Across the world this week, people are paying tribute to late hip-hop producer J Dilla, who died on February 10, 2006, and whose date of birth was February 7, 1974. In Toronto, many tribute events have been organized to honour Dilla's music since his death, and this year jazz group BadBadNotGood participated in For the D: Celebrating The Music Of J Dilla, at Toronto's Wrongbar on February 9th. The show hits Montreal's Le Belmont on February 11.
For those unfamiliar with the group, BBNG is comprised of drummer Alex Sowinski, keyboardist Matthew Tavares and bassist Chester Hansen. The Toronto-based trio's notoriety has increased over the last few months, thanks to a series of videos showcasing them playing hip-hop covers by the likes of A Tribe Called Quest, in their own idiosyncratic fashion.
Given the group’s musical approach, interpreting Dilla's work was something BBNG was already familiar with. “Chester was just telling us that Dilla was the one that got him into making beats,” says Sowinski, referring to the band's bassist. “He was listening to how he was making beats and the roots of where he was taking his samples from. That Dilla was taking melodies and making original melodies and chopping up samples really got him into producing.”
It was at Hansen's suggestion that the group recorded a version of Slum Village's “Fall In Love,” produced by Dilla, for their first mixtape. BBNG is hardly the first jazz outfit to cover Dilla's music, which confirms that there is something distinct and special about the late artist's work.
“Jazz and hip-hop have been connected for a while, like even old [A] Tribe Called [Quest] samples and stuff like that,” Sowinski says. “But I guess with Dilla a bunch of artists connected in the fact that they wanted to recreate his instrumentals and his music in their own way.”