Soul Supreme Check The Rhime / Lyrics To Go

Jazz runs deep through the music of A Tribe Called Quest. It's as Q-Tip infamously puts it inExcursions,the opening track of their sophomore album:"Don't you know that things go in cycles? The way that Bobby Brown is just ampin' like Michael."A new 7" release by Amsterdam-based, Jerusalem-born keyboardist, DJ & producer Soul Supreme is in its own way a reflection of that. The record features homages to iconic hip-hop tracks "Check The Rhime" & "Lyrics To Go" from a jazz perspective.
"It's kinda ironic: these tracks are interpretations, but almosteverythingis different," says Soul Supreme. "The harmony, the melodies, the instruments that are used for each part, the structure… I want to take the listener on a trip to overlook a track they know, but from a different perspective. I try to go 'in and out' of the ATCQ tracks so the listener never knows what's going to happen next. My overall goal is to give existing music my own twist. I don't want to sound like a rehash of something listeners have heard before."
The characteristic guitar line on 'Lyrics To Go' is an example of that: in Soul Supreme's version, the guitar melody is actually a Moog in disguise, emulating guitar bends with his synth by adding lots of distortion. But to Soul Supreme, that's far from science. He doesn't sit down with apad & pento think of ways to switch things up. It happens through improvisation on his Moog Sub37, DSI Ob6, Rhodes MK1, or on his now new Yamaha piano. In that sense, it's A Tribe Called Quest's hip-hop he loves, but a jazz influence that prevails. Obsessively studying the work of pianists such as Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner, Bill Evans, Weldon Irvine for over fifteen years now.