Event – MAKING THE BAND: Kev Choice Joins Souls of Mischief as Musical Director & Keyboardist for Live Band Debut at the Paid Dues Festival in San Bernardino, CA – Today!

Murs 3:16 and Guerilla Union present
2013 PAID DUES INDEPENDENT HIP HOP FESTIVAL

Saturday, March 30, 2013
Doors 12:00 p.m.–11:45 p.m.
General Admission is $76-$186
This event is all ages

» BUY TICKETS

VENUE INFORMATION:
San Manuel Amphitheater
2575 Glen Helen Pkwy
San Bernardino, CA 92407

LINKS:
Paid Dues Festival
Souls of Mischief
San Manuel Amphitheater

WATCH: Souls Of Mischief – “93 Til’ Infinity“

At this year’s Paid Dues Festival, Souls of Mischief (A-Plus, Opio, Phesto, and Tajai) headlines the Monster Energy Stage (9:30-10:30 p.m.) and will make history by being backed by a LIVE BAND for the FIRST TIME ever.  SOM will be performing classic songs from their catalogue while highlighting the already prevalent musical influences of the group’s style, ranging from classic jazz and soul samples.

READ: The Many Sounds Of 1993 Bay Area Rap (NPR)

The SOM band will be under the musical direction of Kev Choice who has served as Musical Director and Keyboarist for Lauryn Hill and has played as sideman with the likes of The Coup (current), Too $hort (current), DJ Quick, Dwele, Goapele, Zion I and more.

SOM/BAND:
Emcees – A-Plus, Opio, Phesto, and Tajai
Musical Director/Keyboardist – Kev Choice
Drums – DJ Toure
Bass – Scott Thompson
Guitar – B’nai Rebelfront
Saxophone/Flute – Marcus Stephens
Trumpet – Henry Hung
DJ – DJ Lex

Kev Choice Returns to Yoshi’s Oakland – Thursday Feb. 28th

Hip-Hop Pianist Kev Choice 

Thursday, February 28, 2013
Doors 7:30 p.m., Show 8:00 p.m.
Tickets are $15.00 for general admission
This event is all ages

» BUY TICKETS

VENUE INFORMATION:
Yoshi’s Oakland
Jack London Square
510 Embarcadero West
Oakland, CA 94607
www.yoshis.com

LINKS:
Like: www.facebook.com/kevchoicemusic
Follow: www.twitter.com/kevchoice
Bandcamp: www.kevchoice.bandcamp.com
Website: www.kevchoicemusic.com

This will be Kev Choice’s 4th headlining show at Yoshi’s and will feature some of the Bay Area’s best up and coming musicians and vocalists. For this show, the Kev Choice Ensemble will consist of up to 15 pieces including string section, horn section, rhythm section, and vocalist, all lead by Kev Choice on grand piano, synths, and lead vocals.

Kev will showcase his pianism a lot more in this show, doing solo piano works and small combo pieces. He will be premiering new works off his forthcoming project, “Dual Realities” and also excerpts from his Hip-Hopera, “The Chosen One.”

BAND PERSONNEL:
Kev Choice – Emcee, Piano, Synths
Viveca Hawkins – Vocalist
MacArthur – Vocalist
John “Omayga” Adams – Drums
Uriah Duffy – Bass
Greggo Simmons – Guitar
Mike Blankenship – Keys, Synths
Howard Wiley – Saxophone
Geechi Taylor – Trumpet
Yeri Ceasar Kaptoech – Violin
Echae “Julz” Kang – Violin
Ajayi Jackson – Percussion

Daily Dosage: Euro Edition #12 – Kev Choice – “Give It Up” Live at The Trinity Centre, Bristol (Video)

Kev Choice rocking and getting the crowd hype with his opening song, “Give It Up,” live at The Trinity Centre in Bristol, England.

