Souls Of Mischief

Souls of Mischief is a hip hop group from Oakland, CA, and part of the hip hop collective Hieroglyphics. Its members include A-Plus, Tajai, Phesto, and Opio. Souls of Mischief debuted in 1993 with their album 93 ‘til Infinity, released on Jive Records. They later released No Man’s Land (1995), Focus (1999), and Trilogy: Conflict, Climax, Resolution (2000).
On December 1st, 2009, Souls of Mischief released Montezuma’s Revenge, a collaboration with Prince Paul, also featuring other members of Hieroglyphics.

History:

Oakland native Tajai began rhyming with future bandmate A-Plus at age 8, while both were in elementary school.[1] Tajai and Phesto met later in junior high school.[2] Tajai later introduced A-Plus and Phesto to the remaining Souls of Mischief member, Opio, and the group informally formed in high school before making their major-label debut on Jive Records with their well-received album 93 ‘til Infinity, in 1993.[2]

93 ’til Infinity is the group’s highest charting album to date (#17 Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums; #85 Billboard 200), and in January, 1998, was named one of the Top 100 Rap albums by The Source magazine.

The group stayed with Jive for one more album, 1995’s No Man’s Land, before being released from the label during that same year.

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Grandmaster Caz

The first simultaneous DJ and MC in Hip Hop history, Grandmaster Caz is perhaps best known for rhymes he didn’t even perform — namely, the uncredited verses that Big Bank Hank borrowed for the groundbreaking Sugarhill Gang single “Rapper’s Delight.” The fact that neither Caz nor his group the Cold Crush Brothers ever recorded an official full-length album also doesn’t help shed much light on his legacy — an unfortunate injustice, considering he was one of the most important and influential pioneers of old school rap.

Grandmaster Caz was born Curtis Fisher and grew up in the Bronx, where DJ Kool Herc began playing block parties in the early ’70s. Caz attended his first Herc party in 1974, and was amazed by the huge, booming sound system and the way Herc worked the crowd. Inspired to try doing the same thing, he immediately purchased some equipment and adopted the DJ name Casanova Fly (which later morphed into Grandmaster Caz).

After honing his skills, Caz teamed up with JDL (aka Jerry Dee Lewis) to form the Notorious Two, and during this period became the first DJ to rap while handling records on the turntables. Both Caz and JDL joined the Cold Crush Brothers circa 1978-1979, with Caz becoming a full-time MC.
In 1979, former R&B singer and label head Sylvia Robinson discovered Caz’s friend Big Bank Hank rapping along with one of Caz’s practice tapes. Impressed, she invited him to become the third member of a studio rap group called the Sugarhill Gang, which was set to record the first rap single. Without revealing the true author, Hank went to Caz and asked to borrow the rhymes for the record; Caz agreed, hoping for an eventual favor in return — which never materialized, and neither did songwriting credit or royalties.

Despite that mishap, Caz did find a measure of underground success with the Cold Crush Brothers. They recorded several singles for the Tuff City label during the early ’80s (compiled in 1996 on Fresh Wild Fly & Bold), and became one of the most popular live rap groups in New York during the pre-Run-D.M.C. era. Most prominently, the Cold Crush Brothers appeared in the 1983 old school Hip Hop film Wild Style, which has since become a cult classic; they recorded the theme song and engaged in an MC battle with their chief rivals, Grand Wizard Theodore and the Fantastic Five.

Like most other old school artists, the Cold Crush Brothers didn’t survive the advent of Run-D.M.C., and Caz launched a brief solo career in the late ’80s. Again recording for Tuff City, his singles included “Mr. Bill,” “Yvette,” “Count Basie,” “I’m Caz,” “Casanova’s Rap,” and “Get Down Grandmaster.” None of them made much of an impact, and Caz faded from the music scene for a time. With more attention being paid to the roots of Hip Hop in the late ’90s, Caz’s name resurfaced as an early pioneer, and he began making appearances at historical conferences like the one staged in 1999 by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2000, he released a new single titled “MC Delight,” which addressed the “Rapper’s Delight” controversy.

