Archive | The Band

Applejac joined the Universal Zulu Nation Atlanta chapter in 1992, where he would hone his skills playing in front of crowds. It was during a Freaknik party in ‘92 that he would make his mark playing ‘crate joints’.

He would go on the following year to spin alongside DJs like (long time friend) Jaycee (DJ for Ludacris), Lil’ Jon (King of Crunk), and Emperor Searcy (107.9 FM Atlanta) at hot spots like The Warehouse, Club Velvet, Ethiopian Vibrations, and Club Soho. In 1995 he would also join Jaycee , DJs Dose and M3 as regulars on college radio mainstay WRAS FM mix-show ‘The Bomb’ to form the DJ super group The Unknown Soldiers. At this time he began to do exclusive remixes for WRAS’s Sunday night hip-hop show, ‘Rhythm and Vibes’, to showcase his production skills. He also helped develop a segment called ‘Sample Clearance’ where original songs of hip-hop tunes were played and the listeners had to figure out who the original artist was. We know who won.

In 1997, alongside his cousin Big Dippa, Applejac formed the group Showtyime. They released a CD in 1998 called ‘Feature Presentation’ where he handled all the production on the 15 track project. They would go on to record two singles for Rent Money Recordings with well known underground rap group Lone Catalysts. In 2002 Applejac produced four tracks on the Atlanta Underground album ‘First Breath’ from fellow Decatur native Jawz Of Life, and later that year joined Atlanta underground Hip-Hop juggernaut Massinfluence as their DJ.

Having maintained a monthly residency at Atlanta’s MJQ from 2005-2007 alongside DJ Jaycee and also as a resident of the legendary Godfather party, Applejac has played across the US alongside the likes of Nicolay, Daz-I-Kue, DJ Spinna, J Rocc and Ge-Olog.

The future finds him on the cusp of some pretty major things. Now as a part of the esteemed Domecracker! Universal with DJ Spinna and Joc Max, he has remixed for many leading artists: Eric Roberson, Darien Brockington, Rogiers, W. Ellington Felton, Stacy Epps, Negro Rican Groove, Frank McComb, Vel Ben and Jesse Boykins III. His most recent outings have found him crossing paths with Carlitta Durand (Foreign Exchange, Little Brother) as well as remix EPs for D.C. songstress Green Tea, and Joy Jones. On the horizon are collaborations with Bilal Salaam, Iman Williams, Carmen Rodgers, and for his own pet project, ‘Playin’ Favorites’, where he will be doing soulful covers of some of his favorite artists in his own inimitable way.

If you don’t believe us, here’s what some other folk have had to say…

“Applejac is one of the funkiest, most soulful DJ’s I know. Whether he’s puttin it down at one of his legendary James Brown sets at Winter Music Conference, or spinning at one of his many gigs in ATL, I can always count on him to bring the heat and get some asses to wigglin. Nothing but the utmost love and respect for that brother right there….” -Phonte (Little Brother, Foreign Exchange)

“Applejac is the most underrated bad bwoy Producer/DJs in the US, and I made it my duty to let the world know about him.” -Daz-I-Kue (DJ/Producer, Bugz In The Attic, Godfather)

Facebook… Twitter… Soundcloud… Bandcamp… Demand Him…

Originally from East St. Louis, Scott spent the majority of his life in professional theatre – acting, directing, writing, teaching, entertaining and touring productions throughout the world and has a Master’s Degree in Theatre from the UK’s Lancaster University.

Through it all, he held a private passion for America’s only original art form: jazz – in all its many styles, and believed that all contemporary musical genres throughout the world emerged from the same gumbo brewed in New Orleans at the turn of the 20th century.

At the turn of the new millennium he started promoting jazz online via the Atlanta Jazz Group, which led to the production of his own radio show – “Jazz In The Present Tense” — which earned him the “Broadcast Personality of the Year” award from the Georgia Association of Broadcasters in 2001.

Scott was branded the “Jazz Evangelist” by local musicians due to his passion for promoting jazz, converting people to it’s many styles and sub-genres.

In 2002 he accepted the position as General Manager, Programme & Music Director at Brenau University’s Eclectic 89.1 FM WBCX. He hosted and produced several live shows throughout the decade, including many jazz formats: Traditional, Hot, Big Band, Swing, Straight Ahead, Hard Bop, World Groove, Funk, Fusion, Acid Jazz and Neo-Soul.

As we move into a new decade, Scott is excited to expand his focus worldwide via Soulandjazz.com. The possibility of the entire planet connected by a common groove provides him with tremendous joy, and renewed hope for the future. As Scott has said in each of his shows “Jazz is timeless and essential. It goes beyond colour, creed and culture – allowing the heart, mind, soul and spirit to swing together in syncopated counterpoint”.

