Destiny then brought Rommel to Canada in 2006. Fate couldn’t have played a better trick. By bringing the young musician to a multicultural environment, life exponentially increased Rommel’s amazing artistic skills. The first musical encounter, with the People Project band,an inter-cultural, multi-lingual international musical collective exploring music from around the world, turned out to become an even greater synergic reunion. Formed by young artists from different parts of the Americas (Canada, Mexico, Brazil), the gathering resulted in an explosion of talents in which each one of the musicians greatly influenced each other. People Project and Rommel’s performances at Café Nostálgica (a cultural hot-spot in Ottawa known for its diversity, its warmth and its ongoing support for the arts) became legendary among the Ottawa’s musical scene. By mesmerizing the audience week after week, the artists succeeded in creating a small legion of fans who religiously attended the group’s performances. Rommel also has participated in People Project on a number of occasions and continues to do so. Among the more prominent performances, he was featured with the group at “FESTIVAL INTERNATIONAL DE JAZZ DE MONTREAL“, “OTTAWA INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL“, “GLOBAL GROOVES-TORONTO” and “OTTAWA BLUESFEST” among other festivals, where he collaborated on a mix of People Project and Rommel’s original material.

Rommel has just completed his month tour back home and is preparing to start at school in Montreal. He is gracing Ottawa’s Mercury Lounge stage for his return performance!

Friday September 19th 22:00 Mercury Lounge Ottawa

Hailing from Toronto, Jamesking brings the sort of fresh perspective on R&B that the genre has quite frankly been waiting for. Harking back to a time when popular R&B/Funk was a means of musical expression and not just a formula, Jamesking creates intricate, smooth, hip and relevant music. Songwriter/guitarist Duff Demirovic has crafted a unique sound, aided by first class musicians Ran Caspi, Ilian Iliev and Vlada Mladenovic. Add to all of this the heavenly vocals of Gyles and you have an explosive mix that will keep your feet tapping throughout.

Jamesking is a debut recording that would make its makers immensely rich and famous in a perfect world. “Reminisce” itself is a single that could easily be a gold record with the right push from a record label. Jamesking is just the right mix of old school R&B/funk with a modern pop twist to be something new, similar to the niche discovered/created by Gym Class Heroes. Musically this is much more complex than a lot of what you will hear on top-40 radio, a credit to Mr. Demirovic’s songwriting talents (check out “Melody Wasted”, a particular gem). Don’t waste time, get to know Jamesking. If nothing else, you’ll begin a long association with one of the most talented and innovative R&B acts out there. If things work out well, you can say”I knew them when”.

Avant Chord (aka dj Cheeba due to his free-spirited and relaxed attitude towards life) hails from Canada and resides in Toronto. He has been a very active individual in the Toronto hip-hop community since 1996, which stems from his tremendous passion for the culture as a whole (graffiti, breakdancing, emceeing and dj-ing and now producing) and every genre that has inspired the music from funk, soul to samba. His ear for rare, soulful music originated from break dancing to the music of legendary funk artists such as James Brown, Booker T and the MG’s, Bob James and The Blackbyrds back in his high school era. During this time, he was introduced by a friend to some musical instruments that would seal the deal for his love for manipulation of music, a pair of Tech 12’s and a Gemini mixer. He grazed his fingers, for the first time, to a spinning record on a turntable platter and the rest is history. Since then, his love for hiphop and everything soulful has gone from playing them and now recently has evolved into creating them.

Over this past year, Avant Chord has worked steadily to create an impressive portfolio of music – producing tracks with the mindset of crafting soundscapes with longevity and versatility. Notorious for incorporating obscure samples and infusing his own brand of raw soul with a musical edge, his signature is having the ability to reinvent his musicality through each track – deeply layered and diversified with a unique flavour. As an artist, his love for making music is only one part of the equation, the other is being able to share his talent and creativity on a global level.

With the release of their first album What We Have in January of 2006, METHODOLOGY joined the revolution to bring true Soul, R&B, and Funk back to the live stage. With approximately 50 independently produced shows across Canada in 2006, METHODOLOGY has grown into one of the foremost underground Live Soul acts in the country. In 2006 they were nominated for ‘Best Live Performance” and “Best R&B Group” at the Toronto Independent Music Awards, and were honoured to be nominated for “Group of the Year” at the Soultracks Awards in the USA (running against the likes of The Brand New Heavies, Amel Larrieux, Omar, and many other signed acts).
Through online distribution, internet and satellite radio, campus radio, and music publications, METHODOLOGY has developed a world-wide following. Sites like Myspace have exposed METHODOLOGY’s music to an international audience. Mixes of METHODOLOGY’s music are being spun by renowned DJ’s in the U.K, U.S.A., and Europe. With thousands of hours of airplay on radio and in clubs, METHODOLOGY’s music is now widely recognized in countries they have never even been to.

