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[independentartistbuzz]

Volume.com to Stream The Jazz of A Tribe Called Quest With Dashill Smith & Malcolm-Jamal Warner

Tomorrow, Jazz Trumpeter Dashill Smith and actor, director, and musician Malcolm-Jamal Warner are playing at Atlanta’s Venkman’s, featuring their recreation of some of the original songs that were sampled by A Tribe Called Quest through the years while morphing into the ATCQ songs we all know and love. While both their 7pm and their 10pm (Eastern Time) shows are sold out, there’s still time to get tickets to the live stream on Volume.com. 

The show also features Music Director/ bassist Khari Cabral Simmons, Landon Anderson, drums, David Whild, guitar, Mike Walton on saxophone and Rodney Edge on keyboards.

Find tickets to the 7pm live stream here: https://volume.com/t/wbR70Q/

Find Tickets to the 10pm live stream here: https://volume.com/t/JzJVOp/ 

“We have recently been spending quite a bit of time at Volume.com watching their excellent content thanks to seeing a tweet from Niki Kennedy an artist who we have featured in the past (https://independentartistbuzz.com/post/180148375838/niki-kennedy-unveils-charming-new-record_ ) and we noticed a very very cool live stream about to take place tomorrow,” shares Dashill. “It's cool for people like me who grew up in the late 80s injecting all things Cosby Show and all things Tribe Called Quest. We were lucky enough to get an interview with the creator of the show Craig M. Garrett from Next Level Events in Atlanta where it will be streamed from live music venue Venkman's.”

We got a chance to speak with them about their upcoming show in this edition of Indie 5-0. Let’s dive in:

What can people expect from your two upcoming sold-out shows at Venkman's and What are you most excited about?

People can expect two incredible shows of music in a great venue. Not only will they have a great time, they will be taken on educational exploration of music performed by 7 highly skilled musicians. I refer to them as Musical Monsters as they are all renowned musicians in their own rights. Our Music Director was India.Arie's long time bass player, Dashill "Dash" Smith has been a member of Roy Ayers' band for the last decade, David Whild is Atlanta funk rock royalty as half of Whild Peach but also a regular member of Outkast's band as well as the Dungeon Family, Rodney Edge plays with Anita Baker, After 7 and Glenn Jones, Landon is a sought after touring drummer and producer, Mike Walton is the youngest member of the crew but he has quickly made a name for himself playing with the likes of Russell Gunn and Jimmy Cobb. Of course most people know Malcolm for his work as a gifted actor. But what many people may not know is that he is an accomplished bassist and poet, as well. When I say we are blessed to have these musicians in the band, I mean it. It is truly an honor to have them every time they step on the stage with us.

How were you inspired to come up with the This ATCQ / Jazz Concept?

The inspiration was actually an argument my sister and my mother's best friend, Aunt Faye, had 13+ years ago at dinner. The argument stemmed from Aunt Faye arguing the reason she didn't listen to hip-hop was that she didn't think there was any musical value to it. My sister challenged her thinking and told her she should listen to A Tribe Called Quest's music because she'll hear all the incredible jazz samples and jazz influences in their music. That got me thinking about how it would be interesting to see a show that focused on the inspirations of the songs and how they were weaved into their legendary catalog. It has been in my head since. Then in 2019, I finally convinced our Music Director, Khari Cabral Simmons, that we should do the show. He agreed and was adamant that Dashill Smith was the person we had to be out front. He was absolutely right. We put one show on sale and it sold out quickly over two months in advance. So we added another show and it sold out quickly. We knew we were on to something. Those first two shows were scheduled for April 2020 and unfortunately, we canceled due to the global pandemic. We then brought it back in December 2022 and sold out both shows again. We had Malcolm-Jamal Warner as a surprise performer in the first two shows.

How did Malcolm-Jamal get involved with it?

Malcolm was in Venkman's with his family and saw the flyer. He reached out to our drummer and asked if he could be a part of the show because he loved the concept. As if we were going to tell him no. He has been a wonderful addition to the show that we originally built around Dash. Now I can't imagine doing the show without him. He and Dash have this symbiotic chemistry between them that just takes the show to the next level. Dash holds down the show as the leader who raps the original lyrics, freestyles, plays the trumpet, and serves as the MC. Malcolm raps as well as plays the bass on several songs.

Which ATCQ song/album has been your biggest source of musical inspiration and why?

This is a tough question as the show as it stands now will be expanded. However, I'd say The Low End Theory and Midnight Marauders are the biggest sources for the current format. This might change as we move into the next iteration of the show. We added some changes for this weekend and in the coming months, we'll be adding even more. The why? Mainly because we wanted the show to be a banger out the gate so we went after some of their most iconic songs that had deep jazz influences.  

We see you are bringing this show on the road - where will you go and how many dates?

I knew it had potential to appeal to several markets. We took it to Charlotte in March and to my surprise, we sold out the theater there. I knew it would do well but I didn't expect it to sell out if I'm honest. We'll go back to Charlotte in July or August, we are headlining one night of a festival in Brooklyn in July. We are finalizing details for shows in Miami, Houston, and Winston-Salem. Additionally, there is interest in Raleigh, Chicago, LA, Memphis, Boston, and Seattle.  We'd love to take it all over the country and internationally as there is a real appetite for great music like this all over.

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