I had the honor of drumming for Austin’s own Greyhounds on a recent NYC gig run. We played the legendary Cafe Wha? and cut a whole new album of funky improv material that will be released in 2024, but we also recorded a live in-studio performance of some Greyhounds catalog and it just dropped as an album on The 29th Street Editions label on Bandcamp today. Grateful for the chance to play music with Anthony Farrell and Andrew Trube, two killer musicians and all round bad asses.

Stream or download the album exclusively on Bandcamp here.

And watch the video for “What’s On Your Mind” from the performance:

The full set will be posted to YouTube soon.

Thanks Reed Turchi for the visuals and Jason Rostkowski on the sound at GSI Studios.

I don’t do these posts often but it’s not often that someone has an impact both musically and personally. “Funky” George Brown was that for me. Kool and the Gang have been my favorite band since I was 12 and are the study guide and soundtrack to just about everything I do. George was “one of the funkiest drummers to walk this earth” (a quote from Steve Jordan) and without question my greatest inspiration on the drum set. 

When I started playing in 2011, trying to transition into something so far-fetched for me at the time came from the way George put his foot in it (literally, for drummers who know) and I just remember wanting to do something like THAT with whatever was next as far as music. FF to 2015, when I started my Red Bull “Give the Drummer Some” column/radio show –  of course George was my first interview guest (that interview is still on my website). What I didn’t expect was the advice he gave me in the ensuing years while I was trying to figure out my own career shift. Publishing (😅), songwriting (he wrote many of the band’s biggest hits), drummer health – no more pickup basketball cause you need all 4 limbs, all 20 digits and everything else to make a living lol – and in general how to keep things moving as a musician. Both George and the late great Ronald Bell offered me advice and guidance during some really precarious transition years and it continues to keep me focused today. It was more valuable to me than they’d ever know, and they really didn’t have to offer anything at all. 

The music George gave us was more than enough – the type of person he was is what really makes this one sting for me.  They say don’t meet your heroes but in this case it was a privilege that continues to push me forward. An immense thank you to the great Mr. George Brown. A peaceful journey. 

Read his memoir (“Too Hot”) that was released in July. Bump some Kool and the Gang today. My sincere condolences to his family and the Kool and the Gang organization.

To have a bartender at our residency who can hop from behind the bar and into the groove at any given moment seamlessly, with the the FUNKIEST improvisational flute riffs, is a blessing to say the least. Rag in back pocket and all. So funky that we had to make Seth Hachen (aka Chef Seth) an honorary Du-Rite and he’s featured on our new single, “Go Funk Me”. Streaming on Spotify, Apple Music, etc. now or grab the 7″ from our Bandcamp if wax is your thang.

Our first 7″ single since June of 2020!

We’ve all heard of crowd-funding, but what about crowd-FUNKing? A play on a popular fundraising platform inspires the title of our eighth 7” single. Guest flautist and honorary Du-Rite Seth Hachen (aka “Chef Seth”) is often the star of the show at our weekly residency, so he joins us to bring the vibe of our live shows to the wax.

The B-Side belongs to “Bucket,” a tip jar anthem any band can relate to. Anchored by New Orleans-meets-Afro Beat drumming and greasy guitar and clavinet lines, it’s Du-Funk at its nastiest. There’s even a kalimba! Enjoy.

“Go Funk Me” will be on streaming services November 10th, and “Bucket” in early December, but the 7″ vinyl is shipping now and the digital download is available on our Bandcamp.

Yes, I’m still on this ball of dirt and water. The fall season has been 90% live gigs and rehearsals, 10% releases / press / “content” (inner cringe), hence I’ve been quiet around here. I hit Texas twice in September to rock with Adrian Quesada’s Jaguar Sound, in addition to The Du-Rites’ “Hood Stars / Funk Improv” residency uptown every Wednesday (at Penny Jo’s). October brings me out west for recording sessions to record an album (more on that soon) and a gig at the legendary Cafe Wha? (NYC) for a one time gig sitting in on drums for Austin’s own The Greyhounds, plus some sessions with them. But fear not, The Du-Rites will be back with a new 7″, “Go Funk Me” b/w “Bucket” in November, so there’s that on the horizon. Till then, here’s some Penny Jo’s action:

I was featured in Gothamist NYC today, discussing my drumming journey with Danny O’Neil.

