Category Archives: Media

Zo! Performing on Vegas FOX5 News at the Gibson Showroom – 07.19.13

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Screen shot 2013-07-31 at 11.32.36 AM

During the afternoon prior to my very first performance in Las Vegas, the crew and I got together at the Gibson Showroom in Henderson, NV and did a taping of the second single from ManMade, “Count To Five” that was aired on Vegas’ FOX5 channel. The players are…

Zo! – Keys
Carmen Rodgers – Vocals
LaDarrel “Saxappeal” Johnson – Saxophone
Tim Scott Jr. – Drums
Darion Alexander – Bass
Zach Cutler – Guitar

Click link below to see the performance…
http://www.fox5vegas.com/video?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=9117821

Pics from Durham, NC Show – 07.25.13 …Photos by Meri Hyöky Photography

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Shouts to Meri Hyöky Photography for these pics from Thursday’s show at Casbah in Durham, NC. We had a BALL.

Personnel included: Myself on keys, Deborah Bond on vocals, Zach Cutler on guitar, Jon Laine on drums, Dennis Turner on bass, Phonte on vocals, and Jeanne Jolly on vocals.

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Zo! Interview in Indy Week (Raleigh-Durham, NC) (July 25, 2013)

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Interview: Zo! talks new album ManMade, DIY R&B and happy accidents

Author: Brandon Soderberg
Source: Indy Week

Lorenzo Ferguson, or Zo!, as he’s known to fans, released his new album ManMade — a rakish collection of house and ghettotech-tinged slow jams — back in May. It’s another idiosyncratic and uncompromising release from Foreign Exchange Music, fueled by intense collaborations between Zo! and the Foreign Exchange’sPhonte Coleman (credited as writer and producer). The second single, “Count to Five” featuring Gwen Bunn and Phonte, is propulsive soul-pop about real-life concerns like anxiety and transition. And don’t miss the charming video, which pays homage to the ’70s era of Sesame Street when the kid’s show was almost activist in its embrace of multiculturalism and positive vibes. We spoke over the phone about the new album, being doggedly independent while the music industry crumbles, “jheri curl music,” and even afforded some music nerd trivia about ’80s softies Mr. Mister. Zo! is celebrating the release of ManMade at the Casbah in Durham tonight along with the exploratory jazz trio the Hot at Nights.

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE

Zo! Interview on NewsObserver.com (July 22, 2013)

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Indie-R&B musician Zo! to return to Triangle

Even though he lives in Silver Springs, Md., Lorenzo Ferguson never stays away from the Triangle for very long.

The Detroit-born, indie-R&B musician and producer certainly didn’t stay away when he was composing his latest album, “ManMade,” which he will be playing (with Raleigh experimental jazz trio The Hot at Nights backing him up) at Casbah in Durham on Thursday night. While Zo! – that’s his performing name – worked on music for the album, he usually hollered at friend and collaborator Phonte Coleman in Raleigh about lyrics and about which vocalists would be perfect for which songs. Of course, the acclaimed rapper/singer provides vocals of his own on the album, doing lead and/or background vocals on many tracks, as well as the odd rap verse.

“He (Coleman) had a huge hand in ‘ManMade,’ ” Ferguson, 34, said on the phone from Silver Springs.

For nearly a decade, Ferguson and Coleman have had a continually fruitful working relationship. It started when they worked on an EP of ’80s covers, “Zo! and Tigallo Love the ’80s.” Ferguson also did production on “Leave It All Behind,” the second album from the Foreign Exchange, the R&B group Coleman fronts with producer Nicolay Rook. Ferguson would also go on the road with the Exchange whenever they toured.

 READ FULL ARTICLE HERE

“Count To Five” in One Small Seed

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#BOTTOMRIGHTCORNER: THE CONTRIBUTOR EDITION

Source: One Small Seed
Author: Kelly Frazier

Every week we compile a selection of music to sing you into the weekend and list them in a post called#bottomrightcorner. Sometimes new tunes, sometimes themed tunes and sometimes we ask a music aficionado to choose the tunes for us. This week, we hand over the selection process to our unofficial Detroit contributor, Mr Kelly ‘K-Fresh’ Frazier. Kelly has been sort of a ‘jack-of-all-trades’ in the Detroit hip-hop scene for the past decade. As the years have gone by, his focus has been that of a tastemaker for not only the hip-hop scene in Detroit, but of the whole music scene. Here’s five of his recent favourite tracks – enjoy and stay posted for upcoming interviews by Kelly over the next few weeks!

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE

“Making Time” in the Washington City Paper

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Listen: D.C.’s Summer Jams

Source: Washington City Paper
Author: Marcus J. Moore, Julian Kimble & Ally Schweltzer

Look, summer jams are a thing. A stupid thing, maybe; a “bullshit media construct,” as Esquire (rightly) put it last year. But summer is also a construct. It’s a state of mind—a drunken one fed by U Street Tacos and lowbrow bangers. People do dumb things in the summer, like wear brown flip-flops and set off fireworks at 2 p.m. on July 5. So open your arms to D.C.’s very own supply of summer songs. Not all of them are mindless truck-rattlers, of course; several of the best tracks are soothing, like aloe vera for a sunburn. But the dumb ones aren’t harming anything, except maybe our brains, and you don’t need one of those to love a summer jam.

