The Rebirth

In the compelling 11-track album called “This Journey In” recorded in the band's hometown of Los Angeles, The Rebirth matches its musical vitality with a gift for lucid poetry and songwriting, creating a rich sound built on an organic blend of new and traditional soul, hip-hop, jazz and funk. These elements make the group's music both highly progressive and a throwback to the classic soul bands like: Earth, Wind & Fire, Ramp, Pleasure, Rotary Connection, Side Effect and Roy Ayers. The newest release, “Love Issue EP” is a rich house groove and the last recording with previous lead singer Noelle Scaggs and serves as an appetizer for the final course to come later on this year. The full length release entitled “Being Through the Eyes of a Child”.

At times mystical, always generous, The Rebirth’s strength is not only present in the chemistry provided by the instruments, but also in the group’s dynamic harmonic vocal layering. In this age of sampling and computers, the crafting of the great song and the great record is simply not as common. The Rebirth pays special attention to everything that makes a song find its own greatness. Melody, rhythm, lyrics, instrumentation, arrangement, performance and production are equally emphasized.

Over the last few years, The Rebirth has celebrated the successes of several smashing singles: “This Journey In”, “Every Body Say Yeah”, “Got Your Madness”, and their critically acclaimed cover of The Might Ryders’ “Evil Vibrations” for Ubiquity Records’ compilation, Rewind! 4. Nominated for “Song of the Year” at Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide Awards and concluding in 2004 at #6 on his play list, “Evil Vibrations”, continues to gain accolades for the group as one of the US’ most promising neo-soul collectives. The release of “This Journey In” also quickly garnered airplay on radio stations from Los Angeles to the U.K. and Japan, and appeared on numerous CD’s including: King Britt’s Black to the Future, Gilles Peterson’s Trust a DJ 9 and the Norman Jay MBE compilation entitled Giant 45. In addition, Gilles Peterson included the song on his list of “20 Best in 2003” and Norman Jay called it, “The anthem of the summer 200”. Poignant tracks that appear on This Journey In include “Shake It”, a catchy mid-tempo jam that encourages one to feel uninhibited about getting out to the dance floor to simply let loose and enjoy the moment; the smooth dance song, with a funky base line, “Stray Away”; “Common Ends”, an uplifting track that talks about the experiences in life that unifies people; and the funky, disco-Brazilian inspired song, “Talking Me Down”, plus many other stellar compositions.

“The Rebirth is prepared to fully represent the return of the quintessential soul band”, says Carlos “Loslito”, the leader and creator of the group. The original keyboardist for the L.A. underground funk troop, Breakestra, Loslito has been conceptualizing The Rebirth since the Acid Jazz movement in the early 90’s. Groups like Soul 2 Soul, Brand New Heavies, Jamiroquai, Omar and the underrated Young Disciples,” inspired Loslito to write and perform similar soulful music. From this era came the studio project turned live act known as Mesh of Mind. After making their statement around Los Angeles and releasing music on Planet Earth Recordings and Dorado records, the group soon learned that the U.S. wasn’t quite ready for a band of its kind. D’Angelo was just releasing
“Brown Sugar” and the Philly sound were still finding its unified voice. The project persevered and while recording the full-length album several key members started a side project that became the Grammy Award winning Ozomatli. In turn, Mesh of Mind went their separate ways and the concept and music had to be put on the shelves, hence The Rebirth. “Though it was hard to let go, I do find solace in my belief that situations happen for a reason,” said Loslito. “Mesh of Mind was the learning grounds for what The Rebirth is today and what it will become. The project has matured and all the current members have synchronicity not only on a performance level, but most importantly on an instinctual level. Leonard Bernstein once said ‘You are the sum of your listening experience’ and in The Rebirth’s case we have been influenced by the same types of music and it helped us to achieve a complimentary state without force in our music”.

The additional lead vocalist of The Rebirth is newest member, J. Mitchell. Her sensual or soulful sounds add a new dimension to the band’s well-known vocal tapestry. She was discovered by Carlos singing back-up in a friend’s band. Born in Seoul, Korea, J. Mitchell made her way to Los Angeles after growing up in Colorado. At a very age J. Mitchell began writing poetry and songs as her musical desires emerged catching the eyes of music fans everywhere. Mitchell cites as her inspiration jazz greats Coltrane, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, and Nina Simone, Jimi Hendrix, Shuggie Otis, Eryka Badu, Dilla She credits the