The Live Mix Part 2

LA-based 8-piece funk band Breakestra is based in deep funk, soul, jazz fever and musical friendships, beginning with musical golden child Miles Tackett and featuring a revolving cast of LA's finest musicians - eight men on stage getting loose, playing serious grooves. The Breakestra live is a tour de force. As Miles says: "What are the first 3 letters of FUNK?"

The Breakestra began life as the house band for the legendary club called the Breaks [& then Root Down] back in early '96, though his involvement with the likes of Cut Chemist, Peanut Butter Wolf, Carlos Guaico [The Rebirth], Dan Ubick [Connie Price and The Keystones] and others went much further back. A love for hip hop brought him to the tracks these pioneering DJs were sampling, which developed into a desire to create a live band that could simulate the blending of breaks - but with live music rather than mixing on turntables. As they say themselves: "Here's a live mixtape, you don't need a cassette!"

'The Live Mix Part 2' was their first release on Stones Throw, following on the heels of two early 12" releases and we now see it for the first time on CD thanks to a licensing deal with Basement Digs, a sub-label of Creative Vibes.

In 2005 the band released the critically acclaimed album 'Hit The Floor', opened for De La Soul in Central Park and played their seven year anniversary for Root Down, tearing the roof of the sucker with their incendiary blend of deep, soulful funk.

These underground legends have followed the example set by their heroes, the likes of James Brown, Jimmy Smith, Gangstarr and A Tribe Called Quest, and now carry on the legacy with the same momentum as the deep funk they play.