Our Brave Soul Artist feature for this month is a self proclaimed "Musical Architect" and a true definition of an artist. Multi-Instrumentalist/Producer Zo! is Detroit-area born and raised Lorenzo Ferguson. Music was always present in and around the Ferguson house, which let to Zo! taking piano lessons at age 6... which he absolutely despised. The idea of working toward a Major League Baseball career served as the greatest inspiration through his teenage years much more so than the concept of practicing music. After his parents consistently pushed and encouraged him to stick with music, Zo! discovered a newfound passion by teaching himself how to play piano by ear by age 11. Zo! got his production start in 1992 when his parents brought home a Proteus MPS keyboard and a Brother PDC100 sequencer for him to figure out. Since then, he has emphasized the use of live instrumentation as the blueprint for his music while constantly looking to expand his sound with each album release.
Searing and soulful verses served over ethereal, aquatic beats, colored with varying tones and textures that intrigue the ears and expand the mind...these are the trademark characteristics that Nicolay and Phonte Coleman have established musically as members of the duo Foreign Exchange, a phrase that describes the combination of their Dutch and Durham, NC roots and musical influences.
Their 2004 debut, Connected, was a long-distance alliance of beats and rhymes tossed back and forth via the internet, and 2008's Leave It All Behind, which featured the poignant, Grammy-nominated "Daykeeper," maintained the momentum and broadened their fan base.
RCDC Experiment is a mosaic of experimental musicians navigating between the boundaries of hip- hop's greatest traditions and post-modern jazz, comprised of bassist Derrick Hodge, Alto Saxophonist and Vocoder player Casey Benjamin, and Drummer Chris "Daddy" Dave. These musicians are already revered for their own unique abilities, but together, their synthesized sounds are an amalgamated mass of explosive sounds on another dimension. Therein lies the future of music: more experimental, more nuanced, and more examples of inhumanely skilled musical ability.
You can here the latest of The RCDC Experiment on Robert Glasper's latest record Double Booked, off of Blue Note Records.
Phonte Coleman, better known as Phonte, is an American rapper and singer formerly of the group Little Brother, which disbanded this year (2010), as well as a critically acclaimed singer of the Grammy Nominated R&B duo with Dutch producer Nicolay, The Foreign Exchange. Phonte's rhymes tend to be no- frills perspectives on working-class life, and his massive recognition in the music world is a huge gain for the North Carolina music community.
The RCDC Experiment will be performing Phonte's latest solo work, his compositions with The Foreign Exchange, and classic Little Brother records LIVE. The importance of this collaboration runs deep, as both The Foreign Exchange and Robert Glasper were nominated for Grammy's in the same category in 2009, further indicating the connectedness of these music communities, and bringing them together on stage for the first time.