This Saturday February 7, 2026 at Ninety One Living Room, in the heart of vibrant east London Brick Lane, we're gathering for a night celebrating the music and legacy of one of the greatest to ever do it: J Dilla.
J Dilla ( 1974-2006) revolutionized hip-hop production by treating sampling as a form of deep musical conversation, drawing heavily from the language, harmony, and swing of jazz. Inspired by masters like Barry Harris, Ahmad Jamall, Herbie Hancock, and others, he chopped and re-contextualized jazz records with an intuitive feel for time, voicings, and groove, creating beats that breathed with human imperfection.
Dilla’s signature “broken beat” approach, often described as drunken, off-kilter, or behind the grid, rewrote the rules of rhythm by prioritizing feel over precision. By deliberately shifting drum hits away from strict quantization, he introduced a new kind of swing rooted in human touch rather than mechanical time, echoing the elastic phrasing of jazz rhythm sections.
In doing so, Dilla bridged generations, translating the spirit of jazz improvisation into a modern rhythmic vocabulary that continues to influence musicians across genres.
In this performance, the band moves through selections from Donuts alongside key collaborations, using Dilla’s themes as launch points for live improvisation, seamlessly jamming and reshaping the music into a continuous, evolving flow.
We’ve assembled a phenomenal team of musicians, rappers, and singers to bring Jay Dee’s catalog to life. The formation will see Teo Marangon on the sampler while on bass and guitar there will be Titus Maz and Tay Grace.
Amazing Grammy nominated Producer Teo Marangon managing beats samples and sounds simultaneously while brilliant guitarist & multi-instrumentalist Titus Maz blending Jazz harmonies with famously Detroit-Flavoured broken beats.
On the mic, the house band will be joined by some talented members from the UK hip-hop scene.
Can’t wait to see you there!
Doors open at 6.30 PM
J Dilla ( 1974-2006) revolutionized hip-hop production by treating sampling as a form of deep musical conversation, drawing heavily from the language, harmony, and swing of jazz. Inspired by masters like Barry Harris, Ahmad Jamall, Herbie Hancock, and others, he chopped and re-contextualized jazz records with an intuitive feel for time, voicings, and groove, creating beats that breathed with human imperfection.
Dilla’s signature “broken beat” approach, often described as drunken, off-kilter, or behind the grid, rewrote the rules of rhythm by prioritizing feel over precision. By deliberately shifting drum hits away from strict quantization, he introduced a new kind of swing rooted in human touch rather than mechanical time, echoing the elastic phrasing of jazz rhythm sections.
In doing so, Dilla bridged generations, translating the spirit of jazz improvisation into a modern rhythmic vocabulary that continues to influence musicians across genres.
In this performance, the band moves through selections from Donuts alongside key collaborations, using Dilla’s themes as launch points for live improvisation, seamlessly jamming and reshaping the music into a continuous, evolