The Witzard

It is now widely known that Tuxedo is a Nu-Funk/R&B duo consisting of one-time Stones Throw crooner Mayer Hawthorne and super-producer Jake One ; however, at one point in time, surrounding the release of their 2013 Tuxedo EP , Tuexedo 's members' identities were largely shrouded in mystery. I personally believe, that Tuxedo's nom de plume was, initially, a bit of a lighthearted tongue-in-cheek jab at Justin Timberlake's similarly-titled/sounding "Suit & Tie" single with JAY-Z. Tuxedo have since released three full-length albums: Tuxedo , Tuxedo II, and most recently, III AKA Tuxedo III , as well as a slew of Funk-tastic remixes, stand-alone singles, and Yuletide nuggets. For their latest single from III , "Toast 2 Us," Mayer Hawthorne & Jake One have enlisted frequent Stones Throw collaborator and multi-talented director / photographer / editor / creative / VFX artist Ross Harris . Tuxedo & Ross Harris previously collaborated ...

"The sounds of Shuggie Otis & Michael McDonald inspired a man to write a song. A couple of Mondays later, that song inspired an identity. The name is Otis McDonald . The mission? Good music;" that man was "producer, engineer, drummer, singer, bassist, guitarist, and keyboardist extraordinaire" Joe Bagale , now, better known as Otis McDonald . I was fortunate enough to grow up with parents who always had a phenomenal record collection: Billy Joel, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, James Taylor, New Jersey "staple" Bruce Springsteen, Simon & Garfunkel, Lionel Richie, and, of course, The Doobie Brothers & Michael McDonald . So, I feel as though I "get" it... The Funk, that is! While I very much enjoy all of the aforementioned artists from my parents' record collection, I'll readily admit, Michael McDonald has the voice of a silky smooth angel. Nu-Funk sensation Otis McDonald self-released a whopping 30 tracks for free on YouTu...

Flaunt Edwards is a long-standing alias of J.Rocc The Funky President . Jason "J.Rocc" Jackson has, over the years, become one of the most world-renown and sought-after Hip-Hop DJ's, turntablists, and producers. One of the founding members of The Beat Junkies , J.Rocc has spent time either playing with or recording alongside artists such as Axel F. with M.E.D. Bumrush Bros. D-Styles Sextet , DJ Spinna, Dirty Fingered B-Boys , J Dilla, Jurassic 5 , Madlib, and PSK , as well as being the honorary "third member" of Jaylib . The Witzard , actually, has a very special relationship with J.Rocc , as I've been patiently waiting to hear Jay 's long-rumored J Dilla & Michael Jackson mash-up/blend album, SHARE MY BED , for about 10 years now. Although, miraculously, earlier this year, J.Rocc surprise released an 8-track version of SHARE MY BED on his Bandcamp page; along with it, was this quote, seemingly, paraphrased from Dilla himself: " J D...

" Happy Holidays , everyone. All the best Christmas songs were written by Jews , and Chanukah songs suck. This is my favorite Christmas tune, sung over the Vincent Guaraldi instrumental," New-Wop crooner Andrew Mayer "Hawthorne" Cohen wrote in a particularly tongue-in-cheek gentile-slamming 2010 mini- Stones Throw press release accompanying his sparse "Christmas Time Is Here" Peanuts -assisted cover. Just a few mere years later, Hawthorne and his Disco-Funkateer partner-in-crime, Jake-One quietly unveiled their first slice of post- Tuxedo Funk EP era material; a jittery groove-soaked rendition of Paul McCartney & Wings' 1979 Synth-Rock yuletide favorite, "Wonderful Christmastime." Now, just days ahead of the soon forthcoming 2015-16 holiday season, Tuxedo have unwrapped a completely original, retro-futuristic holiday standard titled "Holiday Love." It appears exclusively within Amazon Music 's recent holi...

