Bridging the Gap April 3, 2024

*Public Service Beoadcasting: "ROYGBIV" (Inform-Educate-Entertain 2013) London based duo of J. Willgoose, Esq. on guit. banjo, stringed inst. elect. inst. & sampling and Wrigglesworth on drums, piano & elect. inst. They "teach the lessons of the past through the music of the future" using archival recordings and propaganda footage.

*Bela Fleck & The Flecktones: "Rococo" (The Hidden Land 2006) Bela Fleck is a banjo virtuoso melding jazz, blues, country & world music into his genre busting sound with Victor Wooten on bass and Roy "Future Man" Wooten on Drumitar, an instrument of his own creation.

*Our Native Daughters: "I Knew I Could Fly" (Songs Of Our Native Daughters 2019) Super group of No. Amer. sing/songwrs. Rhinnon Giddens, Amythyst Kiah, Leyla MCalla and Allison Russell emphasizing stories of "struggle, resistance & hope" of women and especially African American women.

*Orgone: "Lies And Games feat. Terin Ector" (Chimera 2024) Amer. band from LA driven by Dan Hastie (keys) & Sergio Rios (guit.) playing funk, soul & afrobeat music. TE: sing/songwr./multi-inst.

*Go.Soul.Map.: "Fall Into The Flame feat. Derane Obika" (Peaceful Sound For Broken Minds 2024) GSM aka Salvo "Dub" studied piano at a n early age, switched to bass & double bass then discovered synths, samplers & drum machines which led to electronic music. DO: London sing/songwr. of Nigerian origin.

*The EEs: "I Mean Soul feat. Reggie Worthy" (Temptations Of Sound 2023) The Eclectic Experiences are composers & producers Claus Hartisch & Andre Neundorf. Their style encompasses 60-70s soul, latin, afrobeat, reggae, psychedelic & jazz. RW: Amer. bassist, singer & producer living in Germany.

*The Claypool Lennon Delirium: "Cricket And The Genie (Movement 1, The Delirium)" (Monolith Of Phobos 2016) Les Claypool bassist & composer for Primus and Sean Ono Lennon multi-inst. singer songwr. and son of John & Yoko joined for this phantasmagoric psych/prog project.

*GOASTT: "Long Gone" (Long Gone-EP 2014) Sean Lennon and Charlotte Kemp Muhl are GOASTT. Their unique backgrounds seemed to make it inevitable that these two unconventional musical minds would wind up together weaving their fantastic tapestries together.

*Gomez: "Sound Of Sounds" (In Our Gun 2001) British indie rock band with 3 singers 4 songwrs. play. traditional and electronic instruments, but it is their ethereal vocals that draw me in. They have an individual style that sets them apart even though it's created by 4 different writers.

*Jazz Is Dead: "Running With The Tribe feat. Phil Ranelin & Wendall Harrison" (Jazz Is Dead 011 2022) Producers/composers Adrian Younge & Ali Shaheed Muhammad created the "JID" series to pay homage to their musical heroes. PR: Amer. jazz tombonist, comp., prod. & arr. WH: Amer. jazz clarinet & tenor sax.

*Kerbside Collection: "Cairo Green" (Round The Corner 2024) Australian instrumental jazz/funk and rare groove ensemble from Brisbane. Old school drums, Fender or upright bass with some vintage Hammond organ and sweet jazz guitar.

*Ezra Collective: "King Of The Jungle" (You Can't Steal My Joy 2019) London based jazz collective with drummer/bandleader Femi Koleoso & brother, bassist TJ Koleoso are pushing the boundaries of jazz and afrobeat fusion.

*Entourage: "Journey By The Water" (Ceremony Of Dreams... 2018) The Entourage Music & Theatre Ensemble played ambient music in combination with dance ensembles from 1970-83.

HOUR 2

*Bajofondo: "Olvidate" (Presente 2013) So. Amer. band from Argentina & Uruguay. Originally Bajofondo Tango Club, they dropped 'tango club' because their style had broadened and they wanted it to reflect being "contemporary music from the Rio De La Plata."

*The Bahama Soul Club: "Eleggua feat. Sexto Sentido" (Havana '58 2016) German band based in Portugal and led by producer/multi-inst. Oliver Belz play latin jazz, nu jazz & swing like crazy!

*Bebo Best & The Super Lounge Orchestra: "Mueve Tu Cuerpito" (Jazzmamba 2016) Producer, musician & arranger Bebo Baldan is known for his melding of electronic instrumentation with jazz, world, classical & pop music.

*Anoushka Shankar: "Monsoon" (Traces Of You 2013) British composer, sitar player and daughter of Indian sitar master Ravi Shankar. She plays classical, contemporary, acoustic & electronic music.

*Liftoff: "Shine" (Sunday Morning Airplay 2011) Fort Knox Recordings artist feat. Johnna Raskin, bass & vocals, Steve Raskin keys, guit., Rob Myers guit., Steve Albert keys.

*Nickodemus: "Inmortales (Body Move)" (A Long Engagement... 2018) NYC DJ/producer Nick DeSimone is know for his "Turntables On The Hudson" events and runs Wonderwheel Recordings.

*Kojato & The Afro Latin Cougaritas: "Good Morning Africa feat. Britta Rex" (All About Jazz 2011) Led by Liberian singer multi-inst. Kojo Ebenezer Samuels is joined by producers/multi-ints. Andre Neundorf & Oliver Belz for this afrobeat, funk, jazz and soul fusion. BR: sing/songwr. fm Germany.

*Vivian Stanshall: "Lakonga" (Men Opening Umbrellas Ahead 1974) Incredibly idiosyncratic songwr. musician Vivian Stanshall works out on this African tinged number feat. Nigerian Gaspar Lawal who had moved to the UK in the mid 60s.

*Chicago Afrobeat Project: "Race Hustle feat. Tony Allen & JC Brooks" (What Goes Up 2017) CABP use afrobeat as a jumping off point to explore other styles. "What Goes Up" feat. many guest artists. Afro beat pioneer Tony Allen leads the cast on drums with JC Brooks on vox.

*The Funk Revolution: "Scarlet Runner feat. Lucky Brown" (Space Dream 2023) Seattle deep funk leader Joel Ricci aka Lucky Brown helms another foray into deep funk with musicians from his Seattle hit factory Westsound Collective.

*Misha Panfilov & Golden Rules: "On The Hook" (The Originals 3 2023) Estonian multi-inst. producer Misha Panfilov's brand of psych funk on German label Golden Rules. He is now based in Portugal.

*Sun Atlas: "Indian Tiger" (Sun Atlas 2023) "The groups music is a collaborative work between various musicians scattered on different continents." And they won't reveal their identities feeling that the music should speak for itself...and it does!

*Chris Joss: "Lotion Roulette" (Volume II 2019) French producer & multi-inst. Chris Joss suffers from hyperacusis and misophonia but still manages to crank out thumping funk jams.