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Kenny Burrell

Burrell was born in Detroit, Michigan to a musical family and began playing guitar at the age of 12. His influences as a guitar player include Charlie Christian, Django Reinhardt, and Wes Montgomery. While a student at Wayne State University, he made his debut recording as a member of Dizzy Gillespie’s sextet in 1951, later he recorded the “Ground Round” single at Fortune Records in Detroit. He toured with Oscar Peterson after graduating in 1955 and then moved to New York City in 1956.[1]

A consummate sideman, Burrell recorded with a wide range of prominent musicians. He has also led his own groups since 1951 and recorded many well received albums.[1]

In the 1970s he began leading seminars about music, particularly Duke Ellington’s. A highly popular performer, he has won several jazz polls in Japan and the United Kingdom as well as the United States.

He has recorded about 106 albums, including Midnight Blue (1963), Blue Lights, Guitar Forms, Sunup To Sundown (1990), Soft Winds (1993), Then Along Came Kenny (1993), and Lotus Blossom (1995).

In 2001, Burrell performed “C Jam Blues” with Medeski, Martin & Wood for the Red Hot Organization’s compilation album Red Hot + Indigo, a tribute to Duke Ellington, which raised money for various charities devoted to increasing AIDS awareness and fighting the disease.

As of 1996, Burrell has served as Director of Jazz Studies at UCLA, mentoring such notable alumni as Gretchen Parlato and Kalil Wilson.[2] Burrell teaches a course titled “Ellingtonia”, examining the life and accomplishments of Duke Ellington.

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Dinah Washington

Born Ruth Jones in Tuscaloosa, Alabama in August 1924, Dinah Washington moved to Chicago’s South Side when she was three or four. Her mother played piano at St. Luke’s Baptist Church, passing along her keyboard prowess to her young offspring. Spirituals comprised much of her initial focus; she hooked up with gospel pioneer Sallie Martin in 1940, hitting the road for a time as her accompanist. Yet secular pursuits had long intrigued her. Before joining Martin, the young singer had copped first prize at a Regal Theater amateur contest.

Whether it was bandleader Lionel Hampton, booking agent Joe Glaser, or Garrick Stage Bar boss Joe Sherman who gave Ruth the memorable stage handle of Dinah Washington, there’s no disputing her steady rise to stardom. A featured billing the Garrick led Hampton to hire her to sing with his big band in 1943.

Jazz critic Leonard Feather caught her with the Hampton band that December at Harlem’s Apollo and convinced Keynote Records to sponsor her debut session, but recording opportunities proved scarce while she was in Hampton’s employ. Before year’s end, Washington bid Hampton adieu, recording three Los Angeles sessions for the Apollo label under her own name before signing with the then-fledgling Mercury. She cut her first date for Mercury in January 1946, and by the summer of ’48 her solo star was in rapid ascension.

At the same time, Washington was interacting with some serious jazz royalty. She recorded with trumpeters Clifford Brown and Clark Terry, drummer Max Roach, and saxophonists Lockjaw Davis and Cannonball Adderley in the mid-Fifties, utilized Quincy Jones’s budding talents as an arranger, and employed pianist Wynton Kelly, drummer Jimmy Cobb, and tenor saxophonist Eddie Chamblee in her combo for extended stretches. (Chamblee was also one of her many husbands.)

Finally, in 1959, Dinah Washington made the full-fledged leap to pop stardom, thanks to the lovely Belford Hendricks-arranged ballad “What a Diff’rence a Day Makes”. Under a&r man Clyde Otis’s market-savvy direction, she mined more pop gold with the stately “Unforgettable” and “This Bitter Earth”. It was Otis’s brainstorm to pair Washington with her deep-voiced label mate Brook Benton; their seemingly playful duet “Baby, You Got What It Takes” masked serious tension between the two, but the end result was a giant pop and r&b hit in 1960.

