Who's Frank?

Had a wonderful weekend in Brussels playing with Remember Frank?
Not a Frank Sinatra tribute. Remember Frank? is a flute/saxophone-bass-drums-trio playing original material and as far as I'm concerned, it is more an offering to the soul of John Coltrane. It is still  too premature to explain at this point in time what the name Remember Frank? refers to. In this project Jordi Grognard plays tenor saxophone saxophone, flute and bansuri (Indian classical flute), Nicola Lancerotti plays bass and I play drums and bells.



Brussels keeps being a very beautiful town and once again I found the same chilled-out atmosphere I found nearly a year ago when I first went. The weather was again magnificent although not as warm as Italy. Nevertheless from what I understand as soon as Belgian people get hit by some sun rays they go completely crazy and they almost get naked. The music scene is pretty vivid and I have the feeling that artists are really supportive with each other, a quality you won't find in many other places. I am definitely looking forward to go back in three weeks for a few more shows with RF?

Yah Supreme & Brohemian

Yah Supreme & Brohemian is an atmospheric hip-hop quartet featuring Brooklyn master of ceremonies Yah Supreme. Their sound is a 21st century mash-up of Gil Scott Heron, Marvin Gaye and Guru fused together over funky rhythms. Their simple, yet cinematic songs have attracted an enthusiastic audience to date. Yah Supreme (lead vocals/production) and Tommaso Cappellato (drums/production) formed the project in Brooklyn back in 2004 and independently released their debut album “Post Modern Garden” in 2006. Andrea Lombardini (bass) and Kelvin Sholar (keyboards) round out the quartet and Brohemian are currently touring in Europe to promote the project. Prior to forming Brohemian, Yah Supreme has released 5 12” singles on vinyl, an EP and a compilation album on compact disc through the labels “Son Doo Recordings” and “Underground Academy.” Yah Supreme & Brohemianʼs sophomore CD Naked City is now in production for a 2011 release.

Yah Supreme & Brohemian e' un gruppo di "Hip Hop Atmosferico" fronteggiato dal cantante e rapper newyorkese Yah Supreme. Il sound che li caratterizza può' essere paragonato a una fusione tra la musica di Gil Scott Heron, Marvin Gaye e Guru con esplorazioni e sperimentazioni nel jazz, funk e latin. Il gruppo Brohemian, che ha già' coinvolto l’ attenzione di un’audience sempre piu’ ampia nei locali piu’ prestigiosi di New York, e’ stato fondato nel 2004 a seguito dell’incontro tra Yah Supreme e il batterista e produttore Tommaso Cappellato, che nel 2006 pubblicano l'album "Post Modern Garden". Andrea Lombardini (basso) e Kelvin Sholar (tastiere) completano il quartetto che sta attualmente girando l'Europa per promuovere il progetto. Precedentemente a Brohemian, Yah Supreme ha inciso 5 singoli su vinile, un EP e una compilation per le etichette "Son Doo Recordings" e "Underground Academy". Il secondo album di Yah Supreme & Brohemian e' adesso in produzione ed avra' il titolo di "Naked City".

YAH SUPREME & BROHEMIAN

Yah Supreme (mc, vocals)

Kelvin Sholar (keys)

Andrea Lombardini (bass)

Tommaso Cappellato (drums)

UPCOMING SHOWS:

April 28, Vicenza Jazz Festival

PAST EVENTS (2011)

February 18, Fishmarket - Padova

February 19, Metropolis - Padova

February 20, Torrione Jazz Club - Ferrara

The whole story: COVERING GROUND!

Yah Supreme & Brohemian: Covering Ground!

Who would have thought when I first met mc, singer and showman Yah Supreme in a Williamsburg French bistro back in 2004, that we'd both have the same enthusiastic energy to run the same jazz/funk/hip-hop/hard-to-define project together 7 years later? AND that we'd be recording the second album? AND that it was going to be in Italy? Well I wouldn't have. But that's why life is so beautiful and unexpected.

So it turns out that, at the beginning of 2011 (exactly on 01/11/2011), Yah leaves NYC to spend a considerable amount of time in Europe. A choice that many artists living in the Big Apple (including myself after 9 years) have been making , due to the poor standard quality of life and the absurdity of living cost. The other half of the original Brohemian crew, Mr. DJ Concerned and Mr. Chauncey Yearwood, are presently touring the States with the great band "The Pimps Of Joytime".

Back in 2005 we all worked in the making of "Post Modern Garden" which process (or, as we say, "brocess") has been characterized by very strong and powerful events that made it even more so meaningful, at least to us. As there was no budget for recording we ended up using whatever was available at the time, such a small rehearsal space in Brooklyn and countless hours of post production on Pro-Tools (Bro-Tools in that case). This is the result:

http://tommasocappellato.bandcamp.com/album/yah-supreme-brohemian-post-modern-garden

After being done with PMG I felt it was time to move back to the old country and so I did in order to, as Chauncey would put it, "COVER GROUND"!  Of course I stayed in touch with my Brooklyn fam, going back there to play and hang. In 2007 Yah made his first move to Italy to play a bunch of shows with me and my fellow italian musicians. The tour was entitled "Yah Va All'Italia". Rumors say that Yah got sponsored by the Italian airline company Alitalia, besides being endorsed by Guinness, but you would have to check with him on that. ANYWAY... let's get to present times.

We are now working on the second album "Naked City" as well as preparing for a massive tour of Europe. There are several labels interested in this project and we are now considering which one is the most appealing to our demands (yeah right!). For the longest time I've been wanting to introduce Yah to another great friend of mine who I've been knowing since 1998. I'm talking about Mr. Kelvin Sholar, an incredibly gifted piano and keyboard player,  thinker, philosopher, composer, a close collaborator of musical heroes such as Q-Tip, Carl Craig and Steve Wonder just to name a few. (He has also co-produced and played on one of the most outstanding albums of the last decade, "Kamal The Abstract" by Q-Tip).

The encounter finally happened here in Europe where Kelvin has been based for the last few years. Needless to say it was magical under all circumstances. Kelvin and I previously played in a various number of settings, but definitely the most appealing has been a trio we put together a few years back with my partner in crime and fine bass player Andrea Lombardini. The four of us just completed a few shows in northern Italy and we're now preparing to record the album. Of course the Full Circle will be completed once all Brohemians (including the ones in the US) are back together. Let's see what happens. In the meantime you can enjoy a few moments from our latest gigs.





We Are The World, We Are The Children!