Author: Burnt Sugar Arkestra

  • Celebrate the 30th anniversary of Prince’s “Purple Rain” LP

    Celebrate the 30th anniversary of Prince’s “Purple Rain” LP

    PurpleRain

    Celebrate the 30th anniversary of Prince’s “Purple Rain” LP with a conversation featuring Karen Good Marable and Zaheer Ali and moderated by Ebony.com’s Miles Marshall Lewis., a screening of the film, and special guests.
    A garden party with Burnt Sugar Arkestra “sugarizing” the LP will follow the panel discussion.

    This event is sold out, but will stream live right here: http://new.livestream.com/schomburgcenter/events/3105285

    Wednesday, June 25, 2014,
    6:30 p.m. – 9pm
    Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Langston Hughes Auditorium & Courtyard

    THIS EVENT IS FREE & ALL AGES
    Registration required: www.schomburgcenter.eventbrite.com
    FIRST COME, FIRST SEATED

    For all free events, the venue generally overbooks to ensure a full house. All registered seats are released 15 to 30 minutes before start time, so we recommend that you arrive early; partially accessible to wheelchairs

    Burnt Sugar Arkestra (Purple Rain Edition)
    Mikel Banks – vocals & conduction
    Shelley Nicole – vocals & percussion
    Ben Tyree – guitar
    Andre Lassalle – guitar
    Bruce Mack – vocals & keyboards
    Leon Gruenbaum – vocals & keyboards
    Jared Michael Nickerson – vocals & electric bass
    Matsu – drums

  • Burnt Sugar Freaks The Walker Art Center & Rebellum hits The Road.

    Burnt Sugar Freaks The Walker Art Center & Rebellum hits The Road.

    On April 26, 2014 , The Burnt Sugar Arkestra will be freaking the Steely Dan songbook (conducted by Vernon Reid) at The Walker Arts Center in Minneapolis.
    This is the first time we’ve played this venue and we couldn’t be more excited.
    Hit this link for details and tickets.

    ‘Round that time, our splinter group, Rebellum will be taking advantage of the geography and hitting a few dates in the midwest.
    This 8 piece band will be visiting Columbus, Dayton, Lakewood & Lebanon Ohio. Madison, Wisconsin, Chicago Illinois, and Detroit, Michigan

    Rebellum Midwest Tour Spring 2014
    Rebellum Midwest Tour Spring 2014

    REBELLUM is Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber’s funk & roll splinter-cell on tour to promote their new release, “The Darknuss.”

    Gripping the sum of REBELLUM’s parts demands one apprehends these factions: The two-part super fly vocal frontline of Mikel Banks & Shelley Nicole; those ace riddim section companeras, The Buckeye Bass Mack Jared Michael Nickerson & Straight-Up Caveman drummer, Matsu; not to mention Valerie June Guitar Hero Ben Tyree, Bari Sax Goddess for TVOR & Nick Waterhouse, ‘Moist Paula Henderson, William Parker Trumpeter of Choice Lewis ‘Flip’Barnes and Vernon Reid Keyboard Liberator, Leon Gruenbaum.

    This very accomplished crew has playing credits that range from Cecil Taylor, Toshi Reagon, Charlie Musselwhite, DJ Logic, Gary Lucas,, TV On The Radio, Tamar Kali, Phish, William Parker, Mark Ribot, Lizz Wright, The Holmes Brothers, Lady Kier, Wadada Leo Smith, David Murray and Joseph Bowie.

    File under Grown & SexyAvant-Agit-Pop. The 13 songs on REBELLUM’s debut album on their own label, AvantGroidd Musica, burst forth a bloody profusion of exotic trace elements–warped soul harmonies, freedom swing hornplay, maggot brained guitar implosions and orchestral loopadelics in the dark. The spirits of Sun Ra, Ron Hardy, Eddie Hazel, Gary Numan and The Emotions are all welcome here.

    Vocalists: Mikel Banks ~ Shelley Nicole
    Trumpet:Lewis “Flip” Barnes
    Bari-Sax: “Moist” Paula Henderson
    Guitar: Ben Tyree
    Keyboards: Leon Gruenbaum.
    Electric Bass: Jared Michael Nickerson
    Drums: Matsu

     

  • Burnt Sugar & Lekan Babalola

    Burnt Sugar & Lekan Babalola

    Burnt Sugar & Lekan Babalola

    Jimi Gureje of The Village @ Gureje / Art Cafe is honored and extremely excited to facilitate the collaboration of Lekan Babalola, former Cassandra Wilson percussionist now living in London England, and the Burnt Sugar Arkestra who permeate the great state of all things Funk in the New York City area.

