All-Stars of the World: DJ Logic rounds up two camels and a slew of musical greats for Global Noize | The Source Weekly - Bend, Oregon

All-Stars of the World: DJ Logic rounds up two camels and a slew of musical greats for Global Noize

Those Camels like it loud.The above photo is actually the cover art for Global Noize's self-titled debut CD, if you can believe that. It's hardly the stuff of multi-thousand-dollar photo shoots or commissioned artistic renderings that are often found on CD covers. It's just two dudes standing next to a couple of camels with some stacks of records and a few speakers photoshopped in for extra pizzazz.

But those two dudes are Jason Miles, the illustrious jazz keyboardist also known for his producing career, and the dude on the right is none other than DJ Logic, the expert turntablist known for his collaborations with a myriad of musicians of varying genres. As for the camels, they remain unidentified.

The photo was taken when Miles and Logic were in Morocco prior to the birth of the world music project known as Global Noize and the all-star band that then sprouted. If you ask Logic, he says the image has some weight to it.


"There were all these camels just chillin' out so we just took a photo. We're just out there bonding right there with the camels. It got the ideas rolling and the wheels turning and we thought 'let's go home and lay down some stuff,'" says DJ Logic last week upon arriving in Jackson Hole, Wyoming on a tour with Global Noize that's hit nearly every major Western mountain town and stops in Bend on Friday night.

Miles and Logic did indeed lay down some stuff when they returned - that stuff being a wide ranging swarm of tunes that while primarily funky, are soaked in musical influences from around the world. "World Music" is quite possibly the most vaguely classified musical genre under the sun - seeing as how it seems to encapsulate all music save albums that originate on Mars or anywhere else outside what could be described as "the world." But Logic has a bit better definition.

"World music is music that communicates with everyone regardless of what style it is," he says. OK, that's vague, but at least it's thematically vague, which is a much easier-to-swallow type of vagueness.

Global Noize cranks out a combination of Eastern and Western influences, including Indian, calypso and West African sounds (among many others) all of which are tied together with a dance party vibe. And if videos from this tour are any indication, what the band is doing live far exceeds the solid grounding that the record provides - and this live prowess is, of course, due in part to the crew of musical stalwarts playing in the band. While Logic has collaborated in the past with Phish, Medeski Martin and Wood, Blues Traveler's John Popper, Vernon Reid and many others, he says this ensemble is as exciting as any band he's played with.

"The band that we have is like all stars," he says before rattling off the roster of legends on touring as part of Global Noize.

While recording of Global Noize featured Logic and Miles along with saxophonist Karl Denson and Billy Martin (Medeski, Martin and Wood) on drums, the touring band is equally impressive, featuring the likes of P-Funk's Bernie Worrell, Mike Clark of Herbie Hancock's Headhunters as well as Groove Collective saxophonist Jay Rodriguez.

"There are some times when I just stop on stage and I'm like, 'man that sounds funky, I wish I would have recorded that,'" Logic says.

Adding even more multi-cultural gusto to the band is Falu, the classically trained Indian songstress who has been touring with Global Noize.

"People are loving it, especially when Falu comes out and starts singing. All the yoga girls come up to the stage when she's on," Logic says with a laugh.

Logic's own tastes and interests are so eclectic, as evidenced by his resume, and his schedule so packed with other projects that it's difficult for even him to say what the future holds for Global Noize. He wants to take the act on another tour - maybe internationally that time. Maybe another album...which probably won't have camels on the cover.

Global Noize
9pm doors, 10pm show Friday, Sept. 12. Domino Room, 51 NW Greenwood Ave. 21 and over. $16/advanced, $22/door. Take a listen to Global Noize at www.myspace.com/globalnoizejazz.
Comments (0)
Add a Comment
View All Our Picks
For info on print and digital advertising, >> Click Here