An unintentional but lethal combination of alcohol and pills forever stilled Dinah Washington’s magnificent voice in Detroit on December 14, 1963. She was only thirty-nine.

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Records:

Dinah Washington – I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart, Mercury

Dinah Washington – Again, Mercury

Charles Mingus

One of the most important figures in twentieth century American music, Charles Mingus was a virtuoso bass player, accomplished pianist, bandleader and composer. Born on a military base in Nogales, Arizona in 1922 and raised in Watts, California, his earliest musical influences came from the church– choir and group singing– and from “hearing Duke Ellington over the radio when [he] was eight years old.” He studied double bass and composition in a formal way (five years with H. Rheinshagen, principal bassist of the New York Philharmonic, and compositional techniques with the legendary Lloyd Reese) while absorbing vernacular music from the great jazz masters, first-hand. His early professional experience, in the 40′s, found him touring with bands like Louis Armstrong, Kid Ory and Lionel Hampton.

Eventually he settled in New York where he played and recorded with the leading musicians of the 1950′s– Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Bud Powell, Art Tatum and Duke Ellington himself. One of the few bassists to do so, Mingus quickly developed as a leader of musicians. He was also an accomplished pianist who could have made a career playing that instrument. By the mid-50′s he had formed his own publishing and recording companies to protect and document his growing repertoire of original music. He also founded the “Jazz Workshop,” a group which enabled young composers to have their new works performed in concert and on recordings.

Mingus soon found himself at the forefront of the avant-garde. His recordings bear witness to the extraordinarily creative body of work that followed. They include: Pithecanthropus Erectus, The Clown, Tijuana Moods, Mingus Dynasty, Mingus Ah Um, The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady, Cumbia and Jazz Fusion, Let My Children Hear Music. He recorded over a hundred albums and wrote over three hundred scores.
Although he wrote his first concert piece, “Half-Mast Inhibition,” when he was seventeen years old, it was not recorded until twenty years later by a 22-piece orchestra with Gunther Schuller conducting. It was the presentation of “Revelations” which combined jazz and classical idioms, at the 1955 Brandeis Festival of the Creative Arts, that established him as one of the foremost jazz composers of his day.

In 1971 Mingus was awarded the Slee Chair of Music and spent a semester teaching composition at the State University of New York at Buffalo. In the same year his autobiography, Beneath the Underdog, was published by Knopf. In 1972 it appeared in a Bantam paperback and was reissued after his death, in 1980, by Viking/Penguin and again by Pantheon Books, in 1991. In 1972 he also re-signed with Columbia Records. His music was performed frequently by ballet companies, and Alvin Ailey choreographed an hour program called “The Mingus Dances” during a 1972 collaboration with the Robert Joffrey Ballet Company.

He toured extensively throughout Europe, Japan, Canada, South America and the United States until the end of 1977 when he was diagnosed as having a rare nerve disease, Amyotropic Lateral Sclerosis. He was confined to a wheelchair, and although he was no longer able to write music on paper or compose at the piano, his last works were sung into a tape recorder.

From the 1960′s until his death in 1979 at age 56, Mingus remained in the forefront of American music. When asked to comment on his accomplishments, Mingus said that his abilities as a bassist were the result of hard work but that his talent for composition came from God.

Mingus received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, The Smithsonian Institute, and the Guggenheim Foundation (two grants). He also received an honorary degree from Brandeis and an award from Yale University. At a memorial following Mingus’ death, Steve Schlesinger of the Guggenheim Foundation commented that Mingus was one of the few artists who received two grants and added: “I look forward to the day when we can transcend labels like jazz and acknowledge Charles Mingus as the major American composer that he is.” The New Yorker wrote: “For sheer melodic and rhythmic and structural originality, his compositions may equal anything written in western music in the twentieth century.”

He died in Mexico on January 5, 1979, and his wife, Sue Graham Mingus, scattered his ashes in the Ganges River in India. Both New York City and Washington, D.C. honored him posthumously with a “Charles Mingus Day.”

