Kenny "Dope" Gonzalez Choice: A Collection Of Classics CD

Seminal New York DJ Kenny "Dope" Gonzalez, best known as a beatmaker and producer for Masters at Work and Nuyorican Soul, comes from a diverse musical background, a background that ended up assisting him greatly in making significant contributions to house and dance music. To demonstrate this upbringing, he, with the help of Azuli Records, assembled some of the tracks that influenced him the most and mixed them together (though there is a limited-edition unmixed DJ version) into Choice: A Collection of Classics (and the 11th in the label's Choice series). More than anything, the album shows the producer doing what he loves to do, with the songs that he loves to do it with. It doesn't present anything that's completely unexpected -- there's a Patrick Adams song, one by Dazzle, as well as R&B and disco cuts from James Ingram, the Fantastic Aleems, Kool & the Gang, Earth, Wind & Fire, and James Brown -- but it's a nice selection of music mostly from the '70s and '80s, Gonzalez's prime influential period, and the era whose records he uses most when making his own music. Being that the DJ is an admitted vinyl head, there are also some pretty rare tracks on Choice, including "Ain't No Need" by the mysterious Skye, "Come on Baby, Pt. 1" by the one-hit Bahamian soul group Beginning of the End, as well as "Super Strut" from the Kashmere Stage Band, a high-school funk band out of Houston that produced scores of talented musicians, jazz guitarist Melvin Sparks to name just one. The album grooves and slides along nicely, and it's easy to tell that Gonzalez is having a good time mixing it all together, filling out overly electronic beats with warmer tones and additions, playing around with disco, Latin, hip-hop, and soul, and proving once again why he's so deserving of such a compilation. ~ Marisa Brown

The 11th set in the "Choice" series continues with a bang with triple Grammy-nominated Kenny Dope Gonzales of the Masters At Work team. He does not disappoint and steps up to offer a heady, disco ensemble fuelled with rare Chicago classics and hard-to-find grooves. One for the heads, Kenny Dope's collection is full of warm nostalgia and clearly represents his rich musical past which covers everything from house, hip hop, soul, Jazz, broken beats and more. Gonzales has had his hands full releasing literally 1000's of tracks, remixing hundreds of singles and globe trotting to DJ all over the world. His production work consistently shows his distinctive ability for programming superior beats while blending a myriad of music styles to deliver the ultimate mix. With his long-established reputation as a DJ extraordinaire, this showcase is a melting pot of house, jazz, funk and soul. These qualities made him an obvious contender for Azuli's prestigious Choice series.

DJ: Kenny Dope.