·Home·
·About·BURNT SUGAR THE ARKESTRA CHAMBER was originally conceived in 1999 as a forum for the New York area improvisational musician to compose, record and perform material which reflects the breadth and depth of American diasparan music in the 21st century. The intent of the Arkestra Chamber, through the deployment of Butch Morris’s conduction system, is to make every performance a fresh interpretation of its constituent parts. Rather than limit ourselves to the straight jackets that the commercial recording industry uses to market contemporary Black Music, Burnt Sugar freely moves amongst many styles, eras and genres to devise its own exciting hybrids. These hybrids are based on a solid foundation of various musical traditions and the use of cutting-edge music technology. In this sense the group mission honors its deepest inspirations, the first post-modernists of American music – Duke Ellington, Sun Ra, Parliament Funkadelic and The Art Ensemble of Chicago. BURNT SUGAR is a territory band, a neo-tribal thang, a community hang, a society music guild aspiring to the condition of all that is molten, glacial, racial, spacial, oceanic, mythic, antiphonal and telepathic. All our love to Chaka Khan, Nina Simone, George Clinton and the P-funk All Stars, Lady Day, Miles…
·Calendar·
·The Players·SOME OF US play with Steve Coleman, some have stints with Jeff Buckley, Gary Lucas and The The on their resumes, others can list James Blood Ulmer, The Holmes Brothers, Carl Hancock- Rux, Norah Jones, P-Funk, TV On The Radio, Sheryl Crow and Earthdriver. At least one of us is a graduate of The Actors Studio. Most are amazingly proficient and prolific composers and bandleaders in their own right
·The Recordings·
·News·
·Videos·[tubepress]
·Press·Greg Tate’s Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber: Paint the Sky Red “On Making Love to the Dark Ages (LiveWired), the latest recording by Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber, Tate wields a baton along with a laptop and occasionally his trusty guitar. The results range from his expansive meditation on slavery, “Chains and Water,” full of free-blowing conversations between the horns and soulful vocals supplied by dynamic singer Lisala, to the electric Miles-ish groover “Love to Tical,” to the dreamlike, ambient, Eno-meets-Teo soundscape “Dominata,” which incorporates his audacious laptop experiments, to an intriguing mashup of Tate’s funky “Thorazine” with the Ron Carter-Miles Davis composition “Eighty-One” (from E.S.P.).” Bill Milkowski JazzTimes Fricke’s Picks: Big-Band Sugar and Brawn “Led by guitarist-conductor Greg Tate, New York’s Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber is a fleet-footed big band, sliding and swaggering through galactic R&B, brawny jazz and electric funk like a Sun Ra-size spin on Miles Davis’ On the Corner band. Making Love to the Dark Ages (LiveWired) also comes with extra black rock: kinetic soloing by guest guitarist Vernon Reid of Living Colour.” David Fricke, Rolling Stone Burnt Sugar: That Depends on What You Know (Trugroid) “A multi-ethnic troop of New York birth but no…
·Contact·

Burnt Sugar “Caramelizes” the Summer of Love at SfJazz

Thursday, July 30
– Saturday, August 1, 2026

Joe Henderson Lab
SFJAZZ Center
201 Franklin Street
San Francisco, CA. 94102

BSAC SfJazz Edition

Shelley Nicole vocals, conduction
Bruce Mack vocals, synthesizer, conduction
Miss Olithea vocals, electronics, conduction
JS Williams trumpet
V. Jeffery Smith vocals, alto and tenor saxophones, acoustic guitar
Ben Tyree electric guitar, conduction
Leon Gruenbaum keyboards, talk box, samchillian, conduction
Chris Eddleton drums, electronics
Jared Michael Nickerson electric “bubble” bass

←J. Dilla’s Donuts reimagined at Concert Of Colors

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January 6, 2026

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·Home·
·About·BURNT SUGAR THE ARKESTRA CHAMBER was originally conceived in 1999 as a forum for the New York area improvisational musician to compose, record and perform material which reflects the breadth and depth of American diasparan music in the 21st century. The intent of the Arkestra Chamber, through the deployment of Butch Morris’s conduction system, is to make every performance a fresh interpretation of its constituent parts. Rather than limit ourselves to the straight jackets that the commercial recording industry uses to market contemporary Black Music, Burnt Sugar freely moves amongst many styles, eras and genres to devise its own exciting hybrids. These hybrids are based on a solid foundation of various musical traditions and the use of cutting-edge music technology. In this sense the group mission honors its deepest inspirations, the first post-modernists of American music – Duke Ellington, Sun Ra, Parliament Funkadelic and The Art Ensemble of Chicago. BURNT SUGAR is a territory band, a neo-tribal thang, a community hang, a society music guild aspiring to the condition of all that is molten, glacial, racial, spacial, oceanic, mythic, antiphonal and telepathic. All our love to Chaka Khan, Nina Simone, George Clinton and the P-funk All Stars, Lady Day, Miles…
·Calendar·
·The Players·SOME OF US play with Steve Coleman, some have stints with Jeff Buckley, Gary Lucas and The The on their resumes, others can list James Blood Ulmer, The Holmes Brothers, Carl Hancock- Rux, Norah Jones, P-Funk, TV On The Radio, Sheryl Crow and Earthdriver. At least one of us is a graduate of The Actors Studio. Most are amazingly proficient and prolific composers and bandleaders in their own right
·The Recordings·
·News·
·Videos·[tubepress]
·Press·Greg Tate’s Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber: Paint the Sky Red “On Making Love to the Dark Ages (LiveWired), the latest recording by Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber, Tate wields a baton along with a laptop and occasionally his trusty guitar. The results range from his expansive meditation on slavery, “Chains and Water,” full of free-blowing conversations between the horns and soulful vocals supplied by dynamic singer Lisala, to the electric Miles-ish groover “Love to Tical,” to the dreamlike, ambient, Eno-meets-Teo soundscape “Dominata,” which incorporates his audacious laptop experiments, to an intriguing mashup of Tate’s funky “Thorazine” with the Ron Carter-Miles Davis composition “Eighty-One” (from E.S.P.).” Bill Milkowski JazzTimes Fricke’s Picks: Big-Band Sugar and Brawn “Led by guitarist-conductor Greg Tate, New York’s Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber is a fleet-footed big band, sliding and swaggering through galactic R&B, brawny jazz and electric funk like a Sun Ra-size spin on Miles Davis’ On the Corner band. Making Love to the Dark Ages (LiveWired) also comes with extra black rock: kinetic soloing by guest guitarist Vernon Reid of Living Colour.” David Fricke, Rolling Stone Burnt Sugar: That Depends on What You Know (Trugroid) “A multi-ethnic troop of New York birth but no…
·Contact·

Burnt Sugar “Caramelizes” the Summer of Love at SfJazz

BSAC SfJazz Edition

More posts

Burnt Sugar “Caramelizes” the Summer of Love at SfJazz

J. Dilla’s Donuts reimagined at Concert Of Colors

The Burnt Sugar Smokehouse – The Music of Now festival

The Burnt SUgar SmokeHouse at Lincoln Center Atrium 2026 (Avant Neighbors Edition)