Biography
Plunky & Oneness, one of the most enduring and versatile funk, jazz, Afro-fusion groups of all time is currently booking festival, concert, and club performance dates. The group has been described as “the missing link between Pharaoh Sanders and Kool & the Gang!” Onstage, it’s like John Coltrane meets George Clinton’s P-Funk or Grover Washington with Jill Scott, a festive carnival and a party with a purpose.
Led by saxophonist J. Plunky Branch, who has been gigging and touring for over 35 years, Plunky & Oneness is a unique combination: exotic smooth grooves, sax, vocals, African percussion, and electronics. This, along with the group’s infectious energy, moves audiences of all ages to celebrate, dance and shout.
Over the years Plunky has produced and released 25 albums of original funk soul, avant-garde jazz, fusion, gospel and African music. His latest releases are, Cold Heat, a new CD album featuring his funk jazz singing, playing and songwriting in collaboration with VA hip-hop producers Setworkrz and Danja Mowf; and Plunky & Oneness of Juju - Live In Paris DVD and double CD.
Plunky & Oneness has performed at numerous festivals, including: three times at the National Black Arts Festival, Atlanta, Georgia; twice at the Hampton Jazz Festival in Virginia; and at the World’s Fair in New Orleans. The group has toured in Africa and Europe, with headline performances at London and Paris. (Plunky & Oneness of Juju toured in the French Riviera in March, 2006. and plan to return to Europe in November, 2007) They have opened concerts for some of the biggest names in Black music, including: Earth Wind & Fire, Patti LaBelle, B. B. King, Ray Charles, Frankie Beverly & Maze, Sun Ra, The Isley Brothers and Roy Ayers. In addition to their performances at the National Museum of African Art in Washington, DC; the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, VA and at Alice Tully Hall at the Lincoln Center in New York, Plunky & Oneness enjoys the intimacy and loyalty of smaller venues in their native Mid-Atlantic region.
For booking information, contact: J. Plunky Branch, 804-355-3586
Email: plunkyb@aol.com; website: www.plunkyone.com
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Saxophonist J. Plunky Branch is an experienced performer, songwriter and producer, and is president of N.A.M.E. Brand Records, through which he has released 18 albums. At one time Plunky was a studio musician for television's top-rated sitcom, "The Cosby Show. His song “Every Way But Loose” was a top-ten soul music chart hit in London. He has appeared on avant-garde jazz albums by Pharaoh Sanders, Hamiett Bluitt and others. Nowadays Plunky spends his time leading his bandmates onstage playing rousing funk, R&B, jazz, African, reggae and rap and making music in his recording studio.
Plunky’s European tours have taken him to England, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. He twice toured Ghana, West Africa, once for the Ghana National Commission on Children, and again as a cultural specialist for the U.S. Information Agency. During the last 18 months he has performed in England, explored music business opportunities in France and Japan and traveled to Brazil and to Cuba twice to research and produce music recordings.
With his group, Plunky & Oneness, he has opened shows for Patti Labelle, Ray Charles, Najee, Yellow Jackets, and Frankie Beverly & Maze and more. Plunky & Oneness performed at the New Orleans World’s Fair, the National Black Arts Festival in Atlanta (four times) and twice at the Hampton Jazz Festival in his native Virginia. For more than 10 years Plunky has toured continually with support from the Virginia Commission for the Arts (VCA).
Plunky’s career accomplishments are as varied as his music and his diverse interests, which include: African art and culture, history, digital technology, politics and the media. In addition to being a veteran saxophonist and composer, J. Plunky Branch has served as an administrator, lecturer and teacher. He has been a frequent arts panelist for the Virginia Commission for the Arts, the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). Plunky is a two-time recipient of the NEA Jazz Fellowship and he was appointed to the Governor’s Task Force for the Promotion of the Arts in Virginia. He has been Director of the Jazz Ensemble at Virginia Union University as well as an instructor of Afro-American Music History at Virginia Commonwealth University, both in Richmond.
Recognized by Richmond Magazine as Musician of the Year for 1999, Plunky is a sought after artist-in-residence and performer for public schools systems. He has written film scripts, journals of his travels, poems and over 200 songs.
Throughout his career Plunky has entertained and taught thousands, and in the process, has developed a broad and loyal following. During his 1987 West African tour, critics proclaimed Plunky "one of the greatest living saxophonist!" In a context where rhythm, ritual, power and emotion reign supreme, he just might be!
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For further information contact: J. Plunky Branch, 2218 Rosewood Avenue, Richmond, VA 23220, 804-355-3586, Fax 804-355-7240, Email: plunkyb@aol.com
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Instrumentation
J. PLUNKY BRANCH - Saxes, vocals, percussion
TONYA LAZENBY-JACKSON - Vocals, Keyboards
P. MUZI BRANCH - Bass
DERRICK SIMMONS - Drums
JAMIAH FIRE BRANCH - Electronic percussion
MONICA SMITH - Background vocals
CARL LESTER - Guitar
Discography
CD Album Releases:
Plunky Cold Heat
Plunky & Oneness Forever In A Moment
Plunky & Oneness Got to Move Something
Plunky & Oneness Saxy Mellow Moments
Plunky & Oneness Got to be Phunky
Plunky & Oneness I Can’t Hold Back
Plunky & Oneness Groove Tones
Plunky The Oneness of Funk
Plunky One World One Music
Plunky Move Into the Light
Plunky Tropical Chill
Oneness of JuJu African Rhythms
Oneness of JuJu Space Jungle Luv
Oneness of JuJu Bush Brothers & Space Rangers
Plunky & Oneness of JuJu Electric JuJu Nation
JuJu Message From Mozambique
JuJu Chapter Two: Nia
J. Plunky Branch Solo Journey Between Dimensions
J. Plunky Branch Instrumental Praise
Links
| http://www.plunkyone.com |