Enjoy this one y’all…
“Greater Than the Sun” feat. Phonte
Directed by: PhilTheGod
Co-Starring: Jacinte Blankenship
Album: SunStorm
Tag Archives: SunStorm
Zo! + Sy Smith in Paris… 03.05.11
I’ll start by saying this: I have only been to Paris three times, but in those few visits my adoration for the city increases each time. This past visit and show proved to be one helluva testament to this city’s proper treatment of the artists that come through and play.
Sy and I were up and out of our London hotel by about 7am to hop on what they called the “tube” (subway train station) at Euston to head one stop northbound on the Victoria Line to King’s Cross, which is where we caught the Eurostar train to Paris. Being as though I purposely stayed up the entire night before, once we found our seats, I remember cracking a couple of jokes here and there……..and then I was OUT. The next thing I remember clearly was stopping in Paris for what turned out to be the quickest two-hour train ride in my entire life. I kind of staggered along and went through the motions while grabbing my bags and walking through the train station. It finally hit me: “Ummm… you MIGHT wanna start looking out for the promoter so you know where the hell y’all are going!” Just as I looked up to see if I noticed a “Sy Smith / Zo” handwritten sign, I noticed someone standing there holding our promo poster! Wow… It was our promoter Manuelle waiting to greet and walk us over to our hotel. When we got there, she checked us in and made sure everything went through without any problems and asked us if we would meet her back down in the lobby to go over the next two days… Impressive. Upon meeting back up, she took us over to the Bizz’art venue so that we were able to check it out. Our posters and advertisements were plastered all over the place. Then she asked the magic question… “Are you hungry?” And to be honest, I wasn’t even that hungry… But dammit, this was Paris… and I wanted something to eat. So I requested just a sandwich of some sort, nothing major… just something small. Manuelle said that she knew of a place right around the corner that would be perfect. We walked over to a small spot around the corner from the venue where the guys working there seemed to know Manuelle fairly well – I saw this as a great thing, meaning they would take care of Sy and I too. With that being said, one of the guys asked me what I wanted and I requested a sandwich. I didn’t know what I was in for… He pointed out a type of beef that he stated was very good… I told him to slice it up!! He then began to list the cheeses they had available… I was so excited that I chose TWO! “Yes! Put mozzarella AND parmesan cheese on there!” The next thing I knew, he started talking about one of my weakness foods… Sun-dried tomatoes. My excitement ALMOST got the best of me as I felt like cussing dude out while ordering…
“YES! Shit!! Put some damn sun-dried tomatoes on that bitch!!”
…But I held back and just decided to order them in a civilized fashion. What I took back to the hotel with me was too worthy of being called just a sandwich… That joint was a SAMMICH. I grabbed some cheddar and chives chips, me and Sy split a bottle of red wine at the hotel and lunch was served. …Pardon the bite, taking the picture was SECOND on the priority list next to my wanting to take care of the food.
After completing an interview, we had good cry laugh listening to a Bizzy Bone interview that my boy Asylum 7 and I used to listen to and quote rather regularly. After that, the rest of the day was ours to do whatever with. So later on that night, we grabbed dinner at a spot right across the street from the hotel called Le Chateau Landon. Our waiter looked like a French Mario Brother… Dude had the handlebar mustache and everything. For me, he recommended the ribeye steak, which I ordered with a pepper sauce, cheese sauce, and a small salad. ALL of it was good. I even ate some of the fish off of Sy’s plate and knocked out some those fries…
The day of the show began with me going downstairs into the hotel lobby and taking advantage of its free breakfast, which included… Croissants!!! I went down there and took care of about 4-5 of them and being that my sleep schedule in Europe is always ridiculously off, I went to bed after my meal and ended up waking up late to meet Manuelle and Sy for lunch at 1pm. I got myself together in record time after receiving the “where you at” call from Sy at about 1:15 or so. After rushing down to the lobby, Manuelle walked us to a spot on the way to the venue where she treated us to wine and some great food. I had a dish that combined whitefish with mashed potatoes, which I had NEVER seen before… The fish was mashed in WITH the potatoes with peppercorns on top of it, it was kinda crazy… but tasted wonderful. From there we walked over to Bizz’art where we were to meet up with the musicians and get a rehearsal in with them before the show. Now, I had already heard great things about these kats from N’Dambi and her manager, but to hear how good they sounded at that rehearsal as well as witnessing their preparation… I was thoroughly impressed. Kats had iPads with their charts in them, the keyboard player had all of the sounds he was gonna use for each song pre-programmed in his laptop. The drummer took the time to make sequences of EACH SONG just in case we wanted to have a backing track to play over. It is rare to find players who get this far into playing your work. It was just as impressive as it was appreciated by Sy and myself. After running through our set with the fellas, we ventured back to the hotel to change and get ready to give Paris more than their money’s worth of a show. …And then I got a knock on my door…. It was Sy. She looked a bit distraught as she explained to me that she just received word that she lost a good friend of hers who just happened to be Jeff “Fuzzy” Young lead singer of the group Something For the People (“My Love is the Shhh”)… So from that moment on, our two shows were to be a dedication to his life and music. The way that Sy was able to take her grieving and transform it into positive energy used to perform without a hitch was a testament to her talent and extreme professionalism… And THIS is yet another reason why I will forever mess with some damn Sy Smith.
