A Live Wired Music Event

Hey bloggers, and it's Live Wired Music events time again. I know because that email I just received in my inbox says so. And Charles Blass and his Live Wired WKCR events seemingly have been all jazz music and beyond all the time for as far as I can remember in my Live Wired Music time. And this time his event is as follows:

artist: Melvin Gibbs' Elevated Entity
where: Santos Party House, 96 Lafayette St., NYC
when: Friday March 20, 7PM doors

artist: Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber
where: Blue Note, 131 W. 3rd St, NYC
when: Friday March 27, late night 12:30AM

As Brooklyn-based record label LiveWired Music prepares its launch with two releases on March 17 and two more on April 21, flagship artist Melvin Gibbs is gearing up his Elevated Entity collective to storm the stage at Tribeca's Santos Party House on Friday, March 20 to celebrate the release of Ancients Speak (March 17, LiveWired Music)--a rhythm-rich journey through what Gibbs likes to call the "Black Atlantic Continuum" that stretches from New York to Bahia to West Africa and beyond.
Featuring guest spots from guitarists Pete Cosey (ex-Miles Davis) and Blackbyrd McKnight (P-Funk), keyboardists John Medeski (MMW) and Craig Taborn (Carl Craig), and guest vocals by Antibalas frontman Amayo--among many more--Ancients Speak draws from a seething mass of musical influences. Funk, jazz, hip-hop, Brazilian candomblé and Yoruba drumming styles fuse together in a tight mosaic, with Gibbs leading the way on bass and behind the mixing board, where he's joined by globe-trotting producer Arto Lindsay and Brazilian groove upstart Kassin. "An exciting ride," writes Alex Henderson at All Music Guide. "[The] lack of predictability is a big part of the fun, [and] Ancients Speak is certainly a musical roller coaster."

For his March 20 set at Santos, Gibbs will be joined by Vernon Reid (guitar), Amayo (vocals), Kid Lucky (vox, rhymes and human beatbox), DJ Logic (turntables), Casey Benjamin (sax/keyboards), JT Lewis (drums) and some very special guests.
DJ Lovolution will be on the decks when doors open at 7PM. Tickets can be purchased in advance for $15 at www.santospartyhouse.com. Do yourself a favor and catch this Elevated Entity live--you'll be levitating for weeks afterward.

For an advance taste of MG and EE, check out "Audio Gumbo" on WKCR-FM in New York City (89.9FM and wkcr.org) between 1 and 5AM early on Thursday March 19. The show will feature special guests Melvin Gibbs, JT Lewis and Kid Lucky.

Flashing ahead a bit, across town the following Friday, Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber will take over the Blue Note as part of the legendary jazz club's Late Night Groove Series. Burnt Sugar are celebrating their tenth anniversary as a solid fixture on New York's downtown avant garde scene, and their latest album Making Love to the Dark Ages (March 17, LiveWired Music) is their first full-length studio recording in five years. The major jazz press have already weighed in on Making Love, with DownBeat magazine describing the album as "fluid, funk-fortified music"--a state of being no doubt bolstered by the presence of such heavies as Bruce Mack (synthesizers), Vijay Iyer (piano) and Vernon Reid (guitar) on several of the album's key tracks.

Founded by conductor, producer, musician and Village Voice icon Greg Tate, Burnt Sugar is a sprawling band of musicians whose prodigious chops cover a wide swath of the experimental soul-jazz spectrum. Anchored by Jared Michael Nickerson (bass), the live version of the group can feature as many as 22 players at any one time, but the stalwarts tend to include Justice Dilla-X (vocals), Mikel Banks (on freak-a-phone), André Lassalle (guitar), Ben Tyree (guitar), Avram Fefer (sax), "Moist" Paula Henderson (baritone sax) and Trevor Holder (drums) as well as singers Lisala and Maya Azucena.

Burnt Sugar will hit the Blue Note stage late night at 12:30AM on Friday, March 27 (which is actually Saturday morning--we know). Tickets are $8 at the door. You've been warned.


And these events rock. Have a great Live Wired Music day.