Soak up some retro-soul sounds featuring a unique lineup of musicians creating new music with a nostalgic sound.
Wednesdays, July 9 - 30 | 5 - 7:30PM
Manhattan West Plaza, 385 9th Avenue, Midtown
Soak up some retro-soul sounds featuring a unique lineup of musicians creating new music with a nostalgic sound.
Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings created a new soulful sound in the 2000s under the Daptone label. Using long-forgotten analog technology, they evoked a movement of musicians and labels that recreate an old analog sound but with fresh music and lyrics that continues today. Mostly born and raised in New York, many of the musicians and label heads that produced albums of bands in this series (Chulo, Diamond West, and Big Crown Records) once played together as young friends and musicians with Sharon Jones, Amy Winehouse, Antibalas, Charles Bradley, among other bands. In many ways, their current relationships are much like the Volt label was to the legendary Stax – different but similar entities working to promote music that goes beyond beloved soul and funk but still falls under one soulful umbrella.
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ABOUT THE ARTISTS:
JULY 9:
Los Hacheros are the modern-day torchbearers of the Golden Age of Latin music. Their beat revives folkloric styles like son montuno, guaracha and salsa, and combines them with the firey rhythms of Puerto Rican Bomba and the grittiness of 1970s East Harlem. Producer / guitarist Jacob Plasse is the founder of the Daptone-distributed Latin revival label, Chulo Records.
Mickey Pérez, stalwart of the New York City DJ game, represents and presents a non-commercial, diasporic sound irrespective of national borders spanning many different rhythms of dance music across Africa, the Caribbean, South America & Black America. For the past 5+ years, Mickey’s held a regular monthly show on NYC’s The Lot Radio titled BeBop Porú which runs concurrently as a dance party that has taken place in Brooklyn, Miami & Mexico City.
JULY 16:
Rogê: One of the most exciting singer-songwriters of today, Latin Grammy nominee Rogê (pronounced haw-zheh) was once the prince of Rio de Janeiro’s nightlife. Rogê gained an avid following for his swinging samba-funk, tinged with Brazilian Soul. His acclaim rose when he cowrote the theme song for the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil. His rise on the American scene has included a 2020 tour with Seu Jorge, Budos Band, and two nights at the Hollywood Bowl as the opening act for the Gipsy Kings. He has released nine albums, including his newest, Curyman, produced by the Budos Band’s Thomas Brenneck, a top session guitarist and collaborator with the stars (Lady Gaga, Beyoncé & Jay-Z, Amy Winehouse) on Diamond West Records.
Binky Griptite is an American guitarist, record producer, and radio DJ. He is best known as a founding member and guitarist of Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, Soul Providers, and Antibalas, among other Daptone Records-related projects. From 2017 to 2021, he hosted the weekly radio program The Boogie Down on WFUV.
JULY 23:
Thee Heart Tones are a group of young musicians from Hawthorne, California, carrying the torch contributing to Chicano Soul while putting their own spin on it. Lead singer Jazmine Alvarado’s show stopping voice is nothing short of perfect over the band’s heavy duty downbeat ballad backings. These rising star teenagers represent a new era of Soul music, and influenced by the sounds of their own generation which they incorporate into songs that hold court with some of the finest in the genre. Their talent, charm, and taste are far ahead of their years, they are young people with old souls making songs that are loved by all ages.
El Michels Affair (Leon Michels) is the mogul behind Big Crown Records, producer for artists like Lady Wray, and crafter of his own layered soul compositions.
JULY 30:
Flor de Toloache, the Latin GRAMMY® Award-winning and two-time GRAMMY®-nominated all-female group, honor and revolutionize mariachi with a bold, boundary-pushing spirit. Their journey began in the streets of New York City, eventually earning spots on NPR’s Tiny Desk, the Kennedy Center Honors (paying tribute to Linda Ronstadt), Coachella, and the steps of The White House. Their debut album set the stage for collaborations and tours with Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys, John Legend, Miguel, Café Tacvba, and Natalia Lafourcade, with accolades from Pitchfork, Billboard, and the New York Times. Like the legendary love potion from the Toloache flower, Flor de Toloache casts a spell with their fearless genre-blending and powerful storytelling, while redefining mariachi and captivating audiences worldwide.
Victor Axelrod: As a producer, arranger, recording and mixing engineer, and keyboardist, Victor Axelrod’s creativity has extended across more than two decades of the Daptone label’s releases. A founding member of Antibalas and Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, he earned a Grammy Award for his contribution to Amy Winehouse’s “Back To Black” and has worked on dozens of projects (sometimes under the moniker “Ticklah”) with Mark Ronson and with artists including Lady Gaga, Adele, and Erykah Badu. Producing under his own name and using the moniker Ticklah, Axelrod has also produced records for Easy Star Records, Queens-based reggae group the Frightnrs, and his own releases including the dubby “Ticklah vs. Axelrod.”
