The first four days of Kalamazoo’s week-long musical celebration have covered a lot of bases. The recap, photos and this week’s radio show podcast featuring tracks by more than a dozen Michigan artists.
A Night of Jazz and Hip Hop: Sugar Bomb, at left, and Jordan Hamilton helped create a special Thursday evening for Sounds of the Zoo. (Photos/Derek Ketchum)
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More than anything else, this year’s Sounds of the Zoo festival in Kalamazoo — in just its first four days — has heartily embraced the notion of musical variety, ethnic elegance and collaborative power.
And there are still three days and more than two dozen eclectic performances yet to come.
That includes Sunday’s finale at Bronson Park featuring the diverse lineup of Bahar Ensemble, Goh Kurosawa, Yolonda Lavender, The Go Rounds and Detroit’s Jennifer Westwood & The Handsome Devils, who also kicked off this week’s edition of the Local Spins Michigan Music Showcase with a track from their latest album. (Scroll down to listen to the full radio show podcast featuring tracks from 13 Michigan artists.)
Take Thursday night’s Sounds of the Zoo romp at two different Kalamazoo venues, with jazz-propelled performances by three acts at Crawlspace Comedy Theatre and a robust night of hip hop at Green Door Distilling featuring Lady Ace Boogie & Friends, Jordan Hamilton, Dezert Eez, Super Dre and more, as well as a rapping competition staged by Grand Rapids’ Push the City Cypher.
Closing Out the Night: Lady Ace Boogie at Green Door Distilling. (Photo/Derek Ketchum)
The hip-hop night at Green Door hosted the first-ever Push the City Cypher competition in Kalamazoo, giving six local rappers the chance to build their portfolio, network and gain professional feedback in just 32 bars. The top three will get to be in Ruben Martinez and Lady Ace Boogie’s next recorded cypher — giving winners Bonnie G., Early in da Morning, and DreamzTheArtist and Kidd Braxx the chance to gain more support.
Compared to the same hip-hop night at the same location last year, Green Door’s outdoor space held considerably more people chatting in and out.
Following the competition came four quick sets. Beyond Infinity, a three-person rap group with the capacity to unleash surreal speed, both played off each other and clicked together. Dezert Eez showed off a ’90’s-style hip hop for the small but hyped crowd. Jordan Hamilton transitioned the night into a more luxurious, even loungey evening with his cello-shredding, and Lady Ace Boogie wrapped up the show mixing her smooth singing with captivating rap.
About a half-mile away, Crawlspace was turned impressively into a big-city-feel jazz club, with a packed house cheering sets by John Stein, Keith Hall and Carlo De Rosa, Western Michigan University’s Latin Jazz Ensemble and Sugar Bomb.
Thursday’s lineup followed Wednesday’s performances by The Fat Animals and Red Sea Pedestrians at Old Dog Tavern, and Tuesday’s sets by Frogs and Toads, Overdrive Orchestra and Basic Comfort at Bell’s Brewery Eccentric Cafe.
Check out Friday, Saturday and Sunday’s schedule of outdoor performances at Bronson Park below, as well as artists playing two downtown busking stations. Sounds of the Zoo is a free-admission event; donate to the festival at soundsofthezoo.com.
PHOTO GALLERY: Sounds of the Zoo – Day 4 at Green Door, Crawlspace (Thursday)
Photos by Derek Ketchum
PHOTO GALLERY: Sounds of the Zoo – Day 3 at Old Dog Tavern (Wednesday)
Photos by Derek Ketchum
Photos by Derek Ketchum