After his death, the National Endowment for the Arts provided grants for a Mingus foundation created by Sue Mingus called “Let My Children Hear Music” which catalogued all of Mingus’ works. The microfilms of these works were then given to the Music Division of the New York Public Library where they are currently available for study and scholarship – a first for jazz.  Sue Mingus has founded three working repertory bands called the Mingus Dynasty, Mingus Orchestra, and the Mingus Big Band, which continue to perform his music. Biographies of Charles Mingus include Mingus by Brian Priestley, Mingus/Mingus by Janet Coleman and Al Young, Myself When I Am Real by Gene Santoro, and Tonight at Noon, a memoir by Sue Mingus.

Mingus’ masterwork, “Epitaph,” a composition which is more than 4000 measures long and which requires two hours to perform, was discovered during the cataloguing process. With the help of a grant from the Ford Foundation, the score and instrumental parts were copied, and the piece itself was premiered by a 30-piece orchestra, conducted by Gunther Schuller, in a concert produced by Sue Mingus at Alice Tully Hall on June 3, 1989, ten years after Mingus’ death.

The New Yorker wrote that “Epitaph” represents the first advance in jazz composition since Duke Ellington’s “Black, Brown, and Beige,” which was written in 1943. The New York Times said it ranked with the “most memorable jazz events of the decade.” Convinced that it would never be performed in his lifetime, Mingus called his work “Epitaph,” declaring that he wrote it “for my tombstone.”

The Library of Congress purchased the Charles Mingus Collection, a major acquisition, in 1993; this included autographed manuscripts, photographs, literary manuscripts, correspondence, and tape recordings of interviews, broadcasts, recording sessions, and Mingus composing at the piano.

Sue Mingus has published a number of educational books through Hal Leonard Publishing, including Charles Mingus: More Than a Fake Book, Charles Mingus: More Than a Play-Along, Charles Mingus: Easy Piano Solos, many big band charts– including the Simply Mingus set of big band music charts– and a Mingus guitar book.

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Records:

Charles Mingus – Folk Form, No 1, Barnaby

Duke Ellington

American jazz band leader, and composer (born 29 April 1899 in Washington, District Of Columbia, USA – died 24 May 1974 in New York City, New York, USA). “Art is dangerous. It is one of the attractions: when it ceases to be dangerous you don’t want it.” Duke Ellington. Ellington was an outstanding composer. He wrote thousands of works, composing popular songs, art songs, a wide variety of instrumentals, suites, symphonic works, movie and TV scores, and music for ballet – all of a very high quality.

But to say merely that Ellington was a great composer ignores his achievement as a musician. Ellington is probably the only musician whose name has been associated with a particular style “Ellingtonia”. This style does not imply a specific tempo or specific mood, but also a certain standard of quality. Whoever plays “Ellingtonia” must adhere to these standards. Many significant bands have attempted to copy his style.

For Jazz, Ellington was the first orchestra leader to substitute voices for instruments, he popularized the Baritone Sax when he engaged Harry Carney, he influenced countless bands and dance orchestras.

Beginning with his “Jungle Band” to his “Famous Orchestra” which appeared at Carnegie Hall numerous times and even introduced several Jazz suite that Duke had composed, Ellington his the most successful and important orchestra leader in Jazz history. Success did not come easily taking him many years of devoted work to make a name for himself.

He began as a Ragtime pianist in his hometown of Washington. His first composition was “Soda Fountain Rag” which he never recorded. In 1922 he led a fairly successful band which featured Sonny Greer and Otto Hardwick. Several years later, when he opened at the New York Kentuky Club he succeeded in capture the public fancy. This was the first band to capture the now legendary Ellington sound which is clearly present in the number “The Creeper”, recorded at the end of 1926.

On 12 April 1927, Duke & his orchestra began the engagement which was to make him world famous: Irvin Mills brought them to the Cotton Club, where they stayed five years. There he laid the Jungle, the Mood and other styles. From December 1926 to October 1930 the Ellington band spent at least 64 days in the studios of 14 recording companies, using 18 different pseudonyms for his band, they recorded about 170 titles.