"We're dropping a 12" of Tuxedo remixes this summer. Here's one from Jean Tonique , remixing Tuxedo 's "The Right Time," Stones Throw wrote within a mini-press release uploaded this past May; preceeded by a handful of unofficially released remixes haphazardly shared on Tuxedo 's Soundcloud page including Funk -laden re-works from the likes of Nick Catchdubs , Dimitri from Paris, Flaunt Edwards (resident DJ J. Rocc ), Kaytranada, and Tonique. Following a set of unexpected delays, Stones Throw finally unleashed Tuxedo: The M+M Mixes back in mid-September. Mayer Hawthorne & Jake-One recruited self-described "original disco don dada" John Morales , who previously mixed Tuxedo 's critically-acclaimed debut, to painstakingly edit together a 12" collection of 80's Classic -stylized remixes; "I started to do my edits using the pause button on a Teac cassette, [then] purchased a Sony reel-to-reel. It was hard work, w...

"It's still hard to believe I found an out-take [with] my original band @CHICorg #IllBeThere ," @nilerodgers exuberantly Tweeted late Saturday night; Rodgers, who's essentially the sole founding member of Disco-Funk originators, Chic (now, somewhat confusingly billed as "CHIC featuring Nile Rodgers" ), has been pain-stakingly compiling a collection of recently unearthed 1970-80's era Chic tracks along with contemporary producers like Avicii , David Guetta, and The Martinez Brothers . Chic 's newly-surfaced material, tentatively titled It's About Time , seems to have been oddly enough reverse "influenced" by modern-day Disco-Funk acts like Chromeo , Dâm-Funk, Tuxedo , Mark Ronson & The Dap-Kings, and even quite ironically, buddies Daft Punk & Pharrell , who were all very likely initially influenced by Chic 's genre-shaping output in the first place. " ["I'll Be There"] is a moving concept for me abo...

Not trying to brag here whatsoever, but I've been on the Mayer Hawthorne New-Wop "bandwagon" since day one; I can remember seeing him on what I believe was his first tour behind A Strange Arrangement (2009) at First Unitarian Church in South Philly . Mayer Hawthorne & The County (which then, still included Topher Mohr ) essentially played a church basement to a room full of colorfully diverse concert-goers: Hip-Hop heads, "preppy" kids decked out in suits and ties — much like my buddy Brad and I, Indie Rock hipsters, and a handful of displaced Punk Rockers . J Dilla 's right-hand man, DJ Houseshoes opened the night's show with a barrage of white people-friendly Hip-Hop classics including Dilla , A Tribe Called Quest, Jaylib , and "I don't know why the f*ck I'm f*ckin' with you" (which distinctively sticks out ha). After the concert, I immediately bolted back to my car to grab my pseudo-alligator skin A Strange Arrang...

" Tuxedo is Mayer Hawthorne & Jake-One . The mysterious Flaunt Edwards (AKA J.Rocc ) has taken their track "Do It" to his chopping block, and here's what emerged;" Not entirely unlike his Stones Throw label mates Madlib , Quakers, 7 Days of Funk , and Folerio, J.Rocc secretly moonlights as Disco-Funk -indebted DJ, Flaunt Edwards . Although, his sparse alternate discography only includes a few highly sought-after releases: Flaunt Edwards Was Here , a smooth 5-track collection of Soundcloud -issued edits and two seemingly untitled 7-12"s on Puff Puff Records (2013). "Do It" (Flaunt Edwards Edit) marks J.Rocc 's first thinly-veiled remix creation unleashed following a nearly two year-long break. It's a Funk -drenched extended edit of the premier pseudo-single from Mayer Hawthorne & Jake-One 's Tuxedo Funk EP/Tuxedo 's "debut album, [which] will be released on Stones Throw a month from today, March 3, 2015....

"We always wondered what the original sample was for Snoop [Dogg] 's "Ain't No Fun (If the Homies Can't Have None). " Since we couldn't figure it out, we decided we would make it," Tuxedo gloated in a recent Stones Throw statement coinciding with their first non- Tuxedo Funk EP single, "Number One." Mayer Hawthorne & Jake-One previously unleashed their pre- Tuxedo "inspiration" mixtapes , Shoot The Duck and AR Music , on which they forged the group's underlying Disco-Funk backbone. " Tuxedo' s [material] has been nothing short of top-shelf Boogie for the two-steppers, thus far... the sophisticated strutting is back and in full-effect, as the duo lets loose their latest joint, "Number One,'" okayplayer artistically lamented upon the track's release. It's a smooth synth-laden Disco-Funk track creation that doesn't sound entirely unlike something Snoop Dogg would rap over; ak...

