Band Bio: Onyx Ashanti is of a generation of musician/artist born into a world samplers, hip hop, internet, cell phones and personal computers. Although his formative musical education was traditional (learn...   Read More »

Band Bio: Onyx Ashanti is of a generation of musician/artist born into a world samplers, hip hop, internet, cell phones and personal computers. Although his formative musical education was traditional (learning to play saxophone in a primary school music program), he has since transferred this aestetic into the present world of 21st century music performance. An amalgam of tradition and futurism he calls Beatjazz. BeatJazz is equal parts live looping and jazz improvisation, done in the aesthetic of a DJ set. it is an exercise in creating funky nasty music, IN the moment, FOR, the moment, using banks of sound designs created and played from computer software. the music is constructed and artistically deconstructed by layering slivers of sound and singing, all controlled by a horn-like instrument called an EWI (Electronic Wind Instrument) with narrative being directed by the vibe of the audience. The sound is evocative of many forms of modern electronic music, but in very subtle ways. there is the syncopated rhythmic influences of hip hop, afrobeat, broken beat, house, and jungle, with melodic influences steming from pop, gospel, contemporary jazz, funk and RnB, all improvisationally reinterpreted in new and evolving ways that can only be termed "Beat" "Jazz". The concept is born of the blending onyx's childhood influences, growing up in Mississippi with roots in the church, as well as marching in high school and college marching bands, and his later, adulthood adventures as a street busker, being part of LA's Southern California rave scene in the late nineties, all the way up to the life altering time he spent in London UK. While there, he toured extensively with the Legendary Soul II Soul Sound System, as well as performing with The Basement Jaxx, playing on 3 songs from their Grammy Award winning "Kish Kash" Album, and even having them name the song, "Onyx" after him on their 2005 Greatest Hits Album.   Read Less »

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