANA 2017

Tags

dobra vaga, hostel celica, kino šiška, ment ljubljana, metelkova, pritličje, stara mestna elektrarna

Festival in konferenca: 1. – 3. februar 2017
KINO ŠIŠKA / AKC METELKOVA MESTO / STARA MESTNA ELEKTRARNA / HOSTEL CELICA / PRITLIČJE / DOBRAVAGA

Tretje leto zapored bo v prvih dneh februarja v Ljubljani zavladalo MENTalno stanje duha. Pol stotnije bendov, kantavtorjev, producentov in didžejev se bo privalilo iz vseh vetrov – od Rusije do Islandije, od Makedonije do Estonije, nekateri pa na akcijo že čakajo na preži v bližnji okolici.

Mlada glasbena ustvarjalnost, ki zaenkrat še brbota na obronkih globalne pozornosti, bo na polno zavrela v treh zimskih dneh in nočeh na desetih prizoriščih ljubljanskega koncertnega dogajanja. Štirim metelkovskim klubom, dvema dvoranama Kina Šiška, teatrski atmosferi Stare Mestne Elektrarne se na novo pridružujeta še Hostel Celica, Pritličje in galerija Dobra Vaga.

Za to, da bo to kreativno vretje dobilo več zaslužene pozornosti, se bo na MENT Ljubljana zgrnilo več sto mednarodnih in domačih glasbenih profesionalcev, koncertnih in festivalskih promotorjev, založnikov, distributerjev, agentov, medijev in drugih akterjev, ki bodo svoja dragocena znanja, izkušnje in informacije delili na konferenčnem delu dogodka. Prva najavljena govorca konference sta Jonathan Poneman, šef založbe Sub Pop iz Seattla ter Sigtryggur Baldursson, direktor Iceland Music Export pisarne, ki je že kot bobnar The Sugarcubes (prvi bend Björk) soustvarjal zgodbo islandskega glasbenega čudeža.

Ali kot je zapisal John Robb za britanski LouderThanWar: “Dogodki, kot je MENT, sledijo lastnemu nagonu, hkrati pa predstavljajo drzno lokalno sceno, ki služi kot predloga za alternativni svet in kot vpogled v novo prihodnost. Ne sledi ustaljenemu poslovnemu modelu v glasbi, temveč zaupa instinktu in še vedno fascinantni lokalni sceni, kar priča o tem, da bi prav MENT lahko v prihodnosti izstrelil zasedbe, ki bi lahko postale večje od že slišanih in poznanih godb.”

Vstopnice:

Festivalska vstopnica (vse tri dni, vsa koncertna prizorišča):
→ Super early bird (do 23. novembra) = 20 EUR
→ Early bird (do 19. decembra) = 30 EUR
→ Predprodaja (do 31. januarja) = 35 EUR
→ med festivalom (1. – 3. februarja) = 39 EUR

PRO vstopnice (festival in konferenca):
→ Super early bird (do 23. novembra) = 40 EUR
→ Early bird (do 19. decembra) = 55 EUR
→ Predprodaja (do 31. januarja) = 65 EUR
→ med festivalom (1. – 3. februarja) = 79 EUR

MENT LJUBLJANA: Uradna stran, Facebook, FB dogodek

Najavljeni prvi nastopajoči:
BIRTHH (IT) / COALS (PL) / ERKI PÄRNOJA (EE) / EXEC (DK) / HAIKU GARDEN (SI) / HEYMOONSHAKER (GB) / MATTER (SI) / OLFAMOŠTVO (SI) / RAKETKANON (BE) / SARA RENAR (HR) / SEINE (HR, RS) / SOTEI (PL) / STRAIGHT MICKEY AND THE BOYZ (RS) / THE ILLS (SK) / THE JACK WOOD (RU) / THE SWEET RELEASE OF DEATH (NL)

MENT LJUBLJANA 2016