released February 1, 2024

“Angels Over Oakanda” is a unique body of compositions that draws upon the high bar of creativity and musicianship within Burnt Sugar The Arkestra Chamber in unprecedented ways.

ANGELS OVER OAKANDA ~ Track Listing :

Side One ~

Angels Over Oakanda* (18:37)
Track Composition: Greg ‘Ionman’ Tate - Loop Construct & Conduction -
Satch Hoyt - Flute ~ Lewis ‘Flip’ Barnes - Trumpet ~ V. Jeffrey Smith - Tenor Sax ~ Avram Fefer - Alto Sax ~ ‘Moist' Paula Henderson - Bari Sax ~ Ben Tyree & André ‘Dré Glo’ Lassalle - Electric Guitars ~ Leon Gruenbaum - Fender Rhodes ~ Shelley Nicole, Greg Gonzalez & Jared Michael Nickerson - Percussion ~ Greg Gonzalez -Trap Drums ~ Greg ‘Ionman’ Tate - Loops ~ Jared Michael Nickerson - Electric Bubble Bass

The opening track, which gives the album its name, was recorded in Brooklyn with a full complement of the current gigging and touring Burnt Sugar Arkestra instrumental band.

Activating a 140 bpm groove-loop by Tate for its rhythmic and ‘ill-bient’ foundation, the group launches on a dizzying 18-minute journey of extemporaneous conjuration — one directed and disciplined under Tate’s baton by their seasoned deployment of their late sensei Lawrence Butch Morris’ Conduction System for Ensemble, practicing what Ornette Coleman called ‘The Art of the Improvisors.’

The players in the room on that audacious day were Lewis Flip Barnes TRUMPET; Avram Fefer ALTO SAX; V. Jeffrey Smith TENOR SAX; Moist Paula BARITONE SAX; Ben Tyree & André Lassalle ELECTRIC GUITARS; Leon Gruenbaum FENDER RHODES; Greg Gonzalez DRUMS & PERCUSSION; Shelley Nicole PERCUSSION; Jared Michael Nickerson ELECTRIC BUBBLE BASS & PERCUSSION

Supplemental compositional material was later developed in the home studios of V. Jeffrey Smith TENOR & SOPRANO; and Satch Hoyt FLUTE, and worked into the final mix.

Side Two ~

Repatriation-of-The-Midnight-Moors (12:00) OAKANDA rmx-2
Track Composition and ReMiX Production: Marque Gilmore tha' Inna•Most
Electric Bubble Bass-Hook: Jared Michael Nickerson
Melodic Hook 1: Satch Hoyt - Flute
Horn-Hook 2: “Moist” Paula Henderson - Bari Sax ~ V. Jeffrey Smith - Tenor Sax ~ Avram Fefer - Alto Sax
Horn Improvs: “Moist” Paula Henderson - Bari Sax ~ V. Jeffrey Smith - Tenor Sax ~ Avram Fefer - Alto Sax
Bari-Loop Sample: “Moist” Paula Henderson
Rhodes Parts (x2): Leon Gruenbaum
FLUTE SOLO(s): Satch Hoyt (Part one & Two)
Melodic Hook 2: Satch Hoyt
Melodic Hook 3: Satch Hoyt
Percussion Samples: Shelley Nicole ~ Greg Gonzalez ~ Jared Michael Nickerson
Outro Flute Sample: Satch Hoyt

Next is a 12-minute Beat-and-Bass remix variation of the Oakanda suite entitled‘Repatriation of the Midnight Moors’, produced, composed and arranged by longtime BSAC guest drummer and arrangement collaborator, Marque Gilmore tha’ Inna•Most. ‘Repatriation’ is remix #2 extracted from tha Inna Most’s “Reconstru-Ducted Repartriation Road-Rage ReMiXeS.”

