SUITE FOR MA DUKES: 2/22/09
posted by O.W.
Update (2/19): As promised, we have tickets to give away for the "Suite for Ma Dukes" show, coming up this Sunday night.
I'll draw three winners at random from those who email me, with the subject line "Ma Dukes Contest". Good luck!
Next in the Timeless series, following on Mulatu Astake's performance from the other week, is "Suite for Ma Dukes," a four-part suite celebrating the career and life of J-Dilla (whose birthday would have been tomorrow) by Carlos Niño & Miguel Atwood-Ferguson.
I admit, I was a bit skeptical as to what this would sound like - the idea of having a 36 piece orchestra playing compositions inspired by J-Dilla felt like it could be an aesthetic mish-mash, like when bands try to recreate hip-hop beats. But I was very pleasantly moved by the songs I heard from the EP which, far from trying to work in a hip-hop vein, are fully fleshed out jazz compositions that borrow aspects of Dilla's tracks without being strictly beholden to them (or their original samples).
Here's some streaming audio of one of the Suite's best songs:
The EP itself is currently available on iTunes and will be released on LP/CD in April (pre-order here).
The performance will be on February 22nd (Sunday night) at the Luckman Center (Cal State LA campus). I should have some tickets to give away for it as we get closer to the date.
