The Best of LA: Dancing

 

For those of us more chronologically endowed, King King is the place to bust a move. The musicians' hangouot draws a cool but unpretentious crowd with its live music. The house band, Sono-Lux, cooks up Afro-Cuban jazz that seriously sizzles, and with free salsa classes at 9 on Tuesdays, there's just no reason not to partake.

 

 

A Night At King King: It's Royally Rhythmic

Multicultural jams with an Afro-Cuban core emerge Tuesdays in Hollywood

Los Angeles Times

 

The life of the party is band leader Willie McNeil, a Kansas native who studied music in Cuba and has played drums and piano and recorded music in Los Angeles for 23 years. McNeil, also the percussionist for the Forty Deuce Trio, says the King King gig is the 'biggest love' for his ensemble, which includes talents such as lead vocalist Luca Brandoli, a bata drum specialist and akpwon (a singer who calls down the deities of Santeria); jazz based folk musician and multi-instrumentalist Mike Bolger, and world-renowned percussionist Joey DeLeon. "This music just crept up on me," said McNeil, who has so much salsa in his soul that he even sounds a little Cuban when he addresses the crowd in Spanish. "As a percussionist, and not being Cuban or Puerto Rican, I don't get many calls for work to play Latin music so I decided to form my own band. I wanted to play salsa with a funky flavor that combined modern Cuban music, timba and American funk elements.

 

 

Latin Beat Magazine

 

McNeil conceived the first incarnation of Sono-Lux in the music incubator known as Hollywood's King King Club, in the Tuesday nights melting pot currently known as "Descarga con Timba". Sono-Lux, which means light and sound in Latin, has become an underground phenom known for its fusion of numerous rhythms and musical styles, McNeil describes the blend as Parliment/Funkadelic meets Irakere meets Conjunto Folklorico Nacional de Cuba. The eleven-piece ensemble combines Afro-Cuban, Latin soul, R&B, folkloric and modern Cuban and Caribbean styles to generate exuberant listening and dancing music. Typically, the second set opens up into a jam session, which prompts musicians from all walks to drop in and play for a while with the band.

 

 

Latin Vibe Magazine

Grupo Sono-Lux, Mulata Loca

 

Willie's regular band is Sono-Lux, a West Coast-based Latin dance outfit that rocks out in several directions: title track is a timba that would give any of the top Cuban timba outfits a run for their scratch, whilst 'Do Ya Feel It?' is that rare beast, a successful fusion of salsa and funk. Then there are a couple of straight 'old-school salsa dura compositions, a reggaeton, a great bembe version of the Stevie W. Classic 'Higher Ground', and a nod towards on of Willie's inspirations, the Cuban band Irakere, with 'Irakere's Funk' - described aptly as a 'funk-bata'. This is a top rung Afro-Cuban party show band, firing V8 and fully-loaded, with that easy, unforced approach that years of live stage work brings to a group's music.