Reggae is a universal style of music. It is appreciated and respected worldwide and has positive and uplifting messages and provides many different things for many different people. It is spiritual, inspiring, unifying, rebellious, educating, and also simplistic. It is a music for all race, color, and ethnicity, and has no boundaries. Lyrically, reggae artists tend to break things down to see things for what they really are. It started in Jamaica with Scratch, Bob, Tosh, Toots and many others and then spread like fire. In an increasingly smaller and evolving world, reggae can spring up anywhere because it is everywhere. Kansas City, Missouri is just as likely a place as any.
Joel Castillo, Miles Brown, Mike Dunn, Mark Baltzell and Richard Faught are the musicians who make up Kansas City's 77 Jefferson. They are down-to-earth guys from the Midwest with a mad respect for reggae, dub, soul, rock, and hip-hop. They have molded a musical style of reggae of their own and speak about love, family, life and humanity, that people all over seem to be responding to. While writing, recording and promoting all their own music, they have been touring for the last 5 years playing hundreds of shows. They have played many national and local festivals and have had the privilege to share the stage with legendary artists such as Lee "Scratch" Perry, Luciano, the late and great Sugar Minott, Junior Reed, The Meditations, SOJA, Tribal Seeds, Tomorrow's Bad Seeds, Josh Fischell, 3rd Alley, Josh Heinrichs, Jah Roots, Gramps Morgan of Morgan Heritage, Cas Haley and many more.
77 Jefferson's debut album, "Sledgehammer", was released in February of 2008 and is available on Itunes and Cdbaby.com. Reggae-reviews.com wrote, "Sledgehammer is about as good a reggae-rock fusion as I've heard. Its cohesive sound comes partly from the fact that the band doesn't go the loud, brash punk route that a lot of reggae hybrid groups favor. Rather, they go with the natural laid-back flow of reggae and add a similarly easygoing light rock vibe, something akin to the tropical energy of Jack Johnson. It's intriguing that they can capture a "beach vibe," coming from about as far from the ocean as possible in the US."
77 followed "Sledgehammer" with "Rarities", a collection of acoustic, dubs, covers and out-takes, released in December of 2009. Originally, the album began as an acoustic album, but then transformed into a collection of songs with many different styles and textures. "Rarities" was very well received and ranked in the top 50 USA reggae albums on I-tunes and was the number 1 Reggae album on Cdbaby.com for several months. 77 Jefferson's most recent album, "In The Right Mood," was released in July of 2010, and has ranked in the top 50 USA reggae albums on I-tunes, peaking at number 33, and also did very well on Cdbaby. "With In The Right Mood, 77 Jefferson has produced a quality record. It is most certainly an album that you can press play and enjoy from beginning to end," wrote Thereggaereview.com.
Band member Miles Brown, recorded and produced all three of 77's albums and "In The Right Mood" is receiving growing airplay on national and international radio stations and podcasts. Miles also recently recorded 77's long-time friend and collaborator Josh Heinrichs' new album, "Josh Heinrichs and Friends," featuring many legendary reggae artists such as Aston "Familyman" Barrett of Bob Marley and The Wailers, Hani of Katchafire, Caleb Keolanui and BW from The Green, Koko of Inna Vision, Cas Haley, 77's own Joel Castillo and many more. The album blew up and peaked at number 4 on the top 50 USA reggae albums on I-tunes.
77 was recently featured on "The Pier EXPOSED Volume 1," which was put together and hand-picked by a group of nationally well respected reggae artists from John Brown's Body, Passafire, and several more. 77 won the 2009 Pitch Awards "Best Reggae Band" in Kansas City, MO and has been getting steady, and growing amounts of air-play on radio staions across the country.
77 loves creating music and have met many great people and bands while traveling throughout the U.S. and is truly moved and motivated by all of their fans, friends, and support from their families. 77 is currently recording their 4th album, which is scheduled for release later this summer, and the band plans to follow with an extensive North American tour.
