A few weeks ago a bunch of Antibalas members served as the house band at the City Winery afterparty following the Music of David Bowie concerts at and Carnegie Hall and Radio City Music Hall on 3/31 and 4/1/2016. Here are some audience videos from the night:
"Black Star"
"Fame" featuring Marcus Farrar, vocals.
"Golden Years" featuring Timothy Allen, vocals.
Here's one more, with the full Antibalas band, from January 19, 2016 from our residency at Brooklyn Bowl with special guest Miguel Zenón.
Trumpeter Jordan McLean's label System Dialing just released "New Vocabulary", a new album with saxophonist Ornette Coleman with McLean, drummer Amir Ziv and keyboardist Adam Holzman.
Drummer Miles Arntzen is out on the road with Will Butler of Arcade Fire playing songs off the new album "Policy" on Merge Records. His band EMEFE just released a new video (WATCH) and released a new album on May 3.
Antibalas horns Ray Mason, Martín Perna, Jordan McLean, and Jas Walton can be heard on Mark Ronson's new album "Uptown Special."
T
he full Antibalas band is featured on two songs co-written by Martín Perna: "Melagioco" and "Libera" on the new release "2015cc" by Lorenzo Cherubini aka Jovanotti. The horns are featured on a third tune, "Ragazza Magica."
Ray Mason, Reinaldo de Jesus, and Martín Perna recorded on the Mark Ronson-produced soundtrack to the film "Mortdecai" starring Johnny Depp and Gwyneth Paltrow.
Antibalas founder / baritone saxophonist Martín Perna has entered the world of standup comedy. He has performed at the Comedy Cellar Village Underground, Eastville, and StandUp New York.
Antibalas tenor sax emeritus Stuart Bogie is leading his band Superhuman Happiness (feat. longtime Antibalas trumpeter Eric Biondo) on a tour of the west coast with Marco Benevento.
Nikhil Yerawadekar (bass) and Timothy Allen (guitar) are in California for two record release shows with the Sway Machinery. Nikhil and his group "Low Mentality have a new 45 rpm out called "Reel It In" on 3rd Generation Recordings. Here's the VIDEO.
Trumpeter emeritus Todd Simon just won a Grammy in the category of Best Reggae Album for his performance and horn arranging work on Ziggy Marley's "Fly Rasta." His LA-based ensemble Ethio Cali has a new residency in LA at Acabar.
My band Low Mentality, which is in its third year of existence, is my creative outlet. I think of it as a rock band but there is a very heavy influence from all the African and Caribbean music that I have been working with over the years so the music is all very danceable and groovy. I write songs about whatever I want and am lucky to be performing them with a great crew of pals (including the one and only Timothy Allen of Antibalas on bass). We just released a 45 on 3rd Generation Recordings and we're gonna be putting out our debut album next year. This past year we have also starting performing as the backing band for the legendary Ethiopian keyboardist Hailu Mergia, which has been an incredible, mind-expanding collaboration and exploration.
I'm also working on my first-ever film score right now. I am trying to keep the project a bit of a surprise, but I'm comfortable saying a lot of people (hundreds of thousands?) are going to see it. The excitement of being involved is still outweighing the fact that I barely know what I'm doing. It'll turn out great I'm sure.
I've had a lot of unforgettable experiences with Antibalas this year-- playing the beautiful music of Paul Simon at Carnegie Hall, my having my first experience ever playing a show in an NBA arena... It's kind of hard to pick. But our show in Ecuador in March still stands out as one of the most life-affirming concert experiences I've ever had. Seeing people of all ages getting down to our music was really eye- and soul-opening. Everybody in the theater was really TOGETHER, in a way that you don't often see in NYC. It reminded me that when you create a good feeling it can be enjoyed by everyone, and that prioritizing hipness in your expression is the wrong way to go. The trip to the hot springs up in the mountains the following day was also sublime (shouts to Martín for the hot springs knowledge).