    It goes down this Saturday, March 8, 2014 with two sets ( 7pm and 9pm ) filled with compositions from both entities and a healthy dose of “in the moment” improvisations sure to spark your dome and warm your body as we all endue this last taste of frigidness.

    Come get your dance on ~ Come get your drink on ~  Come and Let’s Just Get It On!

    Lekan Babalola at LastFm

    Art Cafe / Renate Albertsen-Marton Gallery / Village @ Gureje
    884-886 Pacific St. at Underhill Ave,
    Brooklyn, 11238
    Website

  • Ellison at 100 Reading Invisible Man

    Ellison at 100 Reading Invisible Man

    Burnt Sugar is honored to perform at this event celebrating Ralph Ellison 100th birthday.
    Follow this link for details

    Ellison at 100 Reading Invisible Man
    Ellison at 100
    Reading Invisible Man
  • Burnt Sugar Review at Winter Jazz Fest 2014

    Burnt Sugar Review at Winter Jazz Fest 2014

    Burnt Sugar Triple threat!
    Vernon Reid conducts the Burnt Sugar Arkestra: The Steely Dan Songbook
    Melvin Van Peebles wid Laxative
    Rebellum

    Friday – January 10th @ 11:15pm
    Winter Jazz Festival
    The Bitter End
    147 Bleecker St.
    New York, NY 10012
    winterjazzfest.com/2014/
    (Scroll down for ticket info)

    Greg Tate – conduction/guitar / Melvin Van Peebles – vocals/storytelling / Vernon Reid – conduction/guitar / Mikel Banks – vocals/conduction / Lisala – vocals / Karma Mayet Johnson – vocals / Shelley Nicole – vocals / Micah Gaugh – alto sax/vocals / V. Jeffery Smith – tenor sax/vocals / ‘ Moist’ Paula Henderson – bari sax / Andre Lassalle – guitar / Ben Tyree – guitar / Leon Gruenbaum – keyboards / Bruce Mack – keyboards / Jared MIchael Nickerson – electric bass / Trevor Holder – drums / Chris Eddelton – drums

    Led by Village Voice icon Greg “Ionman” Tate and  monster groove bassist Jared Michael Nickerson since 1999, Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber is a sprawling band of musicians whose prodigious personnel and adherence to Butch Morris’s “Conduction” system allows them to freely juggle a wide swath of the experimental soul-jazz-hip hop & rock spectrum.

    With an alumni that includes Matana Roberts, Vijay Iyer, DJ Mutamassik, Okkyung Lee and Avram Feffer, Burnt Sugar has released fourteen recordings on their labels Tru Groidd & Avant Groidd Musica defining the art of creating scripted sounding music with the wave of a baton and hand gesture.

    With the insistence of Melvin Van Peebles, Mikki Shepard, Bill Bragin, Leda Le Querrec and Vernon Reid, the Burnt Sugar Arkestra has spent the last three years performing the musics of Melvin Van Peebles, Miles Davis, James Brown, David Bowie, Steely Dan and Sun Ra in venues as disparate as The Apollo Theatre, The Stone, Sons d’hiver Festival in Paris France, Rikers Island Prison, Bryant Park, The Painted Bride, Real Art Ways and Lincoln Center.

    Melvin Van Peebles had such a good time working with Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber bringing “Sweet Sweetback’s Badasssss Song:The Hood Opera” to life on the Paris stage at the Sons d’hiver Festival in 2010, that he decided to continue the collaboration with the formation of his band ‘widLaxative.’

    REBELLUM  is the 2013 ten-piece renegade splinter cell brain child of Greg Tate hacked from the recombinant corpus of the Burnt Sugar Arkestra and Melvin Van Peebles’ widLaxative, brought to life in Luqman Brown’s Harlem N.Y. Buddahbug Studios.

    The Burnt Sugar Arkestra Review … knowledgeable of our musical past … performing our musical future.