Performance-wise, the show was excellent, particularly for it being our first time performing as a ‘duo.’ We opened with “Nights Over Egypt” and the night continued to improve and progress from there. After absolutely going IN on Sy’s music, we started in on some joints from SunStorm and …just visiting too – Including a piano intro of “Greater Than the Sun,’ which rolled directly into “Greatest Weapon Of All Time.” We were joined on stage by The Roots’ keyboardist Ray Angry during “MakeLuv2Me” which turned out to be One of my favorite moments of the show came when we played “Flight of the Blackbyrd.” Excellent times… The Paris crowd NEVER disappoints as they were once again enthusiastic during the show and excited to meet with us after its completion. Matter of fact, they damn near bought up all of our merchandise leaving us with a limited supply for the next day in London! My only question is… So WHEN CAN WE COME BACK?!
Zo! + Sy Smith @ The Jazz Café in London!! – March 6, 2011
I’m very excited to announce that I’ll be co-headlining the Jazz Café in London on March 6th, 2011 with one of my favorite people… the immensely talented Sy Smith. I’m really looking forward to making my Jazz Café debut as I have been told for years that it’s one of the historically rich spots to play in… aaaand my pulse rate spiked as I just typed that.
You can get your tickets here…
UK, it looks like I will now see you in January AND in March. Have some good food waiting for me please….!!
SoulBounce Names Zo! Their 2010 Producer Of the Year!
Source: SoulBounce · By Ivory
While here at the SB headquarters we don’t always see eye-to-eye in terms of music, one thing we do agree on is that 2010 was, indeed, the year of Lorenzo Ferguson better known to all as Zo!. Many of the Detroit-bred, D.C.-based multi-instrumentalist and producer’s melodies provided the soundtrack to our 2010. Let’s face it, he seemed to be everywhere this year. Zo! managed to hit us off with stellar production work nearly every season this year, making him easily the SoulBounce Honors 2010 Producer of the Year.
Zo! kicked things off in the spring, when his fellow Foreign Exchange Music labelmate YahZarah released her highly-anticipated album, The Ballad of Purple Saint James. He lent his production talents to her single “Cry Over You” featuring Phonte. The funky, upbeat track provided the perfect backdrop for YahZarah’s sassy rebound tale.
By the time the summer release of his own full-length FE Music debut, SunStorm, we were practically foaming at the mouth with anticipation of the musical delicacies our ears were about to feast on. And boy, did he not disappoint. Drawing comparisions to Stevie Wonder‘s Songs in the Key of Life, SunStorm served up a delicious composition of musicianship and artistry. As previously stated in our review of the album, “While some producers may stumble when their musical ambitions find them dabbling in different genres, Zo! expertly navigates vast musical terrain.” Nearly six months later, this album continues to amaze with his wide-range of talents, sprinkling in a dash of jazz here, a spoonful of broken beat there and a whole lotta fun, spirited soul and hip-hop ingredients in between.
In with the cool weather of the fall, came the equally-cool third group project, Authenticity, from The Foreign Exchange. While most production was still held-down by FE co-founder Nicolay, Zo!’s fingerprints still remained all over this album. Picking up where the group’s previous project, Leave It All Behind, left all, this album was melancholy and slightly-experimental, where LIAB was hopeful and soulful. Zo! even took a turn on the mic–albeit a talkbox mic–on “Don’t Wait.” Whether he was leading us through the highs of love or guiding us through the dreary days of heartbreak, Zo! consistently used his musical prowess to help bring the vivid emotions to life. Through his fingertips, we were able to feel sentiment just as clearly as we could hear it.
And to think, Zo! managed to deliver a crop of good music all while holding down a full-time gig as a music teacher in Washington, D.C. By showcasing us such a versatile range of musical portraits in 2010, we can only imagine what Zo! has in store for us in 2011. If next year is anything like this past one has been, then you better make room on your iPods for more phenemonal music.
