BRONX JAZZ

“BRONX JAZZ” is a Hip-Hop Jazz Theatre one-act, where two generations of musicians discuss the musical traditions of jazz, soul, Latin bugaloo, doo-wop, and street poetry that led to Hip-hop. “Bronx Jazz” has been touring libraries and museums around New England; written by Mwalim and Directed by Eddie Ray Johnson; featuring original music by The ZYG 808 and Mwalim, both of whom are members of the multi-Grammy nominated band, The GroovaLottos.

“BOOMBAPJAZZ” is a new album by The ZYG 808, featuring his prowess as a drummer, rapper, vibraphonist, and producer. Featuring both rap and instrumental tunes, the album is already receiving airplay and club spins in Atlanta, New York, Los Angeles, Vancouver, and Chicago.The ZYG 808 has been performing throughout New England and New York City for the past two years, stunning audiences with his ability to rap and play the drums at the same time. This past August, The ZYG 808 was a headlining performer at the Boston Jazz Fest, and at Cambridge City Hall for Indigenous People’s Day. A Mashpee High School Junior and honor student, ZYG started his own record label, Soul Poets Records, in 2017 and this will be the label’s first release. His music video for “El Concerto” can be seen on Youtube or the homepage of his website http://thezyg808.com

Land of the Black Squirrelsis a novel by Mwalim, that is the first in a series called “Bronx Boheme”, starting a jazz musician and painter, who opens an arts academy in the Northeast Bronx in the late 1960’s that becomes the launch-pad for an underground arts movement that invades galleries, clubs, and theaters throughout the world. “The Bronx Boheme” began as a long-form storytelling serial that premiered at the Nuyorican Poet’s Cafe in 2003, and subsequently performed throughout the USA and Canada. Land of the Black Squirrelsis being published by Thirty-three Pages, a new publishing house based in Indianapolis, Indiana and Plymouth, MA.