You may recognize Zo! as one of band members from the Grammy nominated group Foreign Exchange, but this guy is actually one of music’s hidden gems. Detroit born/DC-Based Zo! has worked with some of the best including: Slum Village, Platinium Pied Pipers and Finale. He’s even stroked the keys with the Gorilla Funk Mob. Needless to say Zo! is not just visiting. Interestingly enough this extremely talented producer/instrumentalist is also an educator. Anyone invested in bringing out the artistic ability in our youth, get an “A” in my book. Publiclee caught up with Zo! to discuss his newly released EP “Just Visiting Too”, working with Foreign Exchange (including that Phonte) , and how he became a one man band.

You call yourself a musical architect, why is that?

It basically explains my approach and feelings toward creating. There is kind of a discipline that loosely parallels architecture that is associated with layering several different musical elements and fusing them together with a certain structure in order to construct a timeless piece of art.

Both of your parents were musicians, who else would you say are your biggest musical influences and why?

I really allow EVERYONE to influence me positively; I think I’m able to learn more that way. For example, If I hear a piece of a Stevie song that I love but then hear something from a much lesser known artist that I think is brilliant, it’s an all-around win for me creatively. It’s all a part of the ongoing learning and building process you take on as an artist.

How did you learn how to play so many instruments?

One of the only reasons why I initially started in on different instruments was because I wanted to keep live instrumentation in my music without having to be on other musicians’ time. I figured the more self-sufficient I could become in the studio, the easier it would be to complete and release my own projects. With each instrument, I simply would go up to Guitar Center, pick one up… and simply proceed to practice. I tell people all the time who say they want to learn how to play an instrument that it takes two things: time and patience. I just got the instruments in my hands and kept playing them. I also, more importantly I never hesitate to talk with kats who I feel are experts with their respective instruments and pull pointers from them because you want your practice to be purposeful.

I was at your performance with FE at the Charles H. Wright in Detroit this year, what is it like to come back to your hometown and perform?

I have had the opportunity to do that on a few different occasions now and believe me – it NEVER gets old. Getting to go home and play is crazy because not only do you receive unconditional love from the hometown crowd, but it’s also serves as a chance for you to showcase how far you have progressed as an artist and musician – it’s always a good time just to be able to play in front of those who saw me from the beginning of this very interesting ride.

How did you link up with Foreign Exchange?

Well, I first met Phonte back in September ’05 when Little Brother performed at the Blind Pig in Ann Arbor. I think I read somewhere on LB’s message board that he had heard my remixes for “Whatever You Say” and “The Way You Do It” from the Re:Definition album.. so I wanted to check out the show and afterward, say I appreciated the listen. We met, and it turned out that he had the album in his iPod. So we continued to stay in touch and eventually work a month or two later on “Steppin’ Out” (from the 2006 …just visiting album), then work began on the 80’s album. When he asked me to remake the Stevie joint for FE’s album back in early 2007, he said that once they go on the road, he was gonna make sure to incorporate me into the live show. With that being said, the promise was kept and I received the call in the latter part of 2008 saying that shows were starting to book. I called my kats from the band that I work with in DC, The ELs… and we have all been building together ever since.

You did the instrumentals for FE’s remake of Stevie Wonder’s “If she breaks your heart”, does that song have any special meaning to you? and what was it like to have your hands on recreating a classic?

Any song of Stevie’s has meaning to me because he is the greatest of all-time in my humble opinion. It was very humbling when Phonte asked me to remake the song. I was thinking to myself, “…uhhh, but this is uhhh…Stevie.” It was one of those songs where in remaking it, I heard the drum pattern immediately and began to build the remainder of the song from there. I wonder if Stevie has heard the remake yet? I would love for him to take a listen to it…I wouldn’t be able to be in the same room while it happens though. (Haha)

Detroit to me is like the mecca of music, would you agree?

I would agree that Detroit is our music Mecca because we grew up there and in the area – that’s the music and culture that we came up on, grew to love and is a part of us. The Mecca of music to me is the Motherland, Africa…

You currently reside in the DMV where alot of the music has go-go influence, how has that played into your music?

I don’t think that Go-Go has too much of an influence on my music because I haven’t been exposed to it much at all. The one thing I have analyzed is the Go-Go live show. Now as a performer, that’s something you can learn from, in regards to allowing the groove to rock that crowd. But in all honesty, I just haven’t heard a lot of Go-Go music.

Lets talk about Just Visiting Too, you’ve done the same sort of concept before, remaking classic tracks. What would you day is different about this album than the last?

I guess in my eyes one of the main things that I hear is two to three more years of experience sonically and musically. So in short, I think there’s a little more experience behind …just visiting too in comparison to …just visiting.
Out of all the artists you’ve worked with who would you say was your favorite and why? This one is easy, that would be Phonte (of Little Brother and The Foreign Exchange). He’s one of the few kats that I can send music to and not have to say a THING. Plus, he doesn’t just let the sent music sit, in other words, I know that the song will be written and recorded to every time. There’s nothing worse than someone just sitting on music that you have sent to them… The fact that we both have very similar work ethics and musical tastes and have been working together on different things since the end of ‘05/beginning of ’06 makes the creative process run very smoothly. We have knocked out an album together (Zo! & Tigallo Love the 80’s!) so at this point there’s a routine already in place with us when it’s time to work – not to mention there’s just a great deal of mutual respect between the two of us… dude is family here.

What can we expect from Zo! in the near future?

Consistency – I’ll continue to be out with The Foreign Exchange on the road as well as PPP (Platinum Pied Pipers) and you can check for my new solo album coming in 2010 entitled, SunStorm.

You can download “Just Visiting Too” HERE.

For more of Zo! music checkout the following links:

http://musicalarchitect.com/
on iTunes… http://tinyurl.com/6fdyby

http://musicalarchitect.blogspot.com/