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…

WATCH IT ON YOUTUBE NOW!

Over the years I’ve posted my drum covers of classic breakbeats, iconic funk grooves and even those same breaks altered when they were sampled in various hip-hop records. Mostly on IG for fun and to show love to the pioneering drummers who’ve inspired me to play. I compiled my faves – some of ‘em never made it off my desktop and others I had to re-film for this – in a mixtape/highlight reel format as smoothly as I could. These go back as far as 2020. Yes, I KNOW there are classics missing – it ain’t a definitive showcase of the most common breakbeats. Just 36 grooves that were part of my drumming education. And yes, I chose 36 as a subtle Wu-Tang reference. Enjoy!

P.S.: I don’t know the name of every drummer who played on every original tune, but the ones I do know, much gratitude: Isaac “Redd” Holt, Brock James, Ed Greene, Greg Webster (?), Jack DeJohnette, Joseph “Zigaboo” Modiste, James Gadson, Idris Muhammad, Jimmy Madison, Bernard Purdie, George Bragg, “Funky” George Brown, Ben Powers, James Black, Earl Williams, Clyde Stubblefield, Steve Gadd, Gary Mallaber, Hal Blaine, Narada Michael Walden, Phillip White, Howard King, Howard Grimes, Jim Copley, Grady Tate, Jab’o Starks, Maurice White, my mentor Leslie Ming (“Ming Mon”) and Lenny White.

As we kick off summer, here’s slice of gas-guzzling, 3-miles-per-gallon funk from The Du-Rites – “Super Phunk” Out now! Have a listen and thanks for your support!

Bandcamp

Spotify

and on all DSPs!

Good times playing drums on this session with Ralph Weeks & the Means of Production in 2021. Now “Nobody Loves Me (Like You Do)” is finally out on Names You Can Trust Records!The percussionists and I even got some dance floor funk solo bars in! Guaranteed to scorch in a DJ set. The ballad on the flip, “Got To Keep On Trying” goes, too. The The 45/digital is out on Names You Can Trust Records’ Bandcamp today. Pick it up and hear it there. Streaming soon. Funk on…

A giant thanks and Rest In Peace to the great Isaac “Redd” Holt. A MAJOR drumming influence for me. From Young-Holt Unlimited/Trio to his work with Ramsey Lewis, he had groove for days and so many layers to his playing. The classic “Wah Wah Man” break (see my rendition in the video below) is one of the more common examples. The ‘clicked’ rim shot on third bar is one of my favorite recorded drumming moments, though likely inadvertent and that’s what makes it so great and soulful. No ProTools to fix it, no YouTube videos about “if every snare hit isn’t identical in volume and tone you’re an amateur” to make us overthink it, life goes on with what was the best take of the song overall and we’ve got gold (Organized!). I’ve covered this at least 2-3 times before on IG and done my own renditions of that groove my break volumes, but every time I revisit I find something I missed before and it’s still a work in progress – that’s a testament to the man’s genius. Just paying homage, as there can only be one. RIP Mr. Redd Holt.