Kings of Beats

James Dewitt Yancey, better known by the stage names J Dilla and Jay Dee, was an American record producer and rapper who emerged in the mid-1990s underground hip hop scene in Detroit, Michigan, as one-third of the music group Slum Village. He was also a member of the Soulquarians, a musical collective active during the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Although his life and career were short, J Dilla is widely considered to be one of the most influential producers in the hip-hop genre. It was described in The Guardian that “his affinity for crafting lengthy, melodic loops peppered with breakbeats and vocal samples took instrumental hip-hop into new, more musically complex realms.”

ManyColors pays homage to the great J Dilla with an inspired soul-hop stew of fresh jazz harmonies embedded in a lo-fi soundscape with an irresistible rhythmic pocket. An emergent four-piece band, ManyColors opens up new musical space by using a hip-hop format to explore chords and motifs usually reserved for jazz.

Come see ManyColors pay tribute to “The King of Beats” in an intimate setting right in the heart of downtown Denver.

Brant Williams – guitar/samples

Eric Luba – electric keyboards/piano

Kirwan Brown – bass

Braxton Kahn – drums