Fusion | Musicosity

Fusion

Fourplay

There are 2 groups known as Fourplay, 1) An American smooth jazz group, 2) An Australian string quartet: 1. Fourplay is a jazz group, founded around 1990, in the USA. Current members are: Bob James (keyboards & programming), Nathan East (bass & vocal), Chuck Loeb (guitar) & Harvey Mason (drums & percussion). Loeb replaced Larry Carlton who himself had replaced the founding guitarist, Lee Ritenour in '98.

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Jimmy Haslip

Jimmy Haslip played on the Brother to Brother album of Gino Vannelli. He is a founding member of the Yellowjackets and made 2 solo albums; Arc (1993) and Red Heat (2000).

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Richard Bona

Born in 1967 in the village of Minta in East Cameroon, Bona grew up in a home filled with music. He began to perform in public at the age of five, singing in the village church with his mother and four sisters. His earliest instruments were wooden flutes and hand percussion. Eventually he constructed his own 12-string acoustic guitar. After moving to the bigger city of Douala, Richard began playing gigs at the age of 11 on a rented electric guitar. A major turning point in his life happened in 1980 when a Frenchman came to his town and established a jazz club in a local hotel.

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Mzaza

Mzaza is an alternative group of musicians playing folk fusion music inspired by the likes of Lhasa de Sela, Radio Tarifa, Manu Chao, Édith Piaf and Yasmin Levy. Current members are: Pauline Maudy, Greta Kelly, Jordan Stamos, Stephen Cuttriss, Tim Johannessen, Andrew Vievers. In the past Miranda Deutsch played guitar for this group. Mzaza explores the cross roads between ancient and contemporary melodies from France, Spain, the Balkans and the Middle East.

Sidestepper

Sidestepper began as a solo studio project in 1996 for main man Richard Blair, who had first gone to Colombia in 1993 to work with renowned folk singer Totó La Momposina -- the two had met at Peter Gabriel’s Real World studios where Richard worked as an engineer. The result was the first album, 1997’s Southern Star featuring the Latin drum and bass tune ‘Maine’. The project soon developed into a production and writing duo with colombian songwriter Ivan Benavides, and has since become a full live band.

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Hiromi

Hiromi Uehara (上原ひろみ, born 26 March 1979) is a Japanese jazz composer and pianist. She is known for her virtuosic technique, energetic live performances and blend of jazz with other musical genres such as progressive rock, classical and fusion in her compositions. She performs as a trio alongside bassist Tony Grey and drummer Martin Valihora. On October 19, 2006, the trio added guitarist David Fiuczynski (from the Screaming Headless Torsos), to form Hiromi's Sonicbloom.

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Joshua Redman

Joshua Redman (born February 1, 1969) is a prominent American jazz saxophonist who records for Nonesuch Records. Redman, who is Black and Jewish, was born in Berkeley, California. He is the son of jazz saxophonist Dewey Redman. He is a graduate of Berkeley High School. Then in 1991 he graduated summa cum laude from Harvard University, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa Society. Redman won the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition the same year and began focusing on his musical career.

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Hiatus Kaiyote

Hiatus Kaiyote are a 4-piece independent future soul group based in Melbourne, performing on occasion with 3 additional backing singers.

Their sound is a fusion of future beats, hip-hop and soul with subtler influences of Latin, dubstep and opera.

Since forming in mid 2011, Hiatus Kaiyote have already shared the bill with such acts as Stones Throw Record’s Taylor McFerrin, Warp legends Chris Clark and Harmonic 313 and sound genius Robin Fox, Brainfeeder’s Lapalux and oOoOO as well as playing bills at Woodford Folk Festival, Melbourne International Jazz Festival and headlined at stage at the final The Bohemian Masquerade Ball.

Hiatus Kaiyote's chief songwriter is Nai Palm, who pens intricate compositions, rich with colour and mystery. With her unique honey-velvet voice, she is supported by three of Melbourne's finest and most versatile musician/producers. Keyboardist Simon Mavin, who has graced the stage with such bands such as Australia’s premier soul outfit The Bamboos, rock jazz freakout crew Whitesploitation, reggae masters The Red Eyes and funk heavyweights The Firemen. Paul Bender on bass, laptop and guitar is a graduate of Miami Florida's indie, experimental and improvised music scenes, but with a passion for stank-funk basslines. Drummer Perrin Moss is a powerhouse of beats both jilted and slick and an experienced MC, producer, percussionist and turntabilist and is the former frontman of ten piece Blue Mountains hip-hop band Jumbledat, Perrin has collaborated with other crews such as Thundamentals.

In their short time as a band they have fused a unique sound held together by Nai Palm's smoke drenched vocals and innovative melodies, Simon Mavin’s hands on knowledge of synthesizers, keyboards, Latin and jazz structures, Perrin Moss's slippery drum beats and soul clap rhythms and Paul Benders waterfall thumbs of bass guitar and sample wizardry.

Their first residency, held on Tuesdays at The Evelyn Hotel in Fitzroy Melbourne was extended from 4 weeks to four months due to popular demand. They sold out The Northcote Social Club for their EP launch (April 5th 2012) and received strong turnouts at Black Bear Lodge in Brisbane and Goodgod Small Club in Sydney as part of their debut tour in aid of the release.

They will be performing at SXSW in 2013, and have launched a crowd-sourcing campaign on Indiegogo to raise funds for the trip.

Nai Palm - vocals, guitar, keys
Perrin Moss - drums, percussion, electronics
Paul Bender - bass, electronics
Simon Mavin - keys, synths, electronics

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