World music, compiled by Pieter de Rooij and Carolien Cleiren.
Bass player MonoNeon and jazz organ player/pianist/singer Cory Henry
Recordings of two young African American musicians: bass player MonoNeon and jazz organ player, pianist and singer Cory Henry.
Bass player Dywane Thomas Jr. is also known under his stage name MonoNeon. He was born in Memphis, Tennessee in 1990. He plays the bass guitar since he was four years old. He is an autodidact and primarily taught himself how to play the guitar without taking lessons. MonoNeon is an extremely versatile musician, who can be found in many groups and collaborations on both jazz as pop stages, and he is able to list a whole range of styles to his musical baggage, among which are blues, pop, gospel, R&B, soul, funk and experimental music.
MonoNeon’s reputation has risen rapidly. He played for instance with pop star Prince, just before his passing in 2015, and the famous jazz bass player Marcus Miller praised MonoNeon as one of the most striking good bass players of the younger generation. MonoNeon can be heard with the Jonathan Scales Fourchestra and then there is a spoken word fragment by the well-known American female rapper Cardi B, which is accompanied with music by MonoNeon. Subsequently you hear two parts from John Cage on Soul Train, one of the many experimental pieces by MonoNeon. Finally, on the first part of the broadcast, MonoNeon will play the piece Miles Beyond, a well-known composition of the legendary 70’s jazz rock group Mahavishnu Orchestra.
MonoNeon & Cory Henry
In the second part of the broadcast we pay attention to jazz organ player/pianist, gospel musician and singer Cory Henry who originates from Brooklyn, New York and was born in 1987. He too is an autodidact and learned early on all the tricks of the gospel music and playing the organ during church services. Around 2006 his musical career went into a crescendo and he performed with many well-known artists, such as Bruce Springsteen, Michael McDonald, The Roots and Marcus Miller; with well-known gospel artists such as Donnie McClurkin and Yolanda Adams and with the New York jazz ensemble Snarky Puppy. He performed in the Netherlands already on the North Sea Jazz Festival and he was guest at the VPRO TV-show Vrije Geluiden.
We can hear recordings in the second part of our broadcast of Cory Henry’s succesful band The Funk Apostles. First, a long part of a live performance of Cory Henry and The Funk Apostles on the Rosslyn Jazz Festival 2018 in Arlington, Virginia in the U.S. The band played there with material of the album Art Of Love, which was released in 2018. An appearance is made in this performance MonoNeon, the bass player who could be heard in the first part of the broadcast. Finally, another recording by Cory Henry and The Funk Apostles, the song Takes All Time. Here it is not MonoNeon who is playing the bass guitar, but the bass guitar player of the band, Sharay Reed.
Cory Henry and the Funk Apostles
Playlist:
During the intro:
Title: Wonderful Is Your Name
Performers: Cory Henry, Hammond organ; MonoNeon, bass
source: YouTube
Next:
Title: not mentioned
Performers: The Jonathan Scales Fourchestra featuring MonoNeon
Live at Gottrocks in Greenville/VS
source: YouTube
Title: I Am So Happy Today
spoken word fragment by rapper Cardi B, set on music by MonoNeon
Performers: MonoNeon & Cardi B
source: YouTube
Title: John Cage on Soul Train
Performers: MonoNeon & Michael Vick
source: YouTube
Title: Miles Beyond (composition of Mahavishnu Orchestra)
Performers: MonoNeon and band
source: YouTube
Parts of the live performance on the Rosslyn Jazz Festival 2018 in Arlington, Virginia/U.S.
Material is played of the album Art Of Love, which was released in 2018:
Performers: Cory Henry and The Funk Apostles, with MonoNeon on bass guitar
source: YouTube
Title: Takes All Time
Performers: Cory Henry and The Funk Apostles
Live performance on the Telluride Jazz Festival in Telluride, Colorado/U.S., 2018
source: YouTube