SoulTracks Critics Choose ‘SunStorm’ As One Of “The Best Albums of 2010”
Source: SoulTracks.com
It is always fun at the end of each year to celebrate the best of that year. And 2010 had a lot of great music.
And so we’ve lassoed our music critics to each pick their favorites, which we’ve assembled below in alphabetical order (by artist name). These are uniformly releases with which you can’t go wrong — or so our critics say. Looking for a Christmas gift for a music lover? Then spend some time with these winners.
The toughest part of this is limiting the choices, but, imperfect as they are, here are the selections from Peggy Oliver (PO), Detrel Howell (DH), Reg Jones (RJ), Chris Rizik (CR), L. Michael Gipson (LMG), Melody Charles (MC), J Matthew Cobb (JMC) and Howard Dukes (HD). Also, each album cover is a link to either CD Baby or Amazon, where you can generally listen to clips from the disc or where you can purchase it.
We know these picks will have SoulTrackers talking. So be sure to comment below to let us know what we did right and what we missed!
Read more: The Best Albums of 2010 – Our Critics Picks! | SoulTracks – Soul Music Biographies, News and Reviews
TGRIOnline.com reviews N’Dambi and Zo! Dec. 10th Show at Black Cat, Washington DC
Source: True Genius Requires Insanity · By Marcus Dowling
On paper, a night featuring heralded underground soul songstress N’Dambi and local DC cause celebre with national trending aspirations Zo! (government name Lorenzo Ferguson) sounds like a recipe for success. The two artists represent the twin hopes for traditional rhythm and blues style in the 21st century. N’Dambi, a former backup singer for Erykah Badu, carries forth the Nona Hendryx meets Nina Simone style artistry of her mentor, music as art, art as music, a funky melange of rock and soul. Zo!, alongside his Foreign Exchange Records supported “Sunstorm All Stars” supporting cast is a producer, composer and songwriter par excellence, a little bit of Isaac Hayes, a little bit of Smokey Robinson, with a spoonful of Ramsey Lewis tossed in for good measure, a feel good sultry blend of adult contemporary music. He’s not concerned with popping bottles, he’s concerned with getting deeper into the heart of the matter. However, on this night in Washington, DC, what was drawn up on paper, failed to materialize, as a night with the best of intentions fell short of their destination.
This is not to say that it was a night that was without spellbinding performances. Zo and his Sunstorm All Stars are the best live act in soul music today. Having witnessed their live show twice this year, it’s easily the best ticket in the genre. It has everything you’d expect from the more mainstream side of R & B, just not wrapped in a broadcloth of tawdry behavior. This is classic music by extremely talented musicians who know what that means. Lead single from Zo’s latest album Sunstorm, “This Could Be The Night” is a sensual jam with a George Benson swing, meaning that for more modern ears, it recalls Montell Jordan’s “Get It On Tonight,” in that it’s grown and sexy without being debased. The set features the ever dapper Ferguson behind a dual decker keyboard and organ, a consummate band leader, leading his charges through a tightly produced set that highlights exquisite artistry. Though Monica Blaire was not present, Deborah Bond’s take on the 11 minute suite “Make Love To Me” was absolutely magical. The song is a moody jazz winner, allowing for a virtuoso female vocalist to improvise and reach an orgasmic peak under the blanket of restrained elegance. If not aware, it is the year’s finest soul performance, and absolutely worthy of consideration for achievement.
This is not to say that the performance by the Grammy nominated N’Dambi was by any means without merit. She’s a toned statuesque rock star with great presence and a glorious red dyed afro/mohawk. Her album Pink Elephant is a heartfelt, earnest and well meaning melancholy burner of a soul record. Owing a great deal more to a bohemian aesthetic than the uptown swing of Ferguson, the performance was not entirely well received by a crowd who had been inspired to move, groove, get turned on and turned out by the Sunstorm All-Stars. If she followed a more muted performer, the likelihood of an entire room being captivated by her would have occurred, however this was not the case. Opener “L.I.E.,” a tale of a cheating male who travels to his lady loves along both ends of the thoroughfare is excellent, as was the single most responsible for Pink Elephant’s success, “Can’t Hardly Wait.” In abiding by a performance standard that involves a loose band performance, and an insistence upon intimate discussion, for the N’Dambi loyalist, it was an ideal environment. However, if looking to be blown away by a performance, that would appear to not be her strongest suit as a live artist. Adopting some of the more captivating aspects of the live performance of her mentor Ms. Badu is an absolute necessity.
