Blue Note January 7 Press Release (Adobe .PDF)
High Resolution Photo (.JPG format)
The Daily News Top 5 Live says No funk-faking here.
American Express Featured Gold Card Event.
All About Jazz features our Blue Note debut.
The Alter Egos are six slightly obsessive people. We listen to jazz, hip hop and soul music. We practice our instruments, sing and rhyme. We stay up late, writing and rewriting and trying to push all our experiences into music. Since 2001 we've been writing songs together. We feed off each other, fight with each other, and sometimes even finish a song that really sounds like the music we've been dreaming in our heads.
The Alter Egos play live shows, mostly in New York City. We usually do our own publicity, working to build a community of people who enjoy our music. In 2002, we'd often play for 10 or 15 folks. Now we often play for packed rooms, and we hope our audience keeps growing. But the numbers aren't important, it's a feeling in the room that we're after. When our songs meet minds and bodies that are ready to be moved, that makes us play a little harder, and takes us to a place that we can't get to any other way. Our songs are always changing, played on live instruments without backing tracks or drum loops. Someday we want to do the perfect live show, one that you'll tell your grandkids about.
You need some specifics? OK, our music has been compared to Jill Scott, the Roots, Floetry, Blackalicious, old time soul music, and 70's electric jazz. Download.com's editors praised our "Lively instrumentation topped with intelligent raps by B-Salt and sultry singing from Rashida B." We released our first album Defenders of Live Hip Hop in 2001, released three new tracks in 2004 and are working on another full length album in 2005. We've played more rooms than we can remember, some memorable ones are the Blue Note, Knitting Factory, Southpaw, Crash Mansion, Arlene's Grocery, Bowery Poetry Club, and Vassar College. We've shared the stage with greats, including John Legend and Jeremy James. We also wrote and produced a theater piece called Ill Path in 2003. Want to know our names? Scroll down below the photos.
From the Blue Note (photos by Bill Melone):
By Paul Meil Photography:
From other live shows:
B-Salt rhymes, sings, and plots against the government.
Rashida B sings and makes us look underdressed.
Josh "A-Rock" Arenberg hits the drums and gives the motivational speeches.
Mike "New Shoes" Herscher plays the bass.
Tony "Predator" Melone plays keyboards and makes the website (nicer than his own).
Chris Parrello is our newest member. He plays the guitar very nicely. See for yourself.
And a big thanks to former members who helped us along the way: Lee Kirk, DJ OP!, Rob "Bass" Graziano, and Ian M. Riggs.
