Born74 & Onj

Bristol-raised Born74 (AKA Andrew Nicholas) teams up with pianist Onj (AKA Andre Louis) to bring us the joyous jazz-funk delight, “Mind Vibrations” 4-track EP.

The project symbolises connection through music, particularly celebrating the coming together of creative minds through the pandemic, Andrew explains that through this time he used  “the digital world to connect people and share ideas” which aptly bore fruit as this explosively fresh fusion groove. The idea of a hive mind that communicates stories through music and vibrations is explored in the seamless transition between the moving arrangements of bass, percussion, synths and beat with the jazzy electrofunk-feel keys from Andre.

The synergic collaboration came about when Andrew reached out to Andre with his ideas, a friend he describes as a “teacher and guiding spirit” with his “ability to just ‘know’ what I’m hoping to hear and express that through his playing. His creativity knows no bounds”. Andre adds “I liked it from the first time I heard where he was going … I believe we make a great team”. Andrew expands on the palpable chemistry between the artists, “a project like this is meant to get you up and moving, if the musicians aren’t having fun, it will be incredibly obvious from the outset”.

Andrews’s extensive influences span the record, from his love of hip-hop and vintage soul to his exploration of the far corners of the jazz world, from acid-jazz to nu-jazz. Andrew has worked with champions in the game, including Arema Arega, Str4ta  (Gilles Peterson and Jean-Paul “Bluey”), Ashley Beedle and Colin Curtis, among others. His boundary-breaking repertoire has been celebrated by a host of acclaimed tastemakers, including Huey Morgan (BBC Radio 6 Music), Colin Curtis (Worldwide FM), Dr Bob Jones (Soho Radio) and Kev Beadle (Totally Wired Radio). Onj frequently collaborates with the legendary Drum and Bass producer, Zero T, including a recent release with Tru Thoughts label-mate, MELONYX. Since touring his music with Steel Pan Fusion in 2017 and performing at London’s Jazz Café, Andre has been helping with the development of Native Instruments products, to make them more accessible to those with a visual impairment and has been a huge proponent of the software ever since. Registered blind, Andre has been teaching visually impaired students to use the industry-standard DAW, Logic Pro in hopes of giving them an outlet for their own musical creations.