Gilmore has a relationship with several Burnt Sugar members that goes back to the formative years as a founder-member of the Black Rock Coalition. Brother Gilmore drew on discrete musical elements and thematic impulses from Angel’s long-form version to create a wholly original work — one which distills the artist’s deep history in Cambridge, as a teen in his father Marvin Gilmore’s reggae-centric club The Western Front; then later in New York with the BRC-massive; his 14-year stint in London being a pioneering member of its Black Poetic and Drum’n’Bass communities from the mid- 90s (alongside such now well-known UK literary pillars as Roger Robinson and Malaika B); along with his journeyman tenure with Joe Zawinul in the post-millennial oughts; through to his decade of contributions to the touring ensemble and Grammy nominations for his production work with Cuban pianist Omar Sosa.

About Repatriations Gilmore has this to say:
“I am truly humbled and honoured each and every time I am invited as a guest artist with Burnt Sugar, and even with my Acousti-Lectric drum-arrangement infusions, I have YET to hold that Dang-Blessed baton! So… I created a full-length remix suite entitled: “The Recontru-Ducted Repatriation Road-Rage ReMiXeS” – Based on my Live-Remix production style (preserving an artist’s live performances and ensemble instrumentations), I basically re-conducted the entire OAKANDA affair digitally and created beat-structures and harmonic production utilizing the combined sciences of Archeo-Astronomy and ancient Sumerian time-keeping (hence the 12-minute remix of ‘Midnight Moors’) all connected to contemporary BLM-based activism and thought in the titles and text. Thank You, BSAC!”

Oakanda Overdrive* (5:51)
Track Composition: Jared Michael Nickerson
Leon Gruenbaum - Fender Rhodes ~ Satch Hoyt - Flute ~ V. Jeffrey Smith - Tenor Sax ~ Shelley Nicole, Greg Gonzalez & Jared Michael Nickerson - Percussion ~ Greg Gonzalez -Trap Drums ~ Greg ‘Ionman’ Tate - Loops ~ Jared Michael Nickerson - Electric Bubble Bass

The suite’s third iteration, ‘Oakanda Overdrive’ is the free-bopping, chamber-ensemble-approached, sonic-groidd child of Jared Michael Nickerson. This composition features Jared’s supernatural bass virtuosity, chopped & screwed reed-section scribe and ‘Black Moses’ arrangement savvy along with the solo horn prowess of V. Jeffrey Smith in whose ‘lab’, Jamcarver Studios, the composition was inculcated.

Lisala Over inna-Oakanda* (2:33)
Lead & Background Vocal Composition & Arrangement: Lisala Beatty
Arrangement & Production: Marque Gilmore tha' Inna•Most
Lyrics: Greg Tate
Flute: Satch Hoyt
Tenor Sax: V Jeffrey Smith
Fender Rhodes: Leon Gruenbaum
Electric Bubble Bass: Jared Michael Nickerson

The suite’s finalé, ‘Lisala Over inna-Oakanda’ is a collaboration between longtime Burnt Sugar vocalist Lisala Beatty, (described by V. Jeffrey Smith as ‘’the last of the real red hot soul singers’’) and Greg Tate, who generated the lyrics. Lisala was given the bulk of the Oakanda rough mixes to vibe with and chose to snag the first 3-minutes of Gilmore’s ‘Repatriation’ with Jared Michael Nickerson’s extra bubblelicious bass line to flex Tate’s lyrics over. Subsequently, Gilmore adapted the arrangement to support Lisala’s heavenly vocal flow while also, at Tate’s most-welcomed rhythmic request, created an alternate version with additional Drumz that comprised the digital advance-release single.

About his lyrics Tate says, ‘’The verses pay an abstract homage to the ghost-lineage of American born Black radical artists and activists — from those of the transatlantic trafficked who sustained their humanity and mind, body soul throughout that 90-day ‘’Auschwitz on the water’’ (per Arthur Jafa) horror-show, to the Maroon communities of Black and Indigenous freedom fighters of Florida who created free nation-states in fugitivity, fighting off the US Army for 30 years (at the height of chattel slavery, and beyond), to the 60’s modern warrior formations of the Freedom Riders, The Black Panther Party, Black Liberation Army, The Black Arts Movement (led by Amiri Baraka), and the Republic of New Africa who helped free Assata Shakur.”

