Dance/Crazy, the new EP by Plunky & Oneness, showcasing two songs: “Dance the Night Away” and “Crazy Lately” featuring Charlayne Green, will be officially released on January 29, 2019.

“Dance the Night Away,” is an Afropolitan/house music song about the dance floor as a place to take a break from the rigors of working, evolving and resisting. The track is built on an orchestra of acoustic and electronic percussion which propels the saxophones and keyboards forward. The techno density of the track’s layered polyrhythms is tempered by soulful vocals which urge us to “come take a ride to paradise” and follow the song’s command “to dance the night away.” At the club or house party or wherever you wanna get down, “this Afro-groove is made to move you and everyone else too.”
Dance the Night Away (audio/lyric video) youtu.be/6cdzBzKxL14

The lyrical R&B song “Crazy Lately” references recent political and social tumult, but the song exudes calming optimism with Charlayne Green’s sweet, expressive vocals proclaiming, “…we gonna be all right.” The song’s verses talk about watching the news and demented politicians and finding shelter in a helter-skelter environment. But the track’s overall impact is reassuring in ways similar to “Be Optimistic” by Sounds of Blackness or Tevin Campbell’s “Tomorrow” or Bob Marley’s “Don’t Worry ‘Bout a Thing” or any number of other positive chants.
Crazy Lately (video) youtu.be/XZyx9q-_6bk

Saxophonist J. Plunky Branch started making Afro-jazz in San Francisco and in New York in the 1970s. Since then he has released 25 albums, written 450 songs, toured in Europe, been to Africa six times, visited Cuba twice, played hundreds of gigs, made documentary films, written his autobiography, and received numerous prestigious awards.

Plunky’s journey brings him to this place and time with this new EP that anticipates a new Plunky & Oneness album coming in the spring. The music says yes, the future is now.

Plunky & Oneness is a band of musical nomads based in Virginia. The group includes three Branches: Plunky (saxes, vocals), Muzi (bass, vocals) and Fire (percussion, tracks), Plunky, his brother and his son. Featured vocalist, Charlayne “Chyp” Green, has been with the ensemble for almost 20 years, but she is both seasoned and fresh. Keyboardist J. L Harris and guitarist Carl Lester El combine forces with master percussionists, Asante and Abdou Mohammed to create Afro-grooves to make you dance.