Brooklyn Funk Essentials is an acid-jazz, funk, and hip hop collective featuring musicians and poets from different cultures. The band was conceived in 1993 by producer Arthur Baker and bassist and musical director Lati Kronlund. Lati Kronlund played the bass, and other members included Hanifah Walidah (aka Sha-key), Joi Cardwell, Papa Dee and Stephanie McKay (vocals), Everton Sylvester and David Allen (dub poetry), Josh Roseman (trombone), Bob Brockmann (trumpet), Paul Shapiro (sax & flute), Yancy Drew and Tony Allen (drums), E.J. Rodriguez and Danny Sadownic (percussion), Desmond Foster and Masa Shimizu (guitar), ATN Stadwijk and Yuka Honda (keys), Bill Ware (vibes) and dj's Jazzy Nice and Smash on turntables. ...show more

Brooklyn Funk Essentials is an acid-jazz, funk, and hip hop collective featuring musicians and poets from different cultures. The band was conceived in 1993 by producer Arthur Baker and bassist and musical director Lati Kronlund. Lati Kronlund played the bass, and other members included Hanifah Walidah (aka Sha-key), Joi Cardwell, Papa Dee and Stephanie McKay (vocals), Everton Sylvester and David Allen (dub poetry), Josh Roseman (trombone), Bob Brockmann (trumpet), Paul Shapiro (sax & flute), Yancy Drew and Tony Allen (drums), E.J. Rodriguez and Danny Sadownic (percussion), Desmond Foster and Masa Shimizu (guitar), ATN Stadwijk and Yuka Honda (keys), Bill Ware (vibes) and dj's Jazzy Nice and Smash on turntables.

In the mid-1990s the group became a staple of the New York City club scene. Their debut album "Cool and Steady and Easy" (1994) scored an underground hit with the rendition of Pharoah Sanders's "The Creator Has a Master Plan". "Cool and Steady and Easy" (1994) also featured prominent guests like Maceo Parker, The Tower Of Power Horns, Michigan & Smiley and even Dizzy Gilespie. The album, "In The Buzz Bag"(1998), included Turkish folk music rythms and instruments, recorded with the Turkish band, Laço Tayfa.

In The BuzzBag became a milestone in collaborative projects and earned BFE a Grammy nomination. It also escalated the group to a stadium capacity act in Turkey. In 2000, BFE released their third album "Make Them Like It", which concluded where the first album left off: a happy mélange of funk, Latin, reggae, jazz, house, dub, electro and hip hop which featured the fan favorites 'I Got Cash', 'Mambo Con Dance Hall' and 'Woman Thing'. After the 2001 world tour the band members took a hiatus and pursued a number of noted solo interests. ...show less