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In the clandestine corridors of modern jazz-funk, where artistic autonomy is often sacrificed at the altar of commerce, three shadowy figures have emerged from the ether, operating under assumed identities and bound not by contracts, but by a shared devotion to groove.
They are The Cloak and Dagger Collective, a triumvirate of sonic insurgents—Big Ruby Valdez on electric piano and organ, Johnny "Jitters" McDaniels on guitar and bass, and Stewart "Snap" Malone behind the drums. Each an accomplished virtuoso in their own right, these agents of improvisation found themselves on the same European tour many years ago, shackled to the gilded cages of their respective projects, yet yearning for an outlet unfettered by label politics, genre orthodoxy, or commercial diktats. And so, like operatives exchanging dossiers in a smoky back alley, they conspired to create something daring, something dangerous—music liberated from expectation, electrified by the sheer thrill of possibility.
Untraceable in a single lineage, The Cloak and Dagger Collective weave together strands of the cerebral and the visceral—knotty jazz harmonies colliding with the deep-pocket immediacy of funk, serpentine compositions unraveling into kaleidoscopic improvisations. Between them, they possess 42 tattoos, 29 fingers, and an irreverent humor that manifests in both their compositions and their ethos. With no schedules to dictate their movements, they convene when the stars align, assembling at their top-secret lair—Sinister Emissions Studios, a location known only to those with the proper security clearance. What emerges from those sessions is music of rare elasticity and daring, a testament to what happens when the shackles are cast aside and the only directive is to create. The names may be pseudonyms, the whereabouts unknown, but one truth remains—when the mission calls, The Cloak and Dagger Collective answer.
-Leonard Feather
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