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Astrud Gilberto

Astrud Gilberto, known as “The Girl from Ipanema” and often referred to as “The Queen of Bossa-Nova”, is an artist with roots firmly planted in Brazilian music. Her music has become an interesting combination of the sensual rhythms of Brazil and American Pop and Jazz. Born in the Northeast of Brazil, in the state of Bahia, one of three sisters of a German father and a Brazilian mother, Astrud grew up in Rio de Janeiro. She immigrated to the United States in the early 1960s, where she resides since then.

Astrud was first introduced to the World at large in 1964 through “The Girl From Ipanema”, the Grammy-winning recording with Stan Getz and her then-husband João Gilberto (the father of Bossa Nova). The fact that Astrud seldom grants interviews made it possible for many untruthful versions on how her guest appearance in the Getz & Gilberto album came about to be printed here and there, such as that she was “discovered” by Creed Taylor, or by Stan Getz, or yet, by Jobim, when the only truth is that she was invited to participate in the album by João Gilberto, who has great admiration for her singing talents.

Astrud’s recordings exposed the nations of the World to the sensuality of Brazilian music and to her unique vocal interpretations of American music, such as “The Shadow of your Smile”, “It Might as well be Spring”, “Fly Me to the Moon”, “Look to the Rainbow” (from her album of the same title, with Gil Evans), “Love Story”, etc…

Following the hit with “Ipanema”, her recording career quickly took off. Her first solo effort, “The Astrud Gilberto Album”, was an immediate best-seller and was itself nominated as album of the year. Her next albums were all chart-toppers and were released on a yearly schedule. Her talents were much in demand in other areas as well as she appeared in two motion pictures, “The Hanged Man” and “Get Yourself a College Girl” and also recorded the soundtrack for “The Deadly Affair”, arranged by Quincy Jones. She made appearances in all of the popular US television shows of the time, and had TV specials built around her in Europe, Japan and Africa. For many years she was the voice of Eastern Airlines, having recorded award-winning commercials.

In the early seventies Astrud revealed another facet of her talents, her songwriting, which was introduced on the albums “Astrud Gilberto Now” (1972) and “That Girl From Ipanema” (1977). On the “That Girl from Ipanema” album Astrud recorded one of her songs, “Far Away” (with lyrics by Hal Shaper), as a duet with the legendary Chet Baker. As she has revealed in interviews, this was one of the most rewarding events of her career, since Chet has been one of Astrud’s idols dating back to her teenage years. In 1976, one of her compositions, “Live Today” (co-written with Jerome Schur), received an award at the Tokyo Music Festival.

In the early eighties, Astrud Gilberto formed a group, a sextet comprised of piano, bass, drums, trombone, guitar and percussion. Her son, Marcelo Gilberto, joined her group as bassist. With this group format, she toured Europe, Japan, Canada, and the United States. With the aid of Marcelo’s valuable musical contributions, she polished the group’s arrangements and entered a different phase in her career, as her music became more diversified and her songwriting more proliferous. Her shows, from the beginning of her career up to her last public appearance (2001), have been usually sold out and at many venues she has broken the house record in attendance. Seeking for a way to overcome her stage fright, which was sometimes overwhelming, Astrud attended the Stella Adler School of Acting, for a couple of years, in the early eighties. The experience was helpful. Although still shy, Astrud learned to control the stage fright to the extent that she can “live with it”.

Her album “Astrud Gilberto Plus The James Last Orchestra”, released in 1987, solidified her career as songwriter. The album includes a few of her own original compositions of which “Champagne & Caviar”, “Amor e Som” and “I’m nothing without you” (Astrud’s lyrics to A.C. Jobim’s melody) are best known. The release of this album combined with the reissuing of some of her early records as CDs has created a whole new generation of fans for Astrud Gilberto all over the world, in addition to her already large number of followers. The “Astrud Gilberto Plus the James Last Orchestra” album was extremely well received by critics, as well as fellow artists.