Read it here!

Soul Supreme and I re-funkin “9th Wonder” by the one and only Digable Planets. Enjoy!

Intoxicated Skull is finally out! My very first jazz-funk library album and volume 3 of 12 in the Madlib Invazion Music Library Series. And the last release under the J-Zone name.

Vinyl on Madlib Invazion Bandcamp.

Streaming everywhere.

In 2020, Egon & Madlib reached out to clear a sample of my drums (Lunch Breaks) for “Road of the Lonely Ones” and I was given the opportunity to create an album for their library series. Intoxicated Skull has the spirit of both the old KPM and DeWolfe libraries of the 1960s and ’70s and my more drum-centric stuff, but there’s also some bizarre experiments I wouldn’t pull elsewhere 😂.

I don’t really see it as a “J-Zone” record since it’s mostly me + the two killer musicians who helped me put it together: 🎹/composer Rafferty Swink & my Du-Rites partner, Pablo Martin. The record is theirs just as much as mine. It was also the final release under the J-Zone name when recorded in 2020-21, but it was delayed. So now it’s a funky anomaly finally seeing daylight. Grateful for everyone involved for their support and patience. Enjoy. 

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The Madlib Invazion Music Library Series was created by Madlib and Egon over the course of the Pandemic, and was a chance to give their creative friends the ability to stretch out and indulge in whatever type of music they wanted for release on the label. The music had to be great and able to be presented as a stand alone album – like the best “Music Library” releases of the past, on labels like Italy’s Sermi, Germany’s Bruton, France’s MP2000 and the UK’s DeWolfe. And, like those albums, it had to work as easy, one-stop clearance for background cues in film and television production and, as producers have been indulging since the 1990s, for sampling. 

The series contains 12 releases by DJ Muggs, Karriem Riggins, J-Zone, the Heliocentrics’ Malcolm Catto and Jake Ferguson, JJ Whitefield of Karl Hector/Whitefield Brothers/Poets of Rhythm, Motif Alumni and Music Research Library, Mario Luciano of Polyphonic Music Library, Henkel, Gabriel Rowland of Los Yesterdays, Dan Hastie and Terin Ector of Orgone, Dan Ubick and Joe Harrison 

The albums will be released on the Madlib Invazion Bandcamp on the first Friday of each month over the course of one year. Listen, ponder, repeat.

Soul Supreme and I cut a funky lil’ cover of The Beastie Boys’ “Make Some Noise”. Dig. Always a pleasure making music with the 🎹 maestro. His new album, Poetic Justice, is a powerful piece and I played on two cuts (“Dues N’ Dont’s” and “Fraud Fades”). We also rocked together on his covers of “Let’s Ride” and “Award Tour”. The My new jazz-funk library album Intoxicated Skull drops this Friday (August 4th) as #3 in the Madlib Invazion Music Library Series so look out for that. 

Hype sticker sighting

After much delay, my debut library album (not including the drum packs) Intoxicated Skull drops August 4th (vinyl/digital). Streaming shortly after. This is Volume #3 of 12 in the “Madlib Invazion Music Library Series”. (That link is where you’ll find it on August 4th). It’s catalogued as a J-Zone LP but it’s my collaboration with / composer wizard Rafferty Swink – who I played with in Ben Pirani and the Means of Production for 7 years – and my fellow Du-Rite Pablo Martin. Me on drums and all three of us played everything else to come up with a bizarre and funky record that I very much enjoyed making despite the challenges of cutting it back in 2020-21, during the thick of the pandemic. It’s our version of a jazz-funk KPM or DeWolfe – I guess that’s the only way to put it. Stay tuned…