...is an exploratory project led by NYC based keyboardist and producer J Mage. It is a deep marriage of African, Reggae, and Electronica/Dance Styles, all performed live by an all-star band.
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The Players
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Saxophonist and flautist Brother Jacques Schwarz -Bart of Guadeloupe has toured and recorded extensively with D'Angelo, Eryka Badu, Meshell Ndegeocello, and Talib Kweli. He can currently be seen on Roy Hargrove's "RH Factor: Hard Grooves" tour, for which Jacques composed the #1 single "Forget Regret" (sung by rising star Stephanie MacKay). |
| Memphis-Born James Hurt is certainly best known for his brilliant keyboard work, with the likes of Abbey Lincoln, Russell Gunn, Soulive, the Real Live Show, Antonio Hart, Meshell Ndegeocello, Q Tip from A Tribe Called Quest, and as the leader of his own band, Dark Grooves (formerly on Blue Note Records). Although Hurt is clearly a rhythm and harmony wizard on the keys, not many folks know that Hurt is a deep pocket drummer, as well as a soulful singer/songwriter steeped in the history of American music. He makes his mark on this project in all of these dimensions. |  |
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Gary the Great arrived in NYC from Jamaica with almost nothing to his name but with a deep perception of his own situation and the world around him. Few lyricists so poetically capture the hopes and aspirations of their generation, as well as the contradictions of the greedy empire we call home. His flow reflects a steady diet of hardcore hip hop and dance hall, but is also steeped in the socially conscious, melodic tradition of Bob Marley. |
| Camille has a great day job for a singer: she is a cast member of Stomp, the off-broadway percussion sensation. Her petit size and sweet, soulful voice make her secret weapon all the more surprising; she is a ragga chat artist, with a hard Patois dance hall style. Raised in the US by Jamaican parents, she learned Patois by surreptitiously imitating her father, despite her mother's insistence that she learn only proper English. "Now my mom hears me chat Patois and says, 'Wow, you're pretty good, where'd you learn how to do that?'� |  |
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Marivaldo DosSantos leads the Bahian percussion group Ogans, who rock the house two Saturdays a month at NY's premiere Brazilian dance club, SOB's. A master percussionist, he is also a Stomp cast member, toured the US with Steve Coleman, and was cofounder of the Brazilian Hip Hop crew MDMC's, who made a splash on the international hip hop scene a few years ago. His current hip hop production blends the centuries old African rhythmic concepts of Bahia with the contemporary sounds he loves, and the result is irresistible. He also performs with up and coming soul/dub group Beetroot. |
J Mage plays keyboards all over town and all over the map; with soul vocalist Maya Azucena, Guinean visiting artists Mai Kouyate and Amadou Barry, Bicasso and the Grouch of California hip hop crew Living Legends, radical performance group The San Francisco Mime Troupe, Velour artists Beetroot, dub collective the Easy Star All Stars, and Ogans from Bahia Brazil. The Crazy Heart project found its initial shape in a 12" vinyl EP that came out on Listen Labs. More than a group of great musicians, these are friends who share a creative vision, which extends not just to form but to structure. Dubwise Afrobreaks, Dancehall Afrobeat, Global Broken Beat...you decide what to call it, but we know it is an idiom in the making. For
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