A Londoner born and bred, Brian’s enthusiasm for life is only matched with his passion for music, which has reverberated around the rooms in his house for over thirty-four years

With the obligatory path of mobile DJ followed, his teenage years saw him play in various UK clubs, then moving from stage to studio and into the heady days of London’s pirate radio scene with the iconic Horizon Radio and its successor and now pan-European based, Solar Radio.

In 2000, Brian created Soul24-7.com which led the way for soul music onto the new medium of the internet. He also joined WCLK Atlanta in July 2009, bringing with him his unique concept and ability to blend the genres of Soul and Jazz and everything in between. His show, ‘The Hurst Selection – London to America’ which ran for two years, led to an unprecedented rise in WCLK’s Saturday evening audience figures.

Brian couldn’t really tell you his favorite band, singer or style of music, but if you think along the lines of PIR, Stevie, Marvin, Donny, Curtis, EWF, Patrice Rushen, Jeff Lorber, Donald Fagen or new cats like Gregory Porter, Japan’s Soil And “Pimp” Sessions or Brazil’s Simoninha you’ll be on the right track! His greatest musical influences though come from his late father and the many thousands of artists that he has had the pleasure of listening to and working with over the last four decades.

Live Tropical Fish comprise of Fabrizio ‘Doc Bix’ Poli, Antonio ‘Lurpak’ Fernè and Salvatore ‘Salvo’ Pignanelli. They originate from the northern Italian city of Bologna where they were formed in 1992 out of their love for black music and a desire to experiment working in and amongst many different styles and sounds.

Their first album titled Shape Your Life (IRMA Records/Sony) featured the saxophonist and leader of the Groove Collective, Jay Rodriguez and their music has since appeared on countless world-wide acid-jazz, funk and soul compilations.

In 2003, after a period of inactivity, the band reformed with several new members and has recenlty completed work on their sophomore project: THE DAY IS TOO SHORT TO BE SELFISH. Released on LTF Records on 1st April, 2010, it’s a 12 track journey that was recorded between Bologna, New York and London, expressing a love for all things Afro, Latin, Funk, Jazz and R&B.

Every track on the album tells a story and reflects the different personalities of the composers and their musical background. A number of special guests from the world of contemporary soul music feature and include: Omar, Deborah Jordan, Laurnea, Alison Crockett, Nick Rolfe, April Hill and Maya Azucena

The full line-up of musicians appearing on the album include Doc Bix (percussion), Lurpak (bass) Salvo (guitar) and other accomplished musicians such as Pino De Fazio (piano and keyboards), Mirco Zagnoli (drums), Adriano Pancaldi (saxophone and horns arangements), Federico Tassani (trombone) Fabio Morgera, a trumpet player well known as a member of the Groove Collective, Stefano Serafini, trumpet player with Mario Biondi and Daniele Giardina, trumpet player with Fiorello’s Orchestra.

The band has many years experience of playing live both in Italy and abroad and have opened for concerts by Earth, Wind and Fire in 1998 in Switzerland, for Chuck Berry and Willy DeVille at the Pistoia Blues festival in 2005, and have performed at the Blue Note Club in Milan in the same year.

Live Tropical Fish have been the resident band during 2009 at the highly popular “Bravo Caffe” in Bologna, one of the leading clubs for live music. Here they’ve performed monthly with a number of different international and national guests who also feature on the new album .

Native Atlantan Cha-Cha Jones is a music connoisseur, community figure, actress, voice-over performer and DJ. As a radio show host for 8 years, she loves the mellow and soulful music of artists like Jill Scott, India Arie, Anthony Hamilton, Erykah Badu, Anthony David and Musiq.

Ms. Cha, as she is affectionately known, began volunteering at WRFG Atlanta and landed a spot as co-host of The World Party. As an entering student at Georgia State University, she became a part of The Weekend Wrekkin’ Crew (WWC) of WRAS Atlanta and soon became the hostess and #1 promoter of Urban Flava: Atlanta’s Soul & Acid Jazz.

Following this she became a full-time reading specialist & grad student, audio engineering intern, and radio hostess on WRAS Atlanta and a short while later took an offer of a part-time position with Hot 107.9, WHTA Atlanta. Exposure to the commercial side of the industry led to an opportunity to work with the TRUTH campaign as a travelling DJ on TRUTH FM. Later she would become Marketing Manager for GTM (Guerilla Tactics Marketing) and additionally, under the helm of Rico Wade & The Dungeon Family, go on to audio engineer records for Ludacris, Sleepy Brown, Brandy, and Earth, Wind, & Fire.

