If you’re someone who has a deep love for music, and you were not at Midtown this weekend, you missed out on one of the best shows of the year! Zo! & Tall Black Guy featuring Deborah Bond put on an incredible performance that showcased exceptional musicianship and vocals. The audience was left in complete awe! Many members of the band have projects that are just as impressive, which makes them even more noteworthy.
On December 2nd, they took the stage at Midtown in Downtown Grand Rapids for an evening of pure musical bliss. Despite having numerous fans and family members who traveled from Detroit to support the band, the 200-seat venue wasn’t at full capacity. It’s unfortunate when exceptional artists like Eric Roberson(May 2019) Zo! & Tall Black Guy featuring Deborah Bond come to perform, yet the audience turnout is light. Does this mean that the city isn’t accustomed to these types of artists, don’t know about these artists, or are people so devoted to mainstream music that they overlook other exceptional musicians, groups, and bands? Regardless, the show was a 5-star event that deserves an encore…this is just my opinion ~ Doug D. Sims
Check out the artists’ bios and see how influential they are.
Zo!
Multi-Instrumentalist/Producer Zo! is Detroit-area born and raised, Silver Spring, MD based… Lorenzo Ferguson.
Influenced by a wide range of music genres introduced to him at an early age, Zo! utilizes multiple layers of thick instrumentation to shape his compositions, as demonstrated on his solo albums. While touring his own material regularly, Zo! can also be seen on stage as the keyboardist and Musical Director for GRAMMY-nominated duo, The Foreign Exchange. In 2014, he completed music work for the Adult Swim animated series, Black Dynamite. Zo! co-produced The Foreign Exchange’s 2015 release, Tales From The Land Of Milk and Honey. His SkyBreak album was released in 2016 along with its accompanying behind-the-scenes, two-time award-winning documentary, Making SkyBreak (2017). Zo! then began expanding his musical repertoire to include film scoring, completing full scores for two documentaries: Black, White & Blue (2018) and the Northwestern University commissioned, The Takeover (2018). Along with production partner, Phonte (of The Foreign Exchange/Little Brother) Zo! helped to compose music for the IFC sketch-comedy series, Sherman’s Showcase (2019). In 2019, Zo! released FourFront his fourth compilation-style album on the +FE Music imprint. Most recently, he has completed music for season two of Sherman’s Showcase (2022) with Phonte and has joined forces with powerhouse producer Tall Black Guy on their 2021 release, Abstractions. Zo! continues to emphasize the usage of live instrumentation and raw emotion as the blueprint for his music while continuing to delve into sound expansion with each album release.
Tall Black Guy
The story of Terrel Wallace (Tall Black Guy – TBG), and his love for music begins in Detroit, Mi. From a child, his soul was fed a healthy diet of Motown, jazz, and early Hip Hop. It was from these sounds where TBG developed an ear for soulful chords, smooth melodies, and chest hitting drums. After realizing music would be his future, he gave up his first love (basketball), and devoted his life to creating the body of work that the world has grown to know and love. Through this catalog of productions filled with incredibly clever samples, and deft original chops, his musical message has connected with fans across the globe including DJ Jazzy Jeff, Gilles Peterson (who subsequently included him on one of his Brownswood Bubblers albums), Lefto, Questlove, and countless others.
Deborah Bond
Launching from her longtime home-base of Washington, D.C. and taking flight to the rest of the world, Debórah Bond has become an integral part of the fabric of the worldwide indie-soul scene.
Debórah grew up absorbing the golden age sounds of the 70s and 80s soul music that bellowed through her childhood home in New Haven, CT. Artistically, she stands at the intersection of Anita Baker, Sade and Chaka Khan, though she also credits Luther Vandross, Whitney Houston and Stevie Wonder (among many others) for inspiring her to pursue a career as a recording artist.
Upon her arrival in D.C. to pursue a degree in journalism at American University, Debórah quickly fell in lockstep with the top musicians of the local scene. Eventually, she formed a life-changing partnership with the production team Third Logic, comprised of bandmates and songwriting partners Robbie McDonald, Aaron “Funky Chuck” Evans and Kinard Cherry. This partnership yielded two studio albums: DayAfter (2003) and the critically acclaimed follow-up Madam Palindrome (2011). Playing for eager and excited audiences, she headlined packed houses around the US and EU including: Warner Theater, 9:30 Club, Kennedy Center Millenium Stage, Blues Alley, Blue Note NYC, Cobb Performing Arts Center in Atlanta, and Jazz Café in London. In 2015, she headlined a four-week international residency for Jazz At Lincoln Center in Doha.
An accomplished radio personality and voice over artist, she hosted a weekly Sunday afternoon radio show at Sirius XM, where she worked for ten years. She recently composed and performed the theme song for a brand new podcast, The Suga, hosted by actresses Tika Sumpter and Thai Randolph. For the past decade she’s been doing radio jingle and voice over work for Amsterdam-based PURE Jingles, which can be heard here.
In addition to her career as a performing artist, she’s a pillar of the D.C. music community, having served six (6) terms as D.C. GRAMMY Chapter Governor. As an educator, she’s been a mentor and voice coach to many aspiring vocalists, and since 2018 has served on the faculty of the Richardson School of Music. She also offers private teaching and coaching sessions.
A highly in-demand studio and supporting vocalist, she’s spent the last 6 years touring and recording with legendary UK soul/r&b band Incognito. Debórah has also performed/recorded with: The Foreign Exchange, Zo!, Ledisi, Melba Moore, Frank McComb and the late acid jazz legend Ronnie Jordan, among a host of others.
Her journey in music thus far has helped her to cultivate a long-standing, loyal audience that is eagerly anticipating her new album, compass: I, which was delivered on March 5th, 2021.
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