Amerigo Gazaway

Amerigo Gazaway

Forging an evolution of the “mashup” album format, producer Amerigo Gazaway’s “conceptual collaboration” projects imagine studio sessions between like artists of different genres and eras. With a process the LA Times’ Randall Roberts described as “drawing a different design within a similar framework,” the producer/DJ deconstructs and re-orchestrates samples from his respective subjects, bridging overlapping themes of the two musician’s classic catalogues. Equally influenced by his Brazilian roots and southern U.S. upbringing, the Nashville native’s work was featured in Apple’s “What Will Your Verse Be” series of iPad commercials, called “brilliant” by musicโ€™s premier aficionado, ?uestlove, and earned praise from national/global outlets such as The Guardian, Huffington Post, The LA Times, Vulture, NPR, BBC, MTV, BET, REVOLTtv, EBONY,VIBE, XXL, THE SOURCE, OKAYPLAYER, Wax Poetic, Gizmodo and HipHopDX to name a few.

The son ofย renowned Jazz trumpeter, Gary โ€œEl Buhoโ€ Gazaway, Amerigoโ€™sย thematic documentary-like concept albums usesย found interview sound-bites, live performances, and original multi-track stems to helpย narrate and craft his combined artists’ stories. Finding his first success with 2011’s Fela Kuti/De La Soul pairing “Fela Soul,” the project went on to land on several year-end “best of” lists including NPR, Soul Train, and OKAYPLAYER. Following the release in 2012 with “Bizarre Tribe: A Quest to the Pharcyde”, a concept that layered vocals of The Pharcyde over re-imagined productions sourced from the original Soul, Jazz, and Funk records ATCQ utilizedย to create their productions, Gazaway would later collaborate with The Pharcyde on their single “Still Got Love” and perform with the legendary group at SXSW.

Continuing the theme of his previous work in 2014, the producer united Brooklyn rapper Yasiin Bey (FKA Mos Def) and soul legend Marvin Gaye for a dream collaboration aptly titled “Yasiin Gaye” (side one and side two.) Building the albumโ€™s foundation from deconstructed samples of Gayeโ€™s Motown classics, Amerigo re-purposes the instrumentation into new productions with the familiar fervor of the original work. Carefully weaving Beyโ€™s tangled raps and Gayeโ€™s soulful vocals over his new arrangements, Gazaway delivers a quality much closer to an authentic collaboration than a lukewarm โ€œmashupโ€ album. Drawing nearly 20,000 downloads in its first two days of release, the โ€œMaster Modern Soul Match Makerโ€ (Juan Vidal- Vibe Magazine) earned a perfect โ€œ5 Starโ€ review from BET, collaborated with New Yorkย Magazineย cartoonist, Drew Dernavich, for the project’s side two cover art, and landed on Billboard’s Best Sellingย Singlesย Chart with the album’s third single, “You Are Undeniable.”

Honing his DJ skills through tours of Europe, Brazil, and the U.S., Gazawayโ€™s dancefloor driving live set features classic breakbeats, original blends, remixes, edits, and mashups of multiple genres including Funk, Soul, Disco, Hip-Hop, Afrobeat, and everything in-between. Withย presentations and lectures logged at USC, MTSU, and Google HQ (NYC), the DJ/Producer continues to highlight theย possibilitiesย of sample based art and shows no signs of slowing down.

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