LOS ANGELES, CA. (Top40 Charts/ VTech) - VTech Communications, Inc. (a wholly-owned subsidiary of VTech Holdings Ltd. HKSE: 303; ADR: VTKHY, and the largest U.S. cordless phone manufacturer), in conjunction with music production company Mochilla, presents the second concert in the four-part "
Timeless" concert series, featuring a special tribute to the highly regarded hip-hop and neo-soul music producer J Dilla. Headlined by
Carlos Nino and
Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, the concert will be held Feb. 22 at the Harriet and Charles Luckman Fine Arts Complex in Los Angeles.
Nino and Atwood-Ferguson will showcase J Dilla's legacy through interpretation of his music in their contemporary chamber music style. Following opening DJ sets by House Shoes, Nino and Atwood-Ferguson will perform their EP, "Suite for Ma Dukes," live for the first time. They will be backed by a 36-piece orchestra and feature surprise guests who won't be announced prior to the show.
The "Timeless" concert series is a unique homage to arrangers and composers as the antecedents of today's beat-makers. Each "Timeless" concert features international artists performing their all-time hits, plus an exclusive new piece. The DJs/producers opening each concert build their sets around the legacy and era of the highlighted composer.
James Yancey, known as J Dilla, passed away from cardiac arrest in 2006 at the age of 32, after a long fight with Lupus. His style is said to be the most revered sounds in hip-hop from the mid-1990s through today. The Detroit native worked with major musicians, including A Tribe Called Quest, Busta Rhymes, De la Soul, Common, Janet Jackson and more.
The "Timeless" concert series is presented by VTech, which recently announced a feature-rich streaming music and Internet radio device, the IS9181. VTech sponsors a variety of concerts and music events nationwide.
"The 'Timeless' series features remarkable talents in unique collaborations that showcase the backbones of modern hip-hop," said Tom Bacon, vice president of marketing, VTech Communications. "J Dilla and the other internationally acclaimed musicians to whom we pay tribute gave us the building blocks for beats we hear today. Celebrating their individual styles is our way of introducing the creators to the enthusiasts."
"Timeless" is curated by production company Mochilla, which has previously developed campaigns for other tastemaker brands such as Adidas, Dickies and Vans.
Feb. 22 "Timeless" Concert: About the Musicians
J Dilla
Frequently and rightly placed in the same context as DJ Premier, Pete Rock and Kanye West, Jay Dee built and sustained a high standing as a producer's producer, while maintaining a low profile. When Pharrell Williams appeared on BET's 106 & Park in 2004, he declared that Jay Dee was his favorite producer and told the stumped crowd that it had probably never heard of the man. At the time, Jay Dee had been active for well over a decade and had netted enough beats - including the Pharcyde's "Runnin'," De La Soul's "Stakes Is High," Common's "The Light" and several others with production teams the Ummah and the Soulquarians - to be considered an all-time great.
In 1996 alone, Jay Dee worked with Busta Rhymes, De La Soul and the Pharcyde, all the while playing a major role in the Ummah with Q-Tip and Ali Shaheed Muhammad. Before long, hardcore hip-hop fans began to know Dilla for his steady wobble, which was unfailingly musical and rich in details - shuffling high-hats, oddly placed handclaps and spacious drum loops with drastically reshaped samples of tracks both obscure and obvious. Through the remainder of the 1990s, Dilla quietly racked up more output, including Janet Jackson's "Got 'til It's Gone" (for which he did not receive credit), additional tracks for the Pharcyde and collaborative work with Q-Tip on all of 1999's Amplified. As a core member of the Soulquarians, with James Poyser and the Roots' Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson, Dilla worked on Common's Like Water for Chocolate, D'Angelo's Voodoo, Erykah Badu's Mama's Gun and Talib Kweli's Quality.
Through 2005, he continued to work with past associates. Excited by a Madlib mixtape, Dilla forged an alliance with his admirer for 2003's Champion Sound, released under the name Jaylib. It was around this time that Dilla's health took a sharp decline. For more than two years, he had to use a dialysis machine and, ultimately, had to perform in a wheelchair. He was still able to tour in Europe during late 2005, and Donuts, an album of instrumentals completed during one of his extended hospital stays, was released on Feb. 7, his 32nd birthday. Three days later, while staying at his Los Angeles home with his mother, he passed away, a victim of cardiac arrest.
Carlos Nino and Miguel Atwood-Ferguson
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Calif., Carlos Nino and Miguel Atwood-Ferguson have been working together on a wide variety of projects for several years now. They produced albums for Build An Ark (Kindred Spirits), Mia Doi Todd (City Zen), Grace Woodroofe (for Executive Producer Heath Ledger), Ariana Delawari (alongside David Lynch), as well as a duet album entitled Carlos Nino & Miguel Atwood-Ferguson Fill the Heart Shaped Cup (Alpha Pup). They have been a virtual production powerhouse.