In 1990, Astrud Gilberto, along with her sons Marcelo Gilberto and Gregory Lasorsa, formed Gregmar Productions, Inc. In the years that followed, Astrud toured extensively, developing her live show and writing new material.

In 1992, Astrud received the “Latin Jazz USA Award for Lifetime Achievement” for her outstanding contribution to Latin jazz music.

In 1995, the first project by Gregmar studios was released on an album as tribute to Jobim on the label Ps Flag/BMG (“Heirs To Jobim”). The song, “Forever Green”, one of Jobim’s last compositions before passing away, features saxophonist Michael Brecker. In that same year, in a sold-out Thursday night appearance, Astrud Gilberto became the first “Jazz” Artist to sing at the trendy “House of Blues” in Los Angeles, which had until then presented Blues and Rock acts, exclusively. She has also broken house records at the very popular “Jazz Cafe” club in London.

In early 1996 the first album from Gregmar was released in the Asian territories, including Japan, on the Pony Canyon label. It is comprised of various live performances recorded in NYC in 1989, for which is called “Astrud Gilberto – Live in New York”.

The “Desafinado” duet with George Michael, in the Fall of 1996 included on the “Red Hot & Rio” album, gained international attention, and exposed the Bossa Nova style to a large number of Pop music fans. “Desafinado” has also been included on George Michael’s 1999 release “Ladies and Gentlemen, The Best of George Michael”.

Also in 1996, Astrud recorded a duet with the famous European vocalist, French Pop star, Ettienne Daho. The song, “Les Bordes de Seine”, included on Daho’s “Eden” album, was co-written by Daho and Gilberto and was particularly well received by “Hip-Hop” fans.

In late 1997, a studio album (also by Gregmar Productions), produced by Astrud and Marcelo Gilberto, was released in the Asian territories by the Pony Canyon label. Comprised entirely of Astrud Gilberto’s original compositions (with the exception of just one American standard), the album bears the title of “Temperance”. Yet to be released outside of Asia, the album features guests Michael Franks and the New York Voices. Astrud is particularly proud of this work, because it is a labor of love. Both of her sons, Greg and Marcelo perform on it.

Astrud Gilberto’s sold-out performances at the “House of Blues”, and her legendary shows at NYC’s SOB’s continued to be musical “happenings” to her fans up until 2001, when she decided to take indefinite time off the “road”, in order to be able to spend more time with her family, and do more writing and painting (she is also a fine art artist (click here to view some of her artwork).

Astrud’s style has been a strong influence in contemporary music. Many artists have revealed the fact that they have been inspired by her musical style, among them: Basia (who recorded a tribute to Astrud, a song named “Astrud”), Sade, Sinead O’Connor, Michael Franks, Pat Metheney, and Suzanne Vega. Several “avant-garde” groups have also professed having Astrud as their “inspiring muse”.

Astrud’s work as songwriter has gradually but surely developed from a “side thing” in the beginning of her career, to an integral part of it, in the later years.  Since the mid-eighties, her live shows featured a large number of her own original compositions, to which audiences have been just as receptive as they have always been to old standards such as “The Girl from Ipanema”, “One Note Samba”, or “Quiet Nights”.

Astrud Gilberto’s 2002  “Jungle” album release, is a showcase of Astrud’s songwriting, as it features ten original new compositions.

In April of 2002 Astrud Gilberto has been inducted to the “International Latin Music Hall of Fame”.

In November of 2008, Astrud Gilberto was awarded by  the Latin Recording Academy the “Lifetime Achievement” Grammy Award.

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Rahaan

Rahaan has been dropping disco and funky house beats to retro music heads since the 80’s when he and his friends use to dance at the best house parties in Chicago – Rahaan’s home state and most importantly, the place which gave birth to House music.

