Ikebe Shakedown

Seven-piece Afro-soul band Ikebe Shakedown craft their own take on updating the sounds of classic Afro-beat and psychedelic soul, additionally taking influence from Western composers like Ennio Morricone. On albums such as 2014's Stone by Stone, the group play lushly arranged, funky instrumentals with raw, vintage-sounding production values.

Ikebe Shakedown formed in Brooklyn in 2008, taking their name from a Nigerian boogie album. The band focused on horn-driven instrumentals and featured trombonist Nadav Nirenberg, trumpet player Jason Colby, saxophonist Mike Buckley, guitarist Robin Schmidt, bassist Vince Chiarito, and percussionists Barnaby Alter and Dave Bourla. Some bandmembers split their time touring and recording with other deep soul revival acts like Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings and the Monophonics, and they were often joined by various players in the scene both on-stage and to fill out the instrumentation on record. Ikebe Shakedown have embarked on extensive touring of North America, and the group's songs have been used in various television shows and advertisements. The band debuted with 2009's Hard Steppin' EP (Colemine Records) and followed up in 2011 with a self-titled full-length released by Ubiquity. A sophomore album with slightly more psychedelic production techniques arrived in the form of 2014's Stone by Stone. The group returned to Colemine with their 2017 full-length The Way Home. The band's fourth album, Kings Left Behind, was released in 2019 and debuted at number two on the Billboard Jazz chart. ~ Fred Thomas