Welcome to our weekly podcast “Roots to Grooves”.
Each episode explores the music, life and careers of musical artists from their earliest beginnings through to their most recent releases.
On this episode Jay and Jesse discuss the career and creative approaches of American “cinematic soul” group “El Michels Affair“, led by New York-based musician Leon Michels.
Leon Michels grew up in New York, picking up the Saxophone while he was in high school. His teachers introduced him to early jazz from artists such as Benny Goodman and Duke Ellington.
It was his encounter with the musicians that would go on to form “Budos Band” that introduced him to the world of deep funk and afrobeat, and from there Leon would go on to experiment with his own recordings, initially on a multitrack reel-to-reel recorder a friend had gifted him, and eventually to putting out his own music under the “El Michels Affair” moniker.
Leon’s career has also seen him work on projects for high profile artists such as “Lana Del Rey” and being sampled by producers working with “Beyonce”.
On this episode Jay and Jesse dive deeper into Leon’s back catalogue as well as his approach and workflow to making music.
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