Playing at house parties in Chicago obviously done Rahaan some good, as he is now a successful DJ and music producer in his own right. He recently released Rahaan Edits Vol. 1 and 2 in 2008/9 on Stillove4music record label as well as putting out some remixes on the KAT record label.

The thing about Rahaan is that he defiantly knows his art, and it is his outstanding skill behind the decks that has brought him from the Chicago underground circuit out onto the international playing field of Japan, Australia, Amsterdam, Spain, Ireland, Scotland, England, throughout America.

But before Rahaan made his presence on the global dance floor, Rahaan was playing his music from his cassette tapes with his dance crew called the Chuck Brothers. He then moved to the state of Wisconsin whereby he started to grow a serious collection of disco and house records. In 1996 Rahaan moved back to Chicago started hanging out with his old friends, forming the reunion of the Chuck Brothers once again.

During the 90’s Rahaan was building up his reputation as one of Chicago’s finest Disco/House DJ, playing at a hot club called “The Spot” and the infamous loft parties with Mr.Bill, Pee Wee and friends. This opened the door for Rahaan to perform on guest spots for Sisterz of Vision and Soul In The Hole club nights, followed by a residency “Budda Lounge” – one of Chicago’s best nightclubs.

In the year 2000 Rahaan started producing tracks for his own personal collection but this soon gained him the attention of Fourplay records who signed him up straight away. His first major track releases on this label were ‘Coming Hard’ and “No Time for Love.”

Since then, Rahaan has released numerous mixes on various websites such as Deep House and Bring The Heat, which gained him attention from other record labels and music lovers across the world. His performances have included the Southport Weekender, Northern Soul and Bring The Heat parties, which you can view on the website.

In between touring Rahaan is busy producing soulful disco and house music for Australian singer Christine Eva and Atlanta based singer/songwriter Ozara Ode’. It is fair to say that Rahaan is well and truly on his way to accomplishing bigger and better things for the year ahead.

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Rick Wilhite

Rick ”the Godson“ Wilhite has dedicated his life to the music industry; whatever one wishes to know about Wilhite is conveyed through his music. His skill set includes DJ sets of R & B, Hip-Hop, Techno and Reggae but his “mojo” is House and Disco. A Detroit native, Rick learned at an early age that a career in music takes more than playing one’s favorite records. Multi-faceted crowd control, sound engineering and creative party promotion are what make him more than a Detroit DJ. With over two decades experience in playing clubs and parties 24-7, 365 makes the Godson one of Detroit’s best and most versatile DJ’s around. His venture to college in the south to Southern University allowed his skills to take the region to another level of Music. His DJ styles of House, Techno, Rap and R&B helped change the black college music scene across America. Beginning in high school, Wilhite also battled in contests against other well-respected DJ’s. He still impresses audiences today, and retains his undefeated status in the DJ community.

A 23-year professional within the music industry, Wilhite adds Music Historian, Salesperson, and Promoter to his list of accomplishments. During the early 80’s Wilhite worked for Buy Rite Music, which was one of the premiere record stores in the Midwest. Buy-Right specialized in servicing the DJ as opposed to having the DJ serving himself. During the early 90’s, he soon became one of the most sought-after music professionals in the industry. Equipped with a keen ear for quality music, he embarked on a path of self-proprietorship. He opened The House of Music in downtown Detroit. As well the record store, Vibes New and Rare Music.

Throughout his music career, Wilhite has performed for numerous international and stateside venues. He has gone by a host of names: DOC, Tech-12, Working Mixx, and most recently The Godson. Interestingly enough, each alias describes and symbolizes his relationship to his craft. He has established successful working relationships with city officials, journalists, and media personalities; and has befriended many music artists. Influenced by Detroit’s legendary pool of musicians, he entered production studios at the early age of eleven. He began remixing records in 1986 with the group NASA. Additionally, Wilhite worked alongside many electronic music pioneers, such as Juan Atkins and Derrick May. In recent years, Wilhite has established a bond with fellow musicians Marcellus Pittman, Kenny Dixon Jr. and Theo Parrish…now known as the 3 Chairs.