Overall, this was a phenomenal evening of diverse styles of soul music. However, in slotting the honed and crafted Sunstorm All-Stars in front of the thinking woman’s sensual bohemain jam session of N’Dambi, the night was a study in styles instead of a fully realized total night of complete entertainment.
Zo! + N’Dambi @ The Black Cat in Washington D.C. – Friday, December 10th
On Friday December 10th, I’ll be presenting my latest release, SunStorm LIVE along with my band, vocalists Kenny Wesley, Deborah Bond, and my brovah from anothah, Phonte. This will take place at the Black Cat in Washington D.C. opening for Dallas-bred vocalist, N’Dambi. I hope to see a lot of you all there as this will be a helluva show…!!
The Couch Sessions Interview
INTERVIEW: Zo! creates a SunStorm at CMJ
Written by: sondai
If you see me walking down the street with these bright green and blue earbuds on I am more than likely listening to one of two play lists (not that the others on the iPod are garbage but I am just in this mood…). The first being a recently acquired dedication to moi from a certain BK producer and the second being my tried and true “nothing can touch me when this album is playing” album. That would be the latest from Detroit area native Zo!, SunStorm is on constant rotation. 12 full bodied tracks of nothing but good music with some major voices from Lady Alma, YahZarah, Darien Brockington to Monica Blaire and Phonte. I was fortunate enough to get on this brother’s dance card and ask him a few questions about his musical decisions that have lead him to this space in time.
So how did a Michigan native migrate to the DMV? What was the deciding factor for your move?
Before I moved, I was contemplating either coming to the East Coast or moving out west. I decided to move east because there are so many different markets and cities up and down I-95 that I felt it would be beneficial to advancing my musical career. The fact that I have a ton of family in Maryland made the move a bit more natural… It was fairly easy to get adjusted out this way.
Coming from such a historic place in the music game do you feel like there are different standards that you must adhere to?
Well, I know that I am my own worst critic… I don’t like too much of anything. I think that the area I’m from has an influence on my standards, yes….But it also has to do with the company I keep in The Foreign Exchange family and the way that I want to have my music presented as well. The standards are sky high, and that’s how I like it. It keeps me not only grounded as an artist but heavily motivated to continue to raise those standards with each piece of work.
What or who have been your musical influences/inspirations?
My first and major influences are my parents, they are the ones who brought me up around great music as well as the ones who pushed me to play piano growing up although I absolutely HATED it. It was their push and support that has gotten me to this point and that’s huge because on too many occasions you hear stories of artists’ loved ones not supporting them in their careers, so I consider myself extremely blessed to have had them in my corner from day one.
On your latest endeavor, SunStorm, you have a host of talent that you have worked with… How hard was it to coordinate schedules to work on this project? What were your biggest challenges?
I think the fact that there were TWO people (Phonte and I) making sure things ran smoothly rather than just me helped a WHOLE lot in regards to coordinating schedules and making sure that deadlines were honored, etc. Schedule conflicts were definitely the biggest challenges, I mean… we were working with some of the best out there, artists who are in high demand. So kats were on the road, in the studio working on other things, or just caught up in general. But the fact that they ALL came through and recorded for my album as if it was a lead single for their own was absolutely flattering to me. Even now, three months later I sit back and kinda shake my head at that because as a producer, I feel like I’ve done my job, which is bringing the best out of the artists you work with… and vice versa of course.
How did your connection to Phonte and Nicolay, Foreign Exchange, develop?
It came directly through Phonte who I met back in 2005. Right after I finished working on the “If She Breaks Your Heart” record for Leave It All Behind, Phonte kept telling me that when FE goes out on the road to tour the album, he wanted to include me. I ended up pulling together my kats from here in DC to complete the full band and about a year and a half later, we were all on stage in NYC playing the first of many FE shows to come.
I must say as a listener I am in love with SunStorm. Which tracks did you enjoy creating the most? Which tracks have the most stories behind them? I really can’t say which ones I enjoyed the most… I have too much of a personal connection with every last track on the album. But the most involved story would DEFINITELY be “All Is Well With Love” with Chantae Cann. We went through so many changes behind that song that it almost didn’t even make the album… As a matter of fact, I wrote about this in my blog.
It is obvious the talent is within you down to the pinkies… with that have talent will travel… is there anyone that you would love to collaborate with musically to see what comes to fruition?
I’ve always wanted to work with The Roots in some form or fashion. Whether in the studio, or performing with them on stage… That would be a dream come true. i would love to work with Faith Evans, Adriana Evans just to name a couple. And another dream of mine would be to sit in the studio and create with Rod Temperton… THAT would be crazy.
Chapter 3 verse 5 of which Book?