Formed in late 2003, METHODOLOGY are five individual artists that found a blessed connection together, and formed a unit to create and perform some intense, original music. With KAMIL spearheading the group on Vocals, JAMIE laying down the live beats on the Drums, MARTYN churning out thick riffs & rhythms on Guitar, STEFAN’s sweet fingers on the Keyboards, and DAN laying down the bass on the heavy tip, METHODOLOGY is a band that focuses on great music with great musicianship. Now with the frequent addition of the vocal talents of JANELLE, METHODOLOGY often rocks the live stage with six dynamic members. Their music has been called; ‘a perfect mixture of Soul, Hip Hop, and Funk’. The band has been described as; ‘Imagine Jamiroquai, Stevie Wonder & Prince all rolled into one fantastically melodic groove band’. The music is straight from the soul, steeped in the flavours of Hip-Hop, R&B, Funk and Pop.

2007 and 2008 has proved to be busy years for the band as they delved into work on their second and now highly anticipated album titled “THE REPRISAL”. A four-song EP featuring hot tracks from the new record has been released ahead of schedule to wet the increasing appetites of METHODOLOGY’s followers. With a fiercely growing large fan base and demand for new matieral, “THE REPRISAL” is is nearing completion and is currently slated for official release in the Summer of 2008.

Upcoming Shows

24 Jul 2008 14:00 Beaches International Jazz Festival Toronto
25 Jul 2008 14:00 Beaches International Jazz Festival Toronto
26 Jul 2008 14:00 Beaches International Jazz Festival Toronto
16 Aug 2008 22:00 Montreal Funk Fest! Montreal

(This is part one of two videos, the second of which can be seen right here.)

It is, Pierre Chretien insists, still very much an Ottawa band.

But increasingly, The Souljazz Orchestra is bringing its infectious global sound around the globe.

Late last year, it was a string of sold-out shows in Europe. Last month, the sextet was wowing them in Brooklyn. Come July, it’s back overseas for club and festival dates in the U.K., France, Austria, Denmark and Hungary. Further shows in such exotic locales as Iceland are in the works. “To them,” Chretien muses with a laugh, “we’re exotic Canadians.”

Yet despite such globetrotting activities, Chretien and band will find time in their busy schedule to play three local dates over the next five weeks, beginning with a celebration of Souljazz at Barrymore’s on Saturday. (A more intimate show at Gatineau’s Le Petit Chicago is slated for June 21; a considerably less intimate performance will take place in Confederation Park on July 1.)

“We’re still an Ottawa band,” Chretien says. “I mean, we live here, these are our stomping grounds.

“We’re playing more and more all over the world, but we’re definitely an Ottawa band. Ottawa taught us to interact with crowds and to get them participating. Ottawa has been our training camp.”

Few bands have trained harder for the success now coming Souljazz’s way.

Five years’ worth of weekly local gigs saw the band graduate from residencies at the University of Ottawa’s Cafe Nostalgica to the Mercury Lounge to Babylon.

By the release of the band’s superb second album, Freedom No Go Die, the combo’s ensemble playing benefited from near-telepathic communication between members.

Moreover, what had begun as essentially an opportunity for U of O music students (Chretien continues to pursue masters studies in music composition) to play jazz has evolved into a multicultural band whose ability to craft original dance music in funk, Latin and afrobeat styles has rightly commanded international attention.

“We started out a little jazzy, a little more laid back, but after a while you want that crowd participation,” Chretien says of the evolution.

“We started exploring genres related to jazz, but not your intellectual, listening jazz. So afrobeat, Latin, funk … it was all kind of a natural progression.”

The group’s 2005 debut, Uprooted, captured Souljazz in the midst of that transition. But if Uprooted represented a band not yet fully formed, it was no less appealing for it. And within months of the CD’s independent release, ears well outside the 613 were perking up.

“We were just doing it for the fun of it,” keyboardist/songwriter/arranger/vocalist Chretien says.

“But when the album started getting airplay all over the world, we started figuring something was happening. Then we got a record deal and things really started to happen.”

The deal, through Toronto’s Do Right! Music, will see the band’s next, already completed album see international release following its Canadian arrival in September. On CD and vinyl. (The label has also reissued Freedom No Go Die on LP.)

Much touring will follow thanks to the group’s having recently been picked up internationally by The Agency Group.

“They do Pink Floyd and Dolly Parton and all those people,” Chretien says of the world’s largest booking agency. “That has helped a bit.”

A bit. But the bulk of the credit for the band’s success must go directly to the musicians — a not only talented, but also determined lot.

“The music side is important. You need to have your chops and to practise and all that,” Chretien notes.

“But you also need to take initiative and take care of the whole business aspect of it. I think it’s important to promote yourself and to get out there. It’s a lot of work, but a lot of musicians ignore that part of it and go unnoticed because of it.”

Want an album? You got it!