Rick Wilhite has recently been releasing various EP’s and Compilation CD on the Rush Hour records imprint, entitled Vibes New & Rare Music. The collection is named after his record store, which he opened 17 years ago in Detroit. Much like the shop itself, he sees the compilation as a platform for soulful productions by some of his peers, like Marcellus Pittman, Glenn Underground and fellow 3 Chairs member Theo Parrish, along with newer talents like Ricardo Miranda and Marc King. He also contributes a few of his own productions as well (as The Godson), including a remix of Sherard Ingram’s Urban Tribe project and a collaboration with Kyle Hall. All of the tracks on Vibes…

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Dj Sneak

In 1983, Carlos Sosa pka DJ Sneak, moved to the city of Chicago from The island of Puerto Rico, where his early musical experiences and Influences were rooted in salsa, meringue and famous Latin orchestras. Chicago, like Puerto Rico, is a city rich with musical styles and sounds. It was in Chicago that Sneak found inspiration in underground house music, Warehouse parties and “old school” mix tapes from the early pioneers – Farley Jackmaster Funk, Ralphi Rosario, Steve Hurley and local radio station shows played on WBMX.

Sneak earned his nickname rocking designs in the graffiti tagging days and began working at retail stores as an airbrush artist, not long after he cultured the music industry world and began recording his first releases. While at retail stores Sneak developed his DJing skills around the city working regular mobile DJ jobs and local nightclubs. In an already saturated DJ pool, sneak focused on music production and started an independent label – Defiant Records.

In 1992, using the fundamental studio pieces, Sneak began recording tracks with an unusual new style. In 1994, while still working at local store Gramophone Records sneak met Cajmere (green velvet) owner of Cajual and Relief Records. Cajmere released some of sneak’s pivotal tracks and helped bring international recognition, with it, a global DJing career.

In 1995, sneak’s new sound revolutionized house music with inspirational sounds and rhythms never heard. The disco filtered house grooves became sneak’s signature sound. Innovator to many, sneak’s love for music spawned current talents such as Daft Punk, Basement Jaxx, Armand Van Helden. In 1996, Dj Sneak’s” You can’t hide from your bud” on Derrick Carter’s Classic Recordings turn out to be something of a masterpiece, setting a blueprint for many subsequent ‘filtered disco’tracks and preceding the wave of funky, disco-influenced house that would prove the massive popularity of Chicago underground music.

From 1996 through the present day DJ Sneak is also a veteran on the remix world, with highly expected remixes that drive dance floors across the globe to ecstatic conditions by means of his intense beats and rhythms.

After years of development, DJ Sneak is a familiar name across the world’s club circuit rocking down the best venues and events. A frequent visitor of Ibiza -the Island of spiritual parties and the Mecca of dance music culture, sneak has played a part in many of events involving the best production teams from England; Ministry of Sound, Cream, Manumission, Miss Money penny’s to mention a few.

A favorite in the United Kingdom’s summer festivals for example Homelands, Creamfiels, ‘T’ in the park in Scotland, Sneak has no mercy on the sound systems and on the scale of exiting DJs to grasp he remains part of the top 100 DJs of the world for 5 consecutive years. Recognized as the disco filter innovator his musical style is diverse from furious banging’ Chicago tracks and Latin tribal beats to disco filtered reworks of retro classics with melodic rhythms that suit your soul.

At present times DJ Sneak is focused on his booking agency “All World Entertainment” where he represents fellow Chicago talents Mark Farina, DJ Heather, J-dub, with a sub division of Canadian talents DJ Gryphon and DJ Jason Hodges.

In 2001 Sneak will be launching a new record label ‘Magnetic Recordings” where he’s releasing all new music, compilations as well as introducing new talents and continue preaching the sound of Chicago House Music. The future bring about new light to DJ Sneak’ journey focusing on the development and evolution of electronic music’s struggle to be acknowledged as the sound of tomorrow.

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