" Tuxedo Xmas jam dropping for all my gentiles (Santa emoji)," @MayerHawthorne Tweeted in the wee hours of the morning, preceding his newly unmasked Disco-Funk duo's yuletide single. "Happy Holidays from Tuxedo . Original by some guy named Paul McCartney ," reads the Soundcloud description scribed beneath "Wonderful Christmastime." While most of us have known it since day one, about two years ago, Hawthorne and producer buddy Jake-One just recently revealed themselves as Tuxedo , along with their self-titled Stones Throw -backed album announcement. Jake-One manages to keep the majority of the former Beatles' holiday track intact, but adds a little more Disco-Funk /kazoo-fueled Hip-Hop swing to "Wonderful Christmastime;" while Mayer Hawthorne delivers his now signature buttery smooth New-Wop vocals, without disgracing McCartney's arrangement and even appends a couple Prince -level high notes, for good measure. Now, mind ...

It's been widely speculated since their mysterious 3-song Tuxedo Funk EP drop that illusive Disco-Funk duo Tuxedo were in fact composed of New-Wop crooner Mayer Hawthorne and his producer buddy, Jake-One . It's also been a sort of "music biz" insider joke since day one that Tuxedo 's name itself was a discrete, yet tasteful, jab at Justin Timberlake 's then just-released "Suit & Tie" and apparent assimilation of Hawthorne's whole old-school-meets-new-school Doo-Wop shtick he's adopted in recent years. "The Tuxedo collaboration began with an exchange of mixtapes back in 2006. The fruits of a long-standing kinship were three tracks that mysteriously showed up on Internet doorsteps nearly two years ago. In between personal projects, these three tracks became a full album's-worth of Tuxedo ," Stones Throw exuberantly wrote in a December 1st album press release. " [Tuxedo] are descendants of the one-word moniker ...

" Tuxedo [first] emerged last year with three tracks of smooth, synth-heavy Disco-Funk , and accompanied by no information whatsoever about the group except a greeting – " Tuxedo is here! Stay classy," Stones Throw wrote in an unannounced Tuxedo -centric post Wednesday afternoon (the former label home of New-Wop crooner Mayer Hawthorne ). The 2-pieces' former download-able Tuxedo Funk EP featured vocal effects that sound suspiciously similar to those of Hawthorne, atop rumored Funk -drenched production work crafted by veteran beatsmith, Jake-One . Mayer Hawthorne 's quick milli-second cameo as a valet within Tuxedo 's latest "Do It" video, would seemingly add a little "fuel to the fire." While it's far from solid full-proof confirmation, I recently discovered a Nissan Murano commercial within the depths of YouTube , which features usual suspects Mayer Hawthorne & Jake-One , billed as Tuxedo , performing "So Good" ...

"Tuxedo Funk EP," a mysterious 3-track quick-strike EP was quietly uploaded online about a week ago. It's been slowly picking up steam across The Blogosphere and I finally gave it a listen late Monday night, too. Blue-Eyed Soul crooner Mayer Hawthorne is quite obviously the man handling vocal duties over top of what's rumored to be smooth production work from either Jake-One, RAC , or Dâm-Funk . The unique blend of Soul-Funk , Doo-Wop, Hip-Hop , and EDM ends up sounding something like Bruno Mars meets Daft Punk [or just Chromeo ] ha. Supposedly cloaked in secrecy due to label-binding contracts, I'm sure Tuxedo 's true identities will be revealed eventually; But regardless, there's more Funk housed in these 3 tracks than on Red Hot Chili Pepper's failed 3-album opus, Stadium Arcadium (2006). "Do It" is hands down, my personal favourite track, after a few early listens. Tuxedo Funk 's opener is nearly 4:15 of blazin' Disco-...