Tony Minvielle is regarded as one of the most respected and talented dj’s in his field receiving props from dj’s and musicians, as diverse as Gilles Peterson, George Clinton (Parliament/Funkadelic), Grammy award winning India Arie, Quest Love (the Roots), Jose Padilla (Cafe Del Mar), amongst, many others. He was a contributor to Straight no Chaser magazine (including his interview with the late Curtis Mayfield) from its inception to its final publication.
He lived in the Atlanta GA, spent time in Warsaw, and over the years has worked with / interviewed some of the greatest artists of our time including Curtis Mayfield, Roy Ayers, Mark Murphy, Kamasi Washington, George Benson, Terrace Martin, Joyce, Banda Black Rio, Gil Scott Heron, India Arie, Snarky Puppy, Omar, Weldon Irving, Jon Lucien, The Roots, Incognito, Hiatus Kaiyote and Terence Blanchard to name a few. He’s graced the decks at Cafe Del Mar, Londons Jazz Cafe, Atlantas Ying Yang and numerous festivals. Broadcast credits include WCLK 91.9 Atlanta, JazzFM, Virgin Radio Digital and now hosts the seminal radio show FOLDEDSPACE on SoulandJazz.com.
We are very excited to announce that Tony has agreed to write a monthly feature for us of his top 5 current records.
Here is the first instalment of Tony Minvielle’s On point 5. You can download the tracks my clicking on the album artwork.
Robert Glasper – In My Mind – ArtScience
Tony: Love every track on this masterpiece but if I had to pick one it would be ‘In My Mind’ – purely for the rhodes work and Collenburgs tasty drum licks. Homage here to Zawinul’s Weather Report and a whole lot more. #Essential
Tony: Managed to cop the reissue of this 1970 released Brazilian classic in the 90’s – as the original was way out of my fiscal reach. What can I say – epic orchestral opening, spiritually charged vocals (with a political message), and a percussion groove that touches your soul.
Scott Xylo – Fireflies Coloured In Violet (w~T’nah) – Analogue Eyes, With Digital Minds
Tony: Are we looking at a Dilla successor in the making? And from the UK too. This is zeitgeist central for the headz – tripped out, dreamy and on it – and as for the vocals of T’nah – wahhhh.
Phonte and Eric Roberson – Something – Tigallerro
Tony: From the most prolific electro-soul kings known as The Foreign Exchange we have an offshoot project from Phonte Gallo (Tiga) and Eric Roberson (Erro) which beautifully caresses the soulful sweet spot. This song was written and produced by my musical big man of the moment keyboardist Daniel Crawford.
Yussef Kamaal – Yo Chavez – Black Focus
Tony: First caught this band live about two years ago and quite honestly they are beyond superlatives. Led by drummer Yussef Dayes and keyboardist Kamaal Williams (Henry Wu) their brand of freeform, groove driven, rhodes enhanced, jazz niceness will hopefully help to influence our next gen of new musicians. This is pure fire.
By Tony Minvielle