Aaron Johnston, drummer for Brazilian Girls, is taking his J.E.D.I. (Jazz Electronic Dance Improvised) project on the road this spring. For the upcoming four-night Spring Equinox Tour, both bassist Marc Brownstein and keyboardist Aron Magner of The Disco Biscuits will join Johnston. The trio recently got together for a late-night throwdown post-Biscuits in Albany this past November, and have decided to hit the road for a three-night run. The group will blend a myriad of musical elements from a diverse range of genres including jazz, afrobeat, dub, funk, dance and more to create a “live music abstraction” each night of the tour.
The project has seen a rotating cast of musicians such as Michael Kang (The String Cheese Incident), Borahm Lee (Pretty Lights / Break Science), Dominic Lalli (Big Gigantic), Ryan Zoidis (Lettuce), Eddie Roberts (The New Mastersounds), Nate Edgar (The Nth Power), and more join the accomplished musician over the course of the past two years, since J.E.D.I. made its initial debut.
Brooklyn, NY-based space-funk/psych-rock outfit Escaper will support J.E.D.I at Toad’s Place in New Haven, CT on March 21st, and Putnam Place in Saratoga Springs, NY on March 23rd. J.E.D.I.’s show at Metronome in Burlington, VT will be a special “Evening With” performance. According to Johnston, the group will also play a yet-to-be-announced show on Wednesday, March 20th. More on that to come.
The Brazilian Girls co-founder, drummer, and Grammy Award nominee, who was a member of the wildly successful David Byrne tour last year, has a long list of friends to call upon for the project, which marks a long-time dream coming into fruition. When asked about J.E.D.I., Johnston explained, “It’s for us and the crowd. An opportunity for us to connect on stage with our friends—who we are fortunate enough to have some of the top musicians around today—and play the music we want to play and experiment with and hopefully really connect with the crowd.”
Johnston will also lead a group of J.E.D.I.’s at consisting of Michael Kang (SCI), Jason Hann (SCI), Ashish Vyas (Thievery Corporation), and Borahm Lee (Break Science / Pretty Lights) at the previously announced The Big Melt event in Denver, CO on Saturday, April 13th. That event will also feature performances from Eric Krasno & Friends, Dominic Lalli’s Bluebird Quintet, and The Purple Party (a tribute to Prince).
