Rafael Statin aka Leafar is one of those rarest of multi-instrumentalist who can combine great passion, intellectual discipline, and a spiritual fire that is evocative of great artistic creativity. He has so far established himself as a remarkable composer and musician not defined by any one particular genre or style. Appearing as Leafar, a pseudonym created by Rafael in order to further free his music and himself from trap establishments of being boxed in only as a saxophonist jazz musician. As Leafar he is unconstrained to completely utilize his experimental mind & soul. 

Rafael Statin has had the greatest privilege of sharing the performance space among some of greatest creative artist and musicians on the scene today including the 7x Grammy (4x Emmy) awarded bassist Robert Hurst III, jazz master Reggie Workman (bassist of John Coltrane & Art Blakey), drum legend Jeff “Tain” Watts, NEA Jazz master Jimmy Owens, Detroit Trumpet legend Marcus Belgrave, Grammy awarded producer/ musician Kamau Kenyatta, drummer/producer Greg Hutchinson, and Detroit experimental hip-hop producer Sterling Toles to name a few. 

Hailing from Detroit, Michigan, Rafael's connection to music was jazz, r&b & soul, fostered from a musical family at an early age. His parents gave an immeasurable amount of time and energy to make sure could have the opportunity to go to decent schools often back and forth from suburban education to artist opportunities in the urban Detroit area that would eventually prove fruitful despite the metro Detroit challenges throughout the 1990's and 2000's. Rafael attended and graduated from prestigious institutions such as Detroit School of Arts, Detroit Symphony Civic Jazz Orchestra, and The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. In the midst of education Rafael often played with notable influences such as Robert Hurst Group (2011-current), Marcus Belgrave (Toledo Art Museum 2010), Vincent Chandler Septet (2009-2010), Jeff Tain Watts Drum Club (Detroit Jazz Festival 2011) and often appearances as a leader on the Detroit music scene since 2009. 

Currently Rafael tours with Robert Hurst Group, he is one of many members of the Detroit super group Video7 as a saxophonist/producer, and a member of an upcoming influential music collective called PolyFold.

"PAPA, TURN IT UP" beat tape: http://reallynicerecordings.com/album/papa-turn-it-up

"Electronic beats, the darker influences of jazz and abstract hip-hop lyricism ... sounds like a meeting between George Clinton and Madlib somewhere in the outer stratosphere. Definitely a good thing.’ - DMC World

"Musically, ‘Life Well Lived’ is damn solid. The beats are original, as is Hogans' increasingly melodic vocal delivery." - Resident Advisor

"This is the future of post-drum & bass breakbeat culture ... totally millenium's edge and running, mate." - Dego of 4Hero

Jason Hogans is a producer, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist who first impacted through Detroit’s electronic music scene, impressively debuting on Carl Craig's Planet E in ’98 with an EP called ‘Peter And The Rooster.’ ‘Peter And The Rooster’ combined drum & bass, techno, jazz, and hip hop elements in a brilliant display of creativity and experimentalism, helping to pave a new direction for Planet E. It was through a fellow producer and friend, Matt Chicoine that Hogans was introduced to the Planet E camp. Fans of one another's work, Chicoine (Recloose) introduced Hogans to Planet E director Carl Craig once he was signed as an artist to the Detroit based label.

Hogans has consistently paved his own unique trajectory, creating diverse and forward-thinking sounds which transcend the confines of many mainstream musical genres. Rather than following the obvious creative path after his debut, new musical blends came after Hogans' experimentations with multiple styles such as folk, minimal, punk, glitch, soul, reggae/dub, jazz and more. This convergence of flavors could be heard on his 2005 release under his newly created :brownstudy moniker, ‘Tell Me More About Bubbles’ on the Third Ear label. ‘Tell Me More About Bubbles’ was Jason's first professional release featuring his own vocals and solidified his reputation as a lyricist as well as a producer. Hogans' relentlessly experimental eclecticism continued to intensify and mutate with stylistically diverse releases on Mahogani Music, Faces Records/MCDE, his own Really Nice Recordings label and more all the way through to :brownstudy's ‘Life Well Lived’ in 2014, also released on Third Ear.

Following 2014’s well-received LP under his :brownstudy alias, 'Life Well Lived,’ Jason Hogans stepped away from the mic to focus on an LP of flawless instrumentals. Returning to production under his own name for the first time in nearly two decades, 2016’s ‘The Age of Scrap’ belies its title to instead deliver a forward thinking record rooted in classic Detroit, fused with futurist sonics that refuse to look back. Hogans organized his own European tour to support the LP, with stops in Strasbourg, Paris, Heidelberg, Amsterdam, Brussels & London.

Jason has been staying busy with heartfelt vocal features, self-released beat tapes, innovative remixes and engaging live performances throughout Europe and the United States. Not content with a single performance style, you will find him in front of turntables playing house and techno records, blending live electronic beats on his hardware, rocking the microphone or any combination of the above. Jason has been fortunate to share both stage (Faruq Z. Bey, Sinistarr, James Blood Ulmer, Tadd Mullinix) and studio (Jimmy Edgar, Kevin Saunderson, Paul Randolph, Anthony Shakir) with many talented & respected artists from all over the world and is currently developing releases for multiple labels across the globe.

Will Sessions have established themselves as one of Detroit’s must-see live bands, with a varied musical output that reflects their city’s roots.

After cutting their teeth as the house band at the infamous Motor City Funk Night parties, the band went on to release a series of singles on the FNR label, as well as LPs like the instant-classic Elmatic, Kindred, and Mixtakes video/album series.

In addition to their own work, the group is known for collaborations with the likes of Amp Fiddler, Mayer Hawthorne, Slum Village, Elzhi, Black Milk, Phat Kat, Guilty Simpson, Eminem and Slaughter House, KRS-One, Danny Brown, DJ Dez/Andrez, Jeremy Ellis, Wendell Harrison, Toots & the Maytals, and Griz.

Hello, First I'd like to thank you for stopping by to show your interest and support. Secondly, It is an honor and a privilege to present my music to you all.

My name is Alexander White... I am a music producer, writer, arranger, drummer, keyboardist, and whatever else you need me to be.

For contacting and booking purposes please message me at:

lilalhead@yahoo.com

lilalhead@gmail.com
 
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=683524925

Peace!!!

i'm on instagram more than anything else these days. https://instagram.com/illingsworth
contact/bookings: ILLingsAdvice@gmail.com
emcee/producer from Detroit, MI. also in a group called Detroit CYDI.
i love to laugh/making people laugh. love to make tunes. love to make vids.
please share my tunes n vids.  
http://twitter.com/Illingsworth.
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i typically only repost things that i've worked on.

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