i've just got back to LA from a fantastic four days out on the east coast. three dope shows, plenty of music and lots of catch up with old and new fam and friends.
first up was the carmina soul party in brooklyn - gotta biggup chris annibell for making this happen. chris had been telling me about this party for a year or more and we finally got me there. up til now all my NY shows had been in manhattan so that was something in itself - finally hitting one in brooklyn :) when chris took me down to the venue space to setup i was blown AWAY. it's an open air courtyard in the middle of a huge industrial building that now houses art spaces and studios.
gotta thank spinna, dego and ethan from tortured soul for helping out with the backline - you all helped make it happen big time! thank you :) professional crew, a really great space and huge batches of home made sangria, the scene was set for a dope night ahead. it was a mad busy day for music in NY in general - q-tip, little dragon and benji b played summerstage in central park that afternoon - gutted i missed that - king sunny ade played brooklyn and sy smith and peven everett both had manhattan shows too. for those who reached all of those shows - what a day eh! :)
the carmina soul party was an iLL vibe. great to see benji b, ge-ology, waajeed, moni and mike from friends we love and plenty more good peeps. everyone was there for the vibe, the party and to dance :) the highlight for me was clear tho: the first time i heard sandra st victor (of the family stand / ghetto heaven) sing she was on BVs with karen bernod for a chaka khan gig in hammersmith, london. near the end of the show, chaka gave each BV singer 8 bars. sandra and karen both threw it down PROPER. sandra and i got in contact online and when this brooklyn party came up i invited her to come down and jam. straight freesoul style, no prep, no plan. sandra was excited about it and we met for the first time about an hour before i went on stage. i kicked off with a lil instrumental jackson vibe a la heartbreak hotel and then got sandra up on the mic and it was ONNNNN.
there are only a few singers i'm 100% confident to drop a full improv set with and honestly not knowing how sandra would drop it, i was blown away. all the soul, funk, jazz, and even the abstract opera vibe was there. it was a real treat, and i know a lot of people there got to hear sandra for the first time that night. ("WHO was that singer???"... ummm you need to know!). we're definitely going to link up more in the future and i'm looking forward to that very much. video clips to come... :)
with sandra st victor
with friendswelove.com crew moni and mike
after a few hours sleep i was on the train to philly to play the legendary sundae philadelphia party. it's a weekly outdoor summer house party, all ages at the piazza at schmidt's. with a whole lot of market stalls around the area, a great sound system and about 3,000 people including kids, fire-dancers and plenty of music heads, it was a really nice vibe. great to go straight from playing outdoor in brooklyn to another outdoor in philly :) lee jones has been running the sundae party for a few years now and it's a real house music institution in philly (in fact sundae LA has just started too!). full philly crew came out to check and support, great to meet you all :)
i had lady alma on mic for that show - i know that was a special treat for the philly crowd too, to have their one and only lady alma rocking the mic so damn hard and funky. we had a great time - everytime we play together we love it and this was definitely a special one. alma ended the whole set accapella without her mic just SINGING it. dope vibe for sure. video clips to come for that show too.
sundae philadelphia
to wrap up the trip, monday was king britt's clubnite back 2 basics at the (also legendary philly institution) silk city. it's a great vibe smaller club and being a monday night, definitely all about people out for the MUSIC. king played a nice set of boom bap alt soul, the resident band smacked it up with some freestyle jams and i dropped an hour of dancefloor mayhem ;) was good to hear some new productions on the system there - sy smith 'truth', lady alma 'call him'.. tunes you'll be hearing about in due time for sure ;)
big up the philly fam - lady alma, lee jones, king britt, james poyser, anthony tidd, dozia, and especially rich medina and fam. cant wait to get back there again!
the flight home was longgggggg... delays, transfers, delays, but it's all good. back in LA again and ready to hit some studio for more mashibeats... :)
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