Few people in the world get to have a wildly successful career, and by wild we mean lights, cameras and screaming fans. However Wayman Tisdale managed not only one, but 2 wildly successful careers. First as a star athlete and NBA players on several major leagues and then as a jazz recording artist/composer whose albums topped the jazz Billboard charts and crossed over to R&B. But that’s not all, before his untimely death Wayman was gearing up to show us yet another brilliant side of him: the funk master!

For 12 years Wayman had worked on a true labor of love, The Fonk Record, featuring collaborations from funk legends George Duke and George Clinton. His dream is finally realized today with the release of The Fonk Record out today via Mack Avenue Records.

The soulful Gregory Porter now has a video for his smooth ballad about love and loss, “Illusion.”  The song is from his latest album, Water.

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We’re a little late on this one but couldn’t let a Quadron video pass by…

Our last in the SVEDKA Vodka and Giant Step Present N*E*R*D Listening Party series will take place this Saturday, October 30th at the Redwood Room at Clift in San Francisco. N*E*R*D’s new album Nothing hits stores on November 2nd, so this is your last chance to get an exclusive first listen to the full album before its release. Entrance is free but strictly RSVP only and you must be 21+ with a valid ID.

More Info || RSVP

More info on Eliza

Hope you all speak French, ’cause Gilles Peterson is on a roll… but most of us don’t really know what he’s saying because he is speaking in French this week. We do know he’s still playing the universal language of good music, including his most recent favorite, Taylor McFerrin’s ”A Place In My Heart.”

He also invites his friend DJ Nuts to join the World Wide mix. DJ Nuts is one of the world’s most trusted and respected DJs, a veritable Brazilian music authority. Blog prowlers and DJs might recognize his name from his work on Mochilla’s Arthur Verocai mix.

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Listen In Jukebox

More Info & Tracklisting

Giant Step and (Le) Poisson Rouge are proud to present Aloe Blacc & The Grand Scheme with special guests Maya Jupiter, The Stepkids, and DJ $mall ¢hange on Thursday, November 18th, at (Le) Poisson Rouge. If you were there to catch Mr. Blacc at our Summerstage performance this past Summer, then you should already know this is not a show to miss. If an Aloe performance is new to you, then check out this video of him performing “Loving you is killing me” live in studio. There will be horns, there will be bass, there will be soul.

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This uniquely distorted video for Belleruche’s second single, “Fuzz Face,” is from their new album, 270 stories, which was released earlier this month via Tru Thoughts.  The video spins the faces of the band members through a weird process of digital and analogue distortion.  The frames (all 4500 of them) were then put through old photocopiers throughout England, thus giving each member a trippy “Fuzz Face.”

Pick up your copy of 270 Stories.

On Friay, November 5th Giant Step Presents the third installment of our 2010 SVEDKA Vodka Sessions series featuring Fitz and The Tantrums plus DJ Smash at the Velvet Room at Clift in San Francisco, CA. Get ready for some hand clapping, moneymaker shaking, and unrestrained bumping as these performers take over the stage and show you why this band went from their living room to touring with Maroon 5 in just one year from its conception. As always with our SVEDKA Music Sessions, entrance is free but strictly RSVP only.

More Info || RSVP

New comers Alecia Chakour & The Osrah have packed enough soul power in their debut EP Loomi to make you wonder if you accidentally fell into a time warp and came out in another era. Collectively, Alecia Chakour & The Osrah’s individual band members have played with some amazing musicians from Mingus Big Band, Bilal, Yusef Lateef, to Billy Taylor, Amos Lee, Apollo Sunshine, and Cold Duck Complex. Lead by the power house vocals of Alecia Chakour, The Osrah (an Arabic word for family) will celebrate their debut at Nublu on Friday, October 29th at 9pm.

Check out the animated flyer for this friday’s party here.

Grab a download or stream of “Like You, Me” by Alecia Chakour & The Osrah