Keep Movin' Press Release

Credits and Short Bios — Released February 10th, 2023

Keep Movin’ by Charlie Peacock, feat. Eddie Henderson and Dangerboy

Street date: February 10^th, 2023 — charliepeacock.com

In August of 2022, Grammy Award-winning Nashville music producer and jazz composer Charlie Peacock received a call from an A&R Director at Meta Music Initiative (yes, that Meta, as in Facebook and Instagram). As it turns out, Meta has been contracting name producers to create thousands of songs for them to integrate into their various platforms. Charlie had previously worked with Meta developing projects with a diversity of A-level improvisational music artists, including Turtle Island Quartet, members of the yMusic ensemble, legendary bassist Steve Swallow, jam band saxophone giant Jeff Coffin, and an EP titled Blue For You, featuring John Patitucci, Chris Potter, Eric Harland, and Marcus Printup. The Spotify editorial team chose the title track for the Best Jazz Songs of 2022 playlist.

"In August, when Meta called, I had just finished a TV series pitch on my dad's family in Antebellum, Texas, 1856—a story about Free Black cattle ranchers fighting for their lives and land. I was a heady six months of non-music work. When Meta asked if I'd be interested in creating a homage to 90s-era rap meets jazz, I jumped at it. Immediately, I knew who I wanted for the project—plus, any chance to play my Rhodes electric piano, and I'm on it.”

Charlie grew up in northern California in the 1970s, with all the benefits of acclaimed music coming out of the Bay Area. He spent many nights at the legendary club Keystone Korner in San Francisco listening to Bobby Hutcherson, Dexter Gordon, Max Roach, and trumpeter Eddie Henderson. Since his tenure with Herbie Hancock’s Mwandishi sextet of the early 1970s, Eddie was the #1 Bay Area “trumpet cat.” In Charlie’s mind, he was the perfect collaborator for the rap/jazz project.

"Eddie had been very kind to me when I was a kid, inviting me to his house to watch a video of John Coltrane when no one had a video player! And he let me sit in on a rehearsal with Herbie Hancock that was mind-blowing and transformative. Eddie went on to make his funk-jazz records for Capitol and Blue Note, and I knew that many of these had been sampled by rappers, including Jay-Z, Pete Rock, and Kanye."

After receiving an enthusiastic yes from Eddie, the two met up at The Orchard studio in NYC in October 2022 to renew their friendship and bring the funk. At 82, Eddie is still touring with The Cookers (Donald Harrison, Billy Hart, and more), and his chops don't disappoint.

"As a kid, Eddie knew Miles Davis, his step-dad was Miles' west coast doctor—so Eddie has that whole Miles vocabulary plus everything he's developed since then. He's a giant and a national treasure. We just had fun, told stories, laughed, and tried to capture some of that 70s-era as it translated through funk and the 90s hip-hop/rap/jazz crossover artists like US3, Digable Planets, and Guru.”

The finished EP is titled Keep Movin’ and features Charlie's proven grasp of American music, especially jazz and funk. On the recommendation of drummer Trevor Lawrence Jr., Charlie hooked up with Los Angeles rapper, Dangerboy to “spit the rhymes.” Dangerboy co-wrote two of the songs with Charlie, “I Didn’t Did It” and “Nothin’ To It (Take U Back to ’94).” As one would expect, Dangerboy is nothing if not confident:

Easy boy, I'm not one you wanna test, me against every rapper it’s not a contest

I take out crews while pushin' on the snooze alarm, I take you back to '94, I'm just fresh

And fresh it is. Old becomes new again, and most importantly, Keep Movin’ is fun and will put a smile on your face, and if you can listen without shakin’ your thang, you best get your heart checked.

Keep Movin’

Charlie Peacock, feat. Eddie Henderson & Dangerboy

Meta, Inc. 2023

Keep Movin’ (feat. Eddie Henderson)—5:18

Nothin’ To It (Take U Back to ’94) (feat. Eddie Henderson & Dangerboy)—5:12

The Perfect Beat (feat. Eddie Henderson & Jeff Coffin)—7:25

I Didn’t Did It (feat. Eddie Henderson, Dangerboy & Mike Clark)—4:55

***

Charlie Peacock Bio

Charlie Peacock is a 4x Grammy Award-winning producer, songwriter/composer, and recording artist. He is responsible for developing and producing the Billboard #1 and Grammy Award-winning acts, The Civil Wars, and the Modern Rock band Switchfoot. He has produced a wide range of music for film and television, including A Walk To Remember, Chris Cornell's "Misery Chain" from the soundtrack of Twelve Years a Slave, and "Hush," the title theme to the AMC drama, Turn: Washington's Spies featuring Joy Williams and Matt Berninger of The National. Additionally, Charlie is the founder/director emeritus of the Commercial Music Program, School of Music, Lipscomb University, Nashville, Tennessee. His jazz recordings include collaborators John Patitucci, Ravi Coltrane, Steve Swallow, Chris Potter, Jeff Coffin, and Turtle Island Quartet. In partnership with the Creative Artists Agency, Charlie is developing REDBONE, the story of his Free Black family of cattle ranchers in antebellum Texas. 

Eddie Henderson Bio

In the tradition of every notable architect of modern jazz, trumpeter Eddie Henderson is both legendary and contemporary. The former because he was an essential member of Herbie Hancock’s seminal Mwandishi Sextet, carrying the torch of Miles’ In A Silent Way, but also forecasting the funk emphasis both artists would put front and center on ground-breaking solo recordings to come. From this beginning, the world opened up to Eddie, and he took his place performing among the world's greatest jazz musicians, including Pharoah Sanders and Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. Later, Elvin Jones, McCoy Tyner, Joe Henderson, Max Roach, Jackie McClean, Dexter Gordon, Bobby Hutcherson, Roy Haynes, and more. After his first foray as a world-bound touring jazz musician, Eddie returned to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1975, where he joined the Latin jazz group Azteca and fronted his own bands. In 1977, he broke through with a single on the Billboard charts, "Prance On" (from the album Comin’ Through). He’s been a mainstay of modern jazz and funk since.

Dangerboy Bio

Kevin “Dangerboy” Hicks is a Los Angeles-based writer, performer, and one-half of the hip-hop duo GUMBO.

Kevin started in the underground rap scene and was the first artist released on Quincy Jones’ Qwest record label.

The single “Catastrophe” was produced by Qd3 (son of Quincy Jones) to quick underground buzz, which started Kevin's musical journey. Next up, Kevin joined the group, Mannish, releasing the album Audio Sedative and touring the US and Europe. Kevin has also released recordings under the alias 13, produced by Dilated Peoples leading to a touring stint with The Roots. Kevin's duo, GUMBO, is preparing their 2023 debut release produced by Xzibit and stamped by Dr. Dre; said to be Public Enemy meets Outkast—rough beats with a solid message.