UPCOMING SHOW:

Saturday May 31st 21:30pm Souljazz Orchestra : w/ DJ Zattar Barrymore’s Music Hall, Ottawa, ON

(This article made possible by Souljazz Orchestra going global by Allan Wigney-Sun Media)

DJ Huggs is a champion of not only good DJ’ing but also of playing good music period – from funk 45’s in sweaty dance halls to party classics at swish hotel bars to golden era hip hop for b-boys and upfront club music on main stages all over this great continent of ours. Whether it be the infamous Hollywood Banana Split Party @ LAX with DJ AM, a genre bending two room party in Baltimore with TV On The Radio & Dave Nada, or headlining the long-running Hai Karate night in Calgary; all this while steadily introducing Canada and homebase Montreal to acts like J*Davey and Platinum Army, Eli Escobar and Sharon Jones and rocking alongside everyone from Antibalas to Zero 7 – even The Roots and The Police – when they come to town; not to mention setting the Wunderbar inside the W Hotel in Old Montreal on fire every Saturday night. With 200+ shows on the road a year – from Ottawa to Reno, SF to Philadelphia, Edmonton to Austin – they’ll tell you: when Alex is DJ’ing, people cheer.

In 2007, he shared the stage with acts like The Police, The Roots, Justice, Soulwax, DJ AM, DJ Craze, Steve Aoki, MSTRKRFT, The Rub and Diplo amongst others. Look out for upcoming dj gigs with DJ Day, Contra and Dave Nada and other heavyweights with plenty of 2008 dates in Canada, USA, Mexico, Costa Rica and Europe.


21 Jun 2008 12:00 The Goods (Daytime Event) Montreal, Quebec
29 Jun 2008 22:00 Canada Day Long Weekend Montreal, Quebec
18 Jul 2008 22:00 Timekode Eri Cafe, Ottawa

Stepchyle is a seven piece hard-hitting original Funk/Soul band that will get people out of their seats and on to the dance floor. The Stepchyle sound is fresh, featuring funk, soul and jazz fusion. Packed together with a solid rhythm and horn section, soaring vocals and soloists, they are a show loved by many. George Taylor along with Kris Craig are the sweat behind the Stepchyle project. Together, they have a wealth of experience and have shared the stage with such talent as Jerry Doucette, Roy Gaines, Wild Child Butler, Don Johnson and many more. George and Kris have been working together on many projects over the last 10 years. Stepchyle has become one of their most creative projects and the duo is excited about its sound and success. With many years of experience in Florida and the South Eastern U.S., George has opened or played backup for such artists as Millie Jackson, Johnny Taylor, Earth, Wind & Fire, Kool and the Gang, The Ohio Players, Albert Collins, Robert Lockwood Jr. and Teddy Pendergras. While based out of Florida, George worked 9 years with his own band, “Tutch”, whose style (similar too Stepchyle) was a heavy Funk and R&B base with Jazz overtones. He became band leader with blues artist Lucky Peterson in 1989. A competent lead and backup vocalist as well as guitarist, George Taylor has become a practiced professional with a versatility that is not restricted or limited to any one musical style.

The origin of Timekode is in the bytes that began travelling through samplers and drum machines in the early eighties. MIDI timecode is the data that keeps sample loops, filtered basslines and drum hits moving in unison – it’s the glue that holds together a culture based on pulling together bits of the past to make the sounds of the future.My take on Timekode is a little broader. It’s hip hop and dancehall, breakbeat and drum’n'bass from the golden age of sample-heavy music. But it’s also the soul and funk, jazz and reggae that provide the raw material for new forms of music. And it’s the synth-fuelled broken beat, southern bounce and grime that’s pushing urban music forward. And it’s mostly definitely about all different tempos: a lot of the hottest shit lives far from 130 bpm.

It comes down to this: Timekode is a big, sweaty party so come to dance!

Go on, get their March 2008 mix right here.

Or check ‘em out live:
18 April 9PM Eri Café / Pan-African Social Club Ottawa, ON
* FREE / NO COVER * 19+ w/ID

As I’m sure you’re sold on Slim already, you’ll want to be sure to check him out at the Mercury Lounge (Ottawa) on March 29th.

TCR will be there. We’ll wear a flower in our hair.

With theatrical grandeur and ecstatic stage shows, they’ve endeavoured to bring their brand of heavy groove, feel good music to the masses. Their massive, sexy, euphoria-inducing concerts have left legions of fans begging for more.

Their shows are a combination of throwback soul complete with Motown/Shangri-la brand choreography blended with a high-energy punk-funk intensity reminiscent of early Chili Peppers. One song rolls into the next in the style of a 1967 James Brown show, stirring the crowds into a smiling, sweaty, dancing frenzy.

The ElastoCitizens are a total experience that have to be seen to be believed.

So, naturally, here’s an upcoming show for you to check out:

May 10th, 2008 – Lee’s Palace w. The Heavy @ 529 Bloor St. W (Toronto, ON)

Bambi Blue