Jazz vocalist and multi Grammy nominee Nnenna Freelon joins hip-hop quartet The Beast to release Freedom Suite: a 10-track collection of creative reflections on jazz and hip-hop. Freedom Suite will be available for FREE download, digitally released on Okayplayer’s new jazz channel, The Revivalist, on October 26, 2010.
With guest appearances from 9th Wonder, Branford Marsalis, Phonte (of The Foreign Exchange/Little Brother), YahZarah, Geechi Suede (of Camp Lo) and several others, Freedom Suite follows in the tradition of other collaborative jazz and hip-hop projects like the late Guru’s Jazzmatazz. The album features six original songs written and produced by The Beast, which are infused with both a live jazz aesthetic (drums, bass, piano, percussion, strings and horns were all recorded live) and an electronic/sample-based hip-hop aesthetic. Freedom Suite also includes five contemporary interpretations of “standards” from the jazz and hip-hop cannon, including arrangements of Mos Def’s Umi Says, Johnny Mercer & Hoagy Charmichael’s Skylark and Lauryn Hill’s Doo Wop.
The Revivalist
Freedom Suite will be released in conjunction with the launch of Okayplayer’s new jazz culture blog, The Revivalist, on October 26, 2010. The Revivalist is the leading online journal for the burgeoning jazz community. They are music innovators, musicians, and music lovers documenting and foretelling the stories of jazz and how it has influenced today’s popular music.
Tracklisting
The Beast, ft. Suede & Nnenna Freelon – Freedom Part II produced by The Applejuice Kid
The Beast ft. Tyler Woods- Let Go
Nnenna Freelon ft. Phonte – Get Out of Town produced by Ambersongs
The Beast ft. Rhapsody & Yahzarah – Rise Above The Sky (Doo Wop redux)
The Beast ft. Carlitta Durand & Darien Brockington – No Escape
Nnenna Freelon ft. King Mez & Thee Tom Hardy – If We Love
The Beast ft. Kooley High – Once Again
The Beast ft. Shirlette Ammons – Strange Love
Nnenna Freelon – Skylark produced by Kevin Timmons
The Beast ft. Nnenna Freelon – Umi Says