The collaboration started when Nino hired Atwood-Ferguson's string quartet, Supernova, to perform on the record Dwight Tribble & The Life Force Trio Love is the Answer (Ninja Tune) in 2004. On that same Dwight Tribble album project, Nino first met, befriended and then licensed a track from one of his heroes, James "Jay Dee/J Dilla" Yancey. The song "Antiquity" came from those sessions and it is a stand out from Dilla's vast and distinct catalog. Tribble brought his unique jazz vocal stylings to Dilla's jazz influenced hip-hop, completing the circle.
Fast forward two years - in February 2006, several days after his 32nd birthday, Dilla passed away due to Lupus related complications. After his untimely death, Nino and Atwood-Ferguson chose to pay tribute to Dilla by continuing the musical conversation that he had started, but now in the contemporary chamber music style that Atwood-Ferguson had been developing. On what would have been Dilla's 33rd birthday, February 7, 2006, Nino & Atwood-Ferguson sent their strings, brass and reeds only version of Common's "Nag Champa (Afrodisiac for the World,)" to DJs, producers and fans for free, via the internet. It caused a big stir among fans and first-time listeners alike. Hip-hop had never been given the chamber music treatment before - in such a reverential and rhythmic way and there are no drums. They had written the entire piece to accompany the record, but Dilla was still in the track, by his absence instead of his presence.
At the end of 2008, they put the finishing touches on the first official release of this music - a four-track EP entitled "Suite for Ma Dukes" which will be released by Mochilla in April 2009. These four tracks embody Dilla's magic. From "Antiquity" to "Nag Champa" from Tribe Called Quest's (Dilla produced) "Find a Way" to the Slum Village's "Fall in Love," the harmonic and melodic beauty of Dilla's music is liberated. It is hip-hop as you never thought in a way you have never heard.
Early in 2009, the project received the official blessing of Ma Dukes herself and part of the proceeds from the record will go to Dilla's heirs.
Regardless of how many live performances and recording sessions Atwood-Ferguson book and no matter how much Nino is up to creatively, they find time to connect in the essence of Dilla. It is there that they celebrate Maurice Ravel, Bernard Herman, Charles Stepney, James Brown, The Bomb Squad and so many others simultaneously.
DJ House Shoes
Internationally lauded as Detroit's hip-hop ambassador to the world, DJ House Shoes has been a fixture on the Detroit hip-hop music scene for over a decade. Four-time "Best Hip-Hop DJ" in Detroit, Shoes began his professional career in 1994 as a resident DJ at St. Andrews Hall, the home of Detroit's blossoming hip-hop scene from the mid to late 1990s.
As a consultant at Street Corner Music, Record Time, Melodies & Memories and Car City Records from 1994-2005, Shoes managed to expose international hip-hop die-hards to the musical genius of J Dilla, the late Detroit-based drum-god who would go on to become a Grammy-nominated producer.
Ticket Information and Upcoming Timeless Concert Series Dates
Tickets for the Feb. 22 "Timeless" concert are available through Ticketmaster and the Luckman Box Office for $22.50. Performances are open to all ages. For additional information on the Timeless concert series, or photos and video from the first concert, please visit www.vtechphones.com/timeless.
The schedule for upcoming "Timeless" concerts at The Harriet and Charles Luckman Fine Arts Complex at the California State University, Los Angeles campus is as follows:
* Sunday, March 15, 2009 - with a 30-piece orchestra; opening DJ sets by MADLIB and DJ Nuts (Brazil)
* Sunday, April 5, 2009 - David Axelrod with a 26-piece orchestra; DJ set by J.Rocc; special guests to be announced
About VTech
VTech is one of the world's largest suppliers of corded and cordless telephones and a leading supplier of electronic learning products. It also provides highly sought-after contract manufacturing services. Founded in 1976, the Group's mission is to be the most cost-effective designer and manufacturer of innovative, high-quality consumer electronics products and to distribute them to markets worldwide in the most efficient manner.
About Mochilla
Mochilla is a production company formed by photographers Eric Coleman and B+ in 1997. Ten years later Mochilla has produced five music videos, four documentaries, several ad campaigns, a remix album and more than 40 album covers and continues to grow. Both Coleman and B+ have taken their respective fields to new heights, selling films to the Sundance Channel, being distributed by Ninja Tune and touring Europe several times to execute campaigns for Adidas, Dickies, Alphanumeric and Vans. They both have successful solo careers but their continuing collaboration is housed at Mochilla.