Ahhhh, you’re getting too deep… ’35′ was my uniform number in high school and college when I played baseball. So it isn’t a particular chapter and verse in the Bible, although it may have looked better if it worked out like that huh?
Who is coming out of the “D” that we need to check for?
Keep your eyes open for Monica Blaire, who appears on SunStorm (“MakeLuv2Me”), Nick Speed, Big Tone, T. Calmese (Illite of Subterraneous), Asylum 7, who I did the Overdue Process album with in 2009, and Finalé.
I was chatting it up with a friend in NY who mentioned you name and GRAMMY in the same sentence. How do you feel about that?
I’ll tell you this, I’ll be playing it cool now and give some answer like, “Well, It’s an honor… a blessing, blah, blah, blah…etc.” Which it IS…. BUT, if this album happens to get nominated for a GRAMMY, I may lose it…. I can’t lie.
If you are in New York on Sat Oct 23, 2010 at 7:00 PM it would BEHOOVE you to make that move to the CMJ Music Marathon ” Authenticity” Release Concert at B.B. King’s Blues Club. Zo! will be with The Foreign Exchange, Darien Brockington, Chantae Cann and special guests!
‘SunStorm’ Earns Two 2010 SoulTracks Nominations
Earlier today, the finalists were announced for the 2010 SoulTracks Readers’ Choice Awards and after narrowing down each category from 20 entries/per, left standing among the finalists for Song of the Year with “Greatest Weapon Of All Time” (feat. Sy Smtih) and Independent Album of the Year with SunStorm!
If you would like to vote for these categories, here are the official rules via SoulTracks.com:
Voting ballots will be sent out by email on Thursday, October 21st. You must be a SoulTracks email subscriber to receive a voting ballot. If you aren’t a subscriber, just sign up at the top left side of this page. It’s FREE! Folks who sign up after October 21st will receive their ballots within 24 hours.
The awards will be broadcast on Tuesday, December 7th at 8:00pm!
I’m pretty excited as I have never been nominated for anything in my musical career. So to even be recognized for the hard work that we all put forth toward this album and its songs is an honor. Hopefully, these nominations are the first of many to come… Thank you for supporting!
Textura Reviews ‘SunStorm’
Source: Textura · By Ron Schepper
Listening to Zo!’s SunStorm is much like taking a bite out of a Proustian madelaine. After just a few minutes of exposure, a veritable floodgate of memories and associations appears: Songs in the Key of Life, Atlantic Starr, Soul Train, Breezin’, Deodato, ’70s Philly Soul, Donny Hathaway–you get the idea. All such associations might suggest that SunStorm is thus a retrograde or ‘old-school’ recording, but I’d prefer to call it timeless. Music of such quietly celebratory sincerity and soulfulness never goes out of style and if anything we could do with a whole lot more of it. Hip-hop is part of SunStorm’s stylistic mix but the album’s primary focus is soul music of the delectably funky and sexy kind (sometimes directly so, as in the love jam “Make Love 2 Me,” which–consistent with its make-out vibe–unspools for ten oh-so-amorous minutes).
Zo! isn’t, by the way, a vocalist but Detroit-area born, DC-based producer and multi-instrumentalist Lorenzo Ferguson, who contributed to The Foreign Exchange’s recent Leave It All Behind. Consequently, he’s the man behind the songs themselves along with their rich, finely crafted arrangements, while members of the Foreign Exchange Music family (Darien Brockington, Carlitta Durand, YahZarah, and Phonte, among others) are responsible for the lush vocals and harmonies that grace all but one of the album’s dozen songs (the lush, flute-driven instrumental “For Leslie”).
The opener “Greater Than The Sun” establishes the uplifting vibe when elegant pianisms lead into Phonte’s early morning ruminations and a swaying hip-hop groove. Carlitta Durand and Phonte pair up for the romantic duet “Say How You Feel,” Sy Smith elevates the strings-laden ’70s soul of “Greatest Weapon Of All Time” with a silken vocal that nicely complements the breeziness of the tune’s swing, Rapper Big Pooh drops rhymes alongside the vocalisms of Eric Roberson and Darien Brockington during the breezy two-stepper “This Could Be The Night,” and YahZarah takes the lead on the labryinthine title track, where the crisp soul-funk of the verses is offset by male shout-outs and Moog synthesizer patterns. With the spotlight on Phonte’s airy vocal harmonies, piano, trumpet, and Latin percussion, “Flight Of The Blackbyrd” pays homage to the kind of ’70s smooth jazz-fusion one associates with George Duke and Bob James. Much praise to Zo! and The Foreign Exchange crew for giving us another positive and community-spirited recording refreshingly free of misogyny and hate.
Zo! 