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE

Photos from the Detroit ‘ManMade’ Album Release Concert…

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Check out some of the visuals from that epic night in Detroit… Saturday June 29, 2013.

Photos by
Tefari K. Stevenson-Howard
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bygbaby/sets/72157634413800702

Zo! Interview in HuffPost Detroit!

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Source: HuffPost Detroit
Author: Kelly Frazier

Zo! Brings His ManMade Soul Music Back To His Hometown of Detroit This Saturday

The music of the Detroit born and raised multi-instrumentalist/producer Lorenzo Ferguson, known to all us as Zo!, brings back the deep soul music from generations past. Currently residing in Maryland, Zo! has been releasing his own projects for over a decade now and is currently a member of The Foreign Exchange collective started by Phonte Coleman (formerly of the hip-hop group Little Brother) and Dutch hip-hop/soul producer Nicolay. Recently, Zo! released the newest chapter in his vast discography with ManMade, a voyage into depths of real soul music, and he’s coming back to his hometown this Saturday, June 29th at the Elizabeth Theatre in downtown Detroit to present the album live in concert. I asked Zo! about the new album and his feelings about living a life in music.

How would you describe the progression of your projects from the early works to ManMade?

I think there’s a greater quality of musicianship from album to album because of the time that I get to put in on my instruments. Experience has played a huge part in being able to develop a sound that I feel is my own as well as just being able to apply music making in the studio to more of a live experience because I’ve been on the road more often lately and it’s been easier to pick up on what a crowd responds to. To me, live presentation and interaction with your listeners is just as important as your studio release. If you’re able to make the two work hand-in-hand, you have a much better shot at connecting with your people musically.

Why did you name your album ManMade? What’s the principle theme behind it?

ManMade describes the work ethic needed as a completely independent musician/artist. We’re booking our own shows, building relationships with our listeners, making the music, etc. — it is very much blue-collar work and you can’t be afraid to get your hands dirty in order to accomplish long-term goals. Even the cover art is a depiction of me walking to work, where “work” is in this dilapidated building that represents our music industry. I’m basically representing the “last of a dying breed” group of artists who has no management, plays 95 percent of the instruments on the album, helps to distribute the music while touring… and I’m walking into this broken down building/industry to shine my light on it as much as I possibly can.

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE

Zo! Interview on SoulTrain.com

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Source: SoulTrain.com
Author: Chuck Nunley

Q&A: Zo!- Keys Open Doors

Ever since Henry Ford opened up shop in 1903, Detroit, Michigan has been associated with the motto, “Building from the ground up.” This means perfecting your craft as a “labor of love” at a perfectionist level, then taking your work to the people one by one to create loyal supporters. As a native of The D, Lorenzo Ferguson, better known as Zo!, embodies this motto. As a member of The Foreign Exchange Music family, a collective who represents “from the ground up” to the core, Zo!’s musicianship as been a vital piece of the +FE Music sound on record as well as on stage, while serving as the band’s musical director on tour. Now with the release of his sophomore album, appropriately titled ManMade, Zo! sat down with SoulTrain.com during a tour stop in Los Angeles to discuss bringing his latest labor of love to the people.

SouTrain.com: In your bio, it said as a kid, you aspired to be a Major League Baseball player and despised taking piano lessons. What was the moment that changed that and music became your passion?

Zo!:  I think it changed almost overnight when I learned how to play by ear. Once I learned how to play by ear, then I was able to learn songs I wanted to learn rather than only classical pieces. I could turn on the radio, pick out songs and play them for other people. When you’re a kid, it’s important to you to be able to kind of show off and get your little praise. Once I was able to do that I thought, “Oh this could be something.” But at that point in my life, it had yet to trump baseball yet.  It was there, but I never knew I would be making a living off it.

SoulTrain.com: For a number of years, while progressing in your career, you were a music teacher. Talk about the importance of music and other arts programs in schools, and how your experience as a teacher shaped you as a musician.

Zo!: . It helps you tremendously as a musician because you’re practicing all the time to teach your students. I think when you teach, you have to be on top of your game. This was especially [true] with the environment I was working in, which was kids with special needs that were also in and out of jail. They’ll come to my class, look at me like and go, “What do you know? What can you teach me?” And If I play on the piano and suck, then they’re really looking at me like, “Aw you’re garbage, now I don’t have to listen to you on any level, period.” So when you are on top of your game and answering all of their questions the way they need to be answered, then they are looking at you like, “he cares enough to answer these questions and is looking out for us.” The same applies with music education as a whole. If you are able to, for example, decipher different notes and signs while reading music, you’re able to unlock other types of reasoning that applies to other subjects and basic problem solving. Music and arts can be applied to math, English and science.   When states get to cutting budgets, they look at arts as a hobby. I see it as a life changer; I’ve seen it save lives first hand.

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE