Get Timeless
Last month I participated in a unique presentation of Suite for Ma Dukes, Miguel-Agtwood Ferguson’s amazing orchestral reinventions of music by J Dilla. Today the piece’s original 2009 performance is released on DVD along with two other concerts featuring Brazilian legend Arthur Verocai and Ethiopian jazz great Mulatu Astatke. The Timeless shows were organized and filmed by LA-based Mochilla, with the goal of building bridges between influential composer/arrangers and the contemporary musicians who employ and build on their work.
Timeless posters by Teebs
The crew at Mochilla recently sent along a set of Timeless promos and I’ve been totally immersed in them since. A few initial responses, particularly to Miguel’s peerless arrangements of J Dilla:
- Very few orchestral arrangements are as good as these, and I perform lots of orchestral arrangements.
- I really appreciate the way these super-skilled orchestral musicians are so engaged with [and visibly into] what they’re playing.
- Suite for Ma Dukes is further proof of the importance of Dilla’s contribution to hip hop and contemporary music in general.
Have a listen to Jealousy as performed by the Ma Dukes orchestra with Karriem Riggins on set: [mp3]
So that you can get a better sense for Miguel’s achievement in the transformation of musical material, here is Dilla’s original from Fantastic Vol. 2: [mp3]
To see some of the video check out Mochilla’s collection of previews from Timeless. And do not sleep on picking up this unique and outstanding box set – the current release is limited to just 4000 numbered copies.