Over the years, Cha-Cha has opened for the likes of Kanye West, Kelis, Dwele, India, Bilal and Jill Scott, and has played the Funkjazz Kafe in Atlanta and the Jazz Café in London.

As Ms. Cha says “At www.soulandjazz.com, I’ll get to play music that doesn’t get the mainstream push along with the radio jams. I love to DJ for people who love music.” Amen to that.

Tony Minvielle is regarded as one of the most respected and talented DJ’s in his field, receiving props from DJ’s and musicians as diverse as Gilles Peterson, Grammy award winning India Arie, Quest Love (the Roots), Jose Padilla (Cafe Del Mar – IBIZA), Anthony David, and Incognito’s Bluey.

He was a contributor to Straight no Chaser (including interviews with the late Curtis Mayfield) from the magazine’s inception in 1989.

He has established a reputation for himself as a man who values content over style, playing his own brand of Nu-Jazz, Jazz-Funk, Jazz, Soul and Eclectic Grooves, where the pieces always fit perfectly together to reach that point of near singularity – hence the term FOLDEDSPACE.

Tony grew up in South London and was a child of the London late seventies Jazz/Funk/Latin/Soul scene and as such was a disciple of the legendary Paul Murphy at Camden’s Electric Ballroom where he was a contemporary of Gilles Peterson, Russ Dewbury and Snowboy.

He has lived in the Atlanta (USA), spent time in Warsaw (Poland) and has worked with some of the most legendary artists of our time: Roy Ayers, Mark Murphy, Jazz Warriors, Gil Scott Heron, India Arie, Galliano, Omar, Weldon Irving, Jon Lucien, The Roots, Maceo Parker (James Brown band), Incognito and Curtis Mayfield to name a few. He’s graced the decks with guest spots and residencies at Cafe Del Mar (Ibiza), London’s Jazz Cafe, Atlanta’s Ying Yang, the (Southport Weekender run) Cool Note Sessions with Steve Butler and numerous festivals amongst many others. He has featured on BBC Radio 1 as one of Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide family and his broadcast credits include a long running cult show on Virgin Radio’s Liquid London, appearances on WCLK Atlanta and presenting numerous shows on college stations around the UK.

Stephen is a filmmaker and writer residing in New York City. His most recent project is a documentary film he directed for the American rock band Kings of Leon called “Talihina Sky”.

His love of music guided Stephen’s early career as he developed several young rock bands. He then managed the recording studios of musician and songwriter Tommy Sims (known for Eric Clapton’s hit Change The World and Tommy’s solo album Peace And Love).

Following a stint in music publishing where he signed Grammy-winning producer/songwriter Andrew Ramsey (India.Arie) and Nathan & Caleb Followill (Grammy-winning Kings of Leon), Stephen served as A&R representative at Atlantic Records.

Stephen’s first film, “Talihina Sky: The Story of Kings of Leon”, had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival and UK premiere at Edinburgh International Film Festival in 2011.

Stephen admits to knowing just a little about soul music and very little about jazz, but he looks forward to broadening his musical knowledge, like Ahmet Ertegun challenged him to do, through the development of SoulandJazz.com.

Although best known in some circles for writing Steve Miller’s hit song “Space Cowboy”, Ben Sidran is more widely recognized as the host of National Public Radio’s landmark jazz series “Jazz Alive”, which received a Peabody Award, and as the host of VH-1 television’s “New Visions” series, which received the Ace Award for best music series.

A pianist, producer, singer and composer, he has recorded twenty five solo albums, including the Grammy nominated “Concert for Garcia Lorca,” and has produced recordings for such noted artists as Van Morrison, Diana Ross, Mose Allison and Jon Hendricks. He composed the soundtrack for the acclaimed film “Hoop Dreams”, and scored the documentary “Vietnam: Long Time Coming”, which won both the Aspen Film Festival audience award and an Emmy. He is the author of two books on the subject of Jazz, “Black Talk,” a cultural history of the music, and “Talking Jazz,” a series of conversations with well known musicians.

Although he holds a PhD. in American Studies from Sussex University, he has generally avoided the academic life, preferring instead to spend his time performing—most recently in Europe and Asia—producing radio and records, and completing his memoir, “A Life in the Music” (Taylor Trade Press, February, 2003). His most recent records include “Walk Pretty”, the songs of Alec Wilder, “Nick’s Bump”. and “Cien Noches” recorded live in Madrid. Ben’s recently completed an album of Bob Dylan songs (“Dylan Different”) and is working on a text, “Jews, Music and the American Dream”.