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Mwalim DaPhunkee Professor

Mwalim DaPhunkee Professor is a multi-award-winning soul-funk-jazz singer, songwriter, pianist and producer.

About Me

��It��s about telling stories with and without words�� melodies, grooves, moods, and occasionally, lyrics.��

MWALIM DaPhunkee Professor views his work as a composer/ musician/ vocalist/ producer, as an extension of his world as a master storyteller. An accomplished and multi-award-winning composer, pianist, percussionist, violist, and vocalist; his years as a session player, and producer have empowered him with the musical shape-shifting abilities to slide in and out of genres with ease and grace.

MWALIM��s music is a soulful, engulfing experience of lush harmonies, flowing grooves, and funky foundations. Aside from his numerous, anonymous contributions to recordings as a session player, band director, and remixer over the last 35+ years; along with his work as a solo artist, as well as his role as the keyboardist and a vocalist with the multi-Grammy nominated soul-funk ensemble, The GroovaLottos have earned Mwalim the additional moniker, the Godfather of Southcoast Thump & Soul, a reference to the Southcoast region of Massachusetts where he resides and creates. He calls his creative process and output ��Bronx Boheme�� in honor of his place of physical birth and creative development.

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My Jazz Story

I love jazz because it gave me a musical vocabulary that allows me to travel the world, if not the universe. Thanks to having gone to Music & Art High School/ LaGuardia in the 1980s, my classmates were folks like Charnett Moffett, Stephen Scott, Preston Fulwood, and Jay Rodriguez. Through the school I got to meet and jam with Dizzy Gillespie. I studied piano with Barry Harris, and got to meet Horace Silver, Wynton Marsalis, Herbie Hancock, Eddie Gomez, Ron Carter, Sr. and Ron Carter, Jr., I also met Maceo Parker, and a bunch of other legends. The best show I ever attended was... my own ;-) The first jazz record I bought was Chicken Shack by Jimmy Smith. My advice to new listeners start with "The Corner" and work your way back.