    TICKETING OPTIONS:
    winterjazzfest.com/2014/ticketing/

    Jan 7 – $10
    Jan 8 – $45 Orchestra Section, Balcony Boxes Seats / $35 Balcony Seats / $25 Upper Balcony Seats
    Jan 9 – $15 ADV, $18 DOS
    Jan 10/11 – $35 1-day / $55 2-day
    Full Fest Pass – $95**

    **The Full Festival Pass includes:
    – Admission to the Jan 7th WJF Kickoff show at LPR w/ Bobby Previte’s TERMINALS feat. John Medeski, Nels Cline and guests
    – Orchestra ticket for Jan 8th Blue Note 75th Anniv show at Town Hall w/ Jason Moran, Robert Glasper and guests
    – Admission to the Jan 9th SummerStage showcase at LPR w/ Revive Big Band and guests
    – A 2-Day WJF Marathon Pass featuring over 80 groups at 8 different venues

    APAP Delegate Discounted Admission:

    (RSVP Required for verification and discount codes)
    If you are a 2014 registered APAP delegate you have the opportunity to attend the 2014 NYC Winter Jazzfest Marathon at a reduced price, please rsvp@winterjazzfest.com for more details.

  • Introducing REBELLUM

    Introducing REBELLUM

    big rebellum_V1Here in 2014 allow the Burnt Sugar Arkestra to introduce it’s avant funk & roll splinter cell … REBELLUM.

    Gripping the sum of  REBELLUM’s parts LIVE demands one apprehends these factions: The  two-part super-fly vocal frontline  of  Mikel Banks & Shelley Nicole;  those ace riddim section companeras, The Buckeye Bass Mack Jared Michael Nickerson & our 主要 Man from Japan on Kick & Snare …  Hiroyuki “Matsu” Matsuura, Valerie June Guitar Hero, Ben Tyree, Bari Sax Goddess for TVOR & Nick Waterhouse ‘Moist’ Paula Henderson, Billy Ocean Tenor Sax Hooksmith V. Jeffery Smith, William Parker Trumpeter of Choice Lewis ‘Flip’ Barnes, Vernon Reid Keyboard Liberator, Leon Gruenbaum.

    This very accomplished crew has  playing credits that range from The Roots, Toshi Reagon, Charlie Musselwhite, DJ Logic, Gary Lucas, TV On The Radio, Tamar-kali, Phish, William Parker, Mark Ribot, Lizz Wright, The Holmes Brothers, Lady Kier, Freedy Johnston, Sandra St. Victor, Wadada Leo Smith, David Murray, Debbie Gibson, Joseph Bowie and England’s The The.

    ON THE RECORDING a gaggle of Special Guests include Abby Dobson, Micah Gaugh, Kim Hill, Marc Cary, Ronny Drayton, Somi, Satch Hoyt, Courtney Bryan, Vernon Reid, Meah Pace, Andre Lassalle, la Bruha Desi la, Mazz Swift and “The Darknuss Co-Producer, Buddhabug Records’ Luqman Brown.

    Let us also give a shout-out to our Master Blaster Master-eur Tom Ruff for Asbury Media … Ya Heard!

    File under Grown&SexyAvant-Agit-Pop. The 20 songs on REBELLUM’s debut album “the Darknuss”  on their own label, AvantGroidd Musica/Tru Groidd, burst forth a bloody profusion of exotic trace elements–warped soul harmonies, freedom swing horn play, maggot brained guitar implosions and arkestral loopadelics in the dark.

    REBELLUM’s song titles loudly & proudly represent the ranting swoon of their Afro-Futurist insurgency: ”Start Thinking like An Afreakun”, ”The Darknuss”, ”Rock Star Amnesiac”, ”Who’s Loving You Now?”, ”Chains & Water / No Coloureds Allowed”, ”There Is A God (The Singularity)”and ”Young Frankenstank”.

    The spirits of Sun Ra, Ron Hardy, Eddie Hazel, Gary Numan and The Emotions are all welcome here.

    “The Darknuss” Production Credits:
    Produced by Luqman Brown for Buddhabug Records (Harlem N.Y.)
    Mastered by Tom Ruff for Asbury Media
    Executive Producers: Greg Tate for AvantGroidd Musica & Jared Michael Nickerson for Burnt Sugar Index LLC
    Cover Collage by Wangechi Mutu
    Photography by Nisha Sondhe
    Cover Design by LaRonda Davis
    “The Darknuss” can be streamed & downloaded at Bandcamp: www.rebellum.bandcamp.com/
    and “The Darknuss” CDs can be purchased at CD Baby:

    www.cdbaby.com/cd/rebellumburntsugararkest

    tags: Avant Hip Hop & Soul, R&B/Soul, Avant R&B, Avant Funk & Roll,

    UPC 888174 896236

    REBELLUM Group Photo Credit: Photos by ‘Moist’ Paula Henderson & Shelley Nicole ~ Collage & Tinting by Amy Gail