Daily Dosage: Euro Edition #11 – Kev Choice – “Kill That/Blues Piano Interlude” Live at Mains-D’Oeuvres in Saint-Ouen, France (Video)

In this video, I bust into a blues interlude coming out of the song “Kill That.”  This footage was shot live at Mains-D’Oeuvres in Saint-Ouen, which is located right outside of Paris.  The journey continues on tour as opener and keyboardist for The Coup’s Sorry To Bother You European tour.

Daily Dosage: Euro Edition #10 – Kev Choice – “Brussels Hustle” (Free Download)

While chilling in Brussels, I asked the promoter what music was from Brussels.  He told me something about “New Beat,” a style of house/techno that came from Belgium in the 80′s.  I looked it up and came across this song “Phantasia Forever” by Belgian techno musician, Praga Khan.  I liked the synth intro so I took it and flipped it!

Daily Dosage: Euro Edition #9 – Kev Choice – “Parisian Dawns” Feat. Emilie Lesbros (Free Download)

Missed a day of Daily Dosage yesterday due to technical problems at hotel in Holland, so today will be a DOUBLE DAILY DOSAGE DAY!!

Was at a club the other night, that didn”t start til 4am!!  They were rocking to a lot of dub step, techno, and house music.  That Euro vibe starting to sink in on me.  Had me thinking about making music to make people DANCE!!  Then, an adventurous night in the streets of Paris lead to this creation. I linked up with French vocalist/instrumentalist Emilie Lesbros, laid a beat and just let creative juices flow as the sun rose in Paris. The beat started off in one direction and I actually took it to a whole nother place.

Heres #1.

Daily Dosage: Euro Edition #8 – Kev Choice – “Windows” (Free Download)

Been taking long drives through France and Holland so far on tour. Looking out the window at everything from countrysides to inner cities to suburbia.  Also looking out my hotel window, seeing new environments, recognizing the similarities and differences between these places and back home.  Realizing the world is just full of people, trying to survive in their daily lives, and find a little sunshine.

I made this instrumental with those thoughts in mind, a cool sample and I added some drums, piano, and strings.  I made this beat while in Holland, and originally came across the song from this Dutch singer, Henny Vonk.  The version I sampled is from Dionne Warwick’s version, “Windows of The World.”

Daily Dosage: Euro Edition #7 – Kev Choice – “Good As Gold” (Free Download)

After talking to one of the opening act M.C.’s in Nijmegen, Holland, and realizing that a lot of the venues we were playing at in Europe the DJs were spinning mainly old school hip-hop, it had me reflecting on the Golden Era of hip-hop and how much it had impacted the world and still does so today. The art of sampling, digging, finding drum breaks, and spittin hard, clever rhymes, is still very much respected in Europe, almost more so than in the States.  A Lot of artists who are long forgotten in the states still are revered in Europe and some can still make money touring here. It just had me thinking about the Golden Era of Rap, late 80′s to mid 90′s, when there was consciousness and a certain respect of the skill level heavily present in Hip-Hop.  So I found a classic drum loop, chopped up a sample, and just spit, Old School style.

Daily Dosage: Euro Edition #6 – Kev Choice – “My Life” Live at Le Periscope in Lyon, France

Had to take advantage of the Grand Piano at this cool venue, “Le Periscope,” in Lyon, France.  Saw the piano in the back at soundcheck and was like, “y’all gotta pull that out for my set!!”  Always love any opportunity to sit down at a real piano, especially when I get a chance to rhyme as well. The people weren’t expecting it, but I think they appreciated it.

Daily Dosage: Euro Edition #5 – Kev Choice – “Make Believers” Live at Ubu in Rennes, France (Video)

For the weekend submissions of the Daily Dosage Euro Edition, I will post videos rocking on tour live in Europe as opener for The Coup.  The first clip is from tonight’s show at Ubu in Rennes, France.  I’m performing a version of my soon to be released single, “Make Believers,” to a captivated French crowd.