Lisala took Tate’s stark lines and gave them a buoyant melodicism, at once “anthemic, aspirational, spiritual, operatic, and Afro-angelical.’’

Angels Over Oakanda Lyrics (Gregory Stephen Ionman Tate)

ANGELS OVER OAKANDA
YOUR'E SLIPPING AWAY
FROM MY SYMPATHY
FAST BEING ERASED
FROM ANY EMPATHY
TAKING MY BLUES BACK
AND ALL MY UNRULY SYMPHONIES
MAROON TERRAIN
SUBJECT TO PAIN
MAROON TERRAIN
A WHOLE WORLD TO GAIN

ANGELS OVER OAKANDA
WE TEND THE FLAMES
RECALLING ALL THE NAMES
IN WONDER AS WE WANDER
IN WONDER AS WE WANDER
THESE RUINS
HEALING WHATS BEEN TORN ASUNDER
THE ANGELS OF OAKANDA
AVENGERS OF THE TERRORS AND THE PLUNDER
ANGELS OF OAKANDA
THE TRUE PANTHER MODERNS
THE TRUE PANTHERS
THE TRUE PANTHER MODERNS
THE TRUE PANTHER MODERNS
ANGELS OF OAKANDA
OAKANDA
OAKANDA
OAKANDA

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Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber "Angels Over Oakanda” LP Recording Information :

Recording Date : July 29th, 2018
Recording Location : Douglass Recording ~ Brooklyn N.Y.
Recording Engineer : Peter Karl
Mixing Engineers : Greg Tate & Peter Karl

Recording Date : August 12th, 2020 - June 5th, 2021
Recording Location : Jamcarver Studio ~ Jersey City N.J.
Recording/Mixing & Mastering Engineer : V. Jeffrey Smith

Recording Date : January 28th, 2021
Recording Location : Satch Hoyt Art Studio ~ Berlin Germany
Recording Engineer : Turi Agostino ( Personal Mobile Studio )

Recording Date : April 3rd & 4th, 2021
Recording Location : Instant Karamel Recording ~ Harlem N.Y.
Mixing Engineer : Greg ‘Ionman’ Tate

ReMiX Production Date : April 5th - 20th
ReMiX Production Location : tribal broadcast studios A & B ~ Stockholm, Sweden
Engineer / Producer : Marque Gilmore

ReMiX Mastering Production Date: April 22nd - 24th, 2021
ReMiX Mastering Location: Sounday Productions ~ Stockholm, Sweden
Mixing & Mastering Engineers: Roberto Noel & Marque Gilmore

Recording Date: May 30th, 2021
Recording Location: Sadie's Mix Studio - East Orange, N.J.
Recording Engineer: Lisala Beatty

Mastering Date: 12th, 2021
Mastering Location: Edgewater, N.J.
Mastering Engineer: Greg Calbi

Recording/Mixing/Mastering Dates: July 29th, 2018 - July ??,2021
Recording Engineers: Turi Agostino ~ Lisala Beatty ~ Marque Gilmore ~ Peter Karl ~ V. Jeffrey Smith
Mixing Engineers: Marque Gilmore ~ Peter Karl ~ Roberto Noel ~ V. Jeffrey Smith ~ Greg Tate
Mastering Engineers: Greg Calbi *~ Marque Gilmore ~ Roberto Noel
Recording/Mixing/Mastering Locations: Douglass Recording Brooklyn N.Y. ~ Jamcarver Studio Jersey City N.J. ~ Instant Karamel Recording Harlem N.Y. ~ Sterling Sound Edgewater N.J.
Sadie's Mix Studio East Orange, N.J. ~ Satch Hoyt Art Studio Berlin Germany ~ Sounday Productions Stockholm Switzerland
Album Portrait: Robert Pruitt
Graphic Design: LaRonda Davis
Executive Producers: Greg Tate for Avant Groidd Musica & Jared Michael Nickerson for Burnt Sugar Index LLC

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