Brandon Coleman

Dubbed “Professor Boogie” by Washington for his inimitable combination of virtuosity and soul, the South Central L.A.-raised Coleman was turned on to Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock by his older brother, and picked up the piano at 16.

Within a year, Coleman was on the road with Brian McKnight, and now counts a hugely impressive list of major artists as collaborators including Babyface, Roy Hargrove, Flying Lotus, Thundercat, Stanley Clarke, Alicia Keys, Mulatu Astatke, Shuggie Otis, and Childish Gambino.

On the heels of his 2018 breakthrough album Resistance, a breathless release steeped in Herbie Hancock’s early 1970s electro-jazz approach, Coleman makes a quantum leap with Interstellar Black Space, integrating the influences of George Clinton’s Parliament/Funkadelic as well as David Bowie and George Duke. Expertly balancing the electric and acoustic, Coleman deftly glides between shimmering synthesizers and a hard-driving group of guest instrumentalists including trumpeter Keyon Harrold, bassist Ben Williams, and drummer Marcus Gilmore.