THE SHOWROOM SESSIONS: Streaming LIVE from Piedmont Piano Company
Black London
Featuring Kev Choice (piano), Mike Blankenship (keytar), Howard Wiley (sax), Marcus Phillips (bass), and Dame Drummer (drums).
Watch the LIVE STREAM on youtube.com or facebook
Donations/tips accepted via Cash App: $KevChoice or Venmo @Kev-Choice
Black London Is a new band and collective of Bay Area musicians, artist, and band-leaders, feat. Kev Choice, Mike Blankenship, and Howard Wiley, pushing excellence, preservation, and progression of black music and culture through performance, recordings, and collaboration.
Choice and Wiley meet as pre-teenagers at UC Berkeley’s Young Musician’s Program, and later met Blankenship as he became an in-demand player on the Bay Area music scene. They built a special bond in 2007 as members of Ms. Lauryn Hill’s band that Choice was musical director of and each played an integral role in they band as they toured over 15 countries in a year time span. They have collaborated on projects and performances ever since. All 3 have established themselves as band leaders in the Bay Area, Blankenship with “Spooky Fox,” Wiley with “Extra Nappy,” and Choice with “Kev Choice Ensemble.” Each has also released individual projects that have solidified their careers, Choice with 4 albums including the acclaimed Oakland Riviera and his instrumental project 88 Steps To Eternity, Blankenship with Living For The Future, and Wiley with The Angola Project. blacklondonmusic.com
Pianist. Emcee. Producer. Bandleader. Sideman. Music historian. Kev Choice wears many hats, and all of them fit. Blessed with prodigious talent, plus the skill and dedication to his craft to pull it off, the Oakland-based artist is redefining what it means to be a musician in this day and age. Not too many classically-trained pianists who hold Master’s degrees in jazz can rock microphones with blazing-hot 16s. Yet such versatility comes natural to Choice, whose diverse array of influences ranges from Prince to Rakim to A Tribe Called Quest to Stevie Wonder to McCoy Tyner to Chopin and Ravel. kevchoice.wordpress.com
From a very young age, Mike Blankenship showed a passion for music. One of his earliest musical influences growing up was having access to his father’s vast record collection consisting of various genres of music. Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Michael began taking piano lessons at the age of 7 and continued studying throughout his high school years. By the age of 18, he was performing local gigs on a regular basis while studying jazz theory in college. Michael was coveted by many scholarship programs for jazz studies across the country, but opted to stay local and study Business Marketing at San Francisco State University. During that time, he continued to gig regularly, quickly developing a strong reputation as one of the Bay Area’s finest musicians.
Howard Wiley is “The most prodigious Bay Area saxophonist of his generation” (Berkeleyside). Having been mentored by Bay Area great Jules Broussard and sharing formative bandstand experiences with the likes of Clark Terry, Jason Moran, Orrin Evans, and Lauryn Hill, the Berkeley-born Wiley is a shining example of innate musical talent meeting opportunity born of hard lessons well learned. Association with the Thelonious Monk Institute and GRAMMY All-American Jazz Band established Wiley as a young talent on the rise, and his work as a professional has more than made good on his prodigious beginnings.
Marcus Phillips is a native of the Bay Area. Born and raised in San Francisco, CA, he was introduced to music at a young age and played a few different instruments growing up in his grandfather's church (Drums, keys). As he got older, he found a love for bass and has traveled the world playing for various artists such as: Leela James, Ledisi, Dave Hollister, Tina Campbell, Tony Toni Tone, DJ Quik, Eric Roberson, Mike Phillips, Keyshia Cole, Joe, Eric Benet, Mali Music, Iyanla Vanzant, Kelly Clarkson and Goapele to name a few. He is currently the bassist for Oscar/Grammy award winner Jennifer Hudson. His band “Top of the Marc” features some of the Bay Area’s best vocalist and musicians alike. Whether it’s Pop, R&B/Soul, Jazz or Gospel, Marcus is sure to deliver.
Dame Drummer is diligently working his way through the music industry. Born in Cleveland, Ohio Dame honed his craft and earned respect for his pocketed drumming ability, diverse style of production and song-writing. As the CEO of Sweaty Llama Music you can catch a diverse display of Dame Drummer's production, arrangement and vocal talent on his latest releases "Aye Yai Yai" and "Loveolution."