A dynamic young artist whose sounds are fresh, energetic, intense, unpredictable, and moving that will leave you gasping for more.

14 MP3 Songs in this album (48:33) !
Related styles: URBAN/R&B: Contemporary urban, JAZZ: Smooth Jazz

People who are interested in Jill Scott Jonathan Butler Deitrick Haddon should consider this download.


Details:
Jelani received his first drum set at two years old. At age four Jelani was given the opportunity to be the drummer for a small church (World Harvest Outreach Church) in Hampton, VA for nearly a year. By age three he had begun playing around with his toy keyboards and at age five Jelani began taking private piano lessons with a well trained classical pianist, Ms. Myrtle Taylor of Hampton, VA. Shortly afterwards Jelani's parents relocated to Columbus, GA, and at age 7 he began taking piano lessons at the Music Conservatory at Columbus State University (CSU). He has taken lessons at the conservatory for nine years and is currently studying under the watchful eyes of Mr. Steve Clark, Director and piano teacher at the Music Conservatory at CSU.
Meanwhile, he started taking private drum lessons with Mr. Ben Weldon. Ben taught Jelani many fundamental aspects about the drums and playing in a band. Ben also allowed Jelani to play at some of his local gigs to get experience playing with others. More importantly, he was instrumental in getting Jelani his first job playing the drums at a local church in Columbus, i.e. "Shady Groove Missionary Baptist Church". Jelani began playing for Shady Grove at age 9 and he played there for 7 years. After two years of mentorship with Ben, Jelani began studying drums under the tutelage of Mr. David Herring. Mr. Herringâs focus was to enable Jelani to cite read and play any style of music. While Jelani was heavily involved with piano and drums, he began to take private classical guitar lessons.
Additionally, Jelani began experimenting with recording devices. At age eleven, he composed, recorded, mixed and mastered his first project of 15 original instrumental songs. The CD entitled "Inspired" was released in August 2003. The tracks on the CD are a cross between classical, jazz, R&B, and a touch of hip hop. After his first project, Jelani produced three other projects, one of which was his second project and the other two for friends. His second project, entitled âBetter and Better Yet" was released July 2005.
Jelani has played and performed in a number of venues. Some of these include playing solo at the Youth Choir Anniversary at The Brookland Baptist Church in West Columbia, SC, playing solo at the Black Male Conference at Benedict College, Columbia, SC, playing with Kevin Vanoy at the Loft in Columbus, GA for the Children Miracle Network, and playing with Chris Cauly at the Loft for a children's Christmas program. He has been a frequent player during the jam sessions with various musicians at the Columbus Jazz Society. He has participated in numerous drum competitions at the Mars Music store formerly located in Atlanta and at the Guitar Center located in Atlanta. Jelani's biggest venue occurred in September 2005 when the band (Jazzano and Sixx) he played with opened up for âAl Jarreauâ at the RiverCenter in Columbus, GA.

"Better and Better Yet" went through several style changes before he settled on the final version. Remarkably as it may seem, he composed all of the music and was the co-writer for the lyric songs, i.e. tracks 4 and 10. "Better and Better Yet" is a compilation that you must hear to believe. It is not common for a fourteen year old kid to compose, mix and master the music the way Jelani is doing. He has had so many influences from Dennis Chambers to Will Kennedy and the Yellow Jackets, Kirk Franklin to all of the old school artists from the 70's. If you like what Jelani has produced with "Better and Better Yet", you should check out daPeeks on CD Baby. Jelani composed and arranged all of the music for their CD.

Also, checkout Chappell on CDBaby. Chappell recorded his CD in Jelani's studio. Jelani played quite a bit of the instruments on each track and he helped Chappell to arrange the tracks. This one's about as hot as they come on the pop charts.

http://cdbaby.com/cd/chappellsounds

Jelani worked on and completed Joe Peek's, Chappell's, and his own project all at the same time. The world had better get ready because Jelani is getting "Better and Better Yet".