On his own and alongside Kenny “Dope” Gonzalez in Masters at Work house music legend Louie Vega continually pushed musical boundaries on the dance floor and beyond. Vega seems to have outdone himself on his upcoming solo album, Starring…XXVIII, out February 26 on Vega Records.
Starring…XXVIII features the iconic DJ/producer exploring a wealth of musical styles — house, R&B, disco, gospel — on collaborations with a veritable who’s who of dance music including: Funkadelic & George Clinton; The 3 Winans Brothers and The Clark Sisters; Jocelyn Brown (who appeared on Nuyorican Soul’s star-studded album released in 1997); Nick Monaco & Soul Clap; N’Dea Davenport; Lisa Fischer; Cindy Mizelle; Anane Vega; Monique Bingham; Caron Wheeler (Soul II Soul); Josh Milan; Bucie; Tony Momrelle; Kaylow; Vikter Duplaix; Cassio Ware; Adeva, Covertion & Leroy Burgess; Kenny Bobien; Zara McFarlane; Luis Salinas; Roberto Roena; Diviniti; and Byron Stingily.
Obligatory press release gush from Vega: “Today’s listener wants to feel good and that’s exactly what our songs and tracks do. We celebrate the gift of love, art and music. My inspirations came from various visits around the world and experiences in life. As far as the album’s sounds, I revisited lots of R&B, soul, gospel, nu jazz, even some disco, all within the backdrop of house music, took it back to the artist and song tailoring.”
Vega added, “The album came together naturally, it was a growing process. It was like planting a tree, each branch represented an artist, a sound, a groove. The entire process happened within a few years. It started with a few songs and then this past year, I was in a creative state and the music happened back to back. As I travelled and toured, I met artists on the road and would record with them a few weeks later. The experience with the artists on the album was magical; they are all so talented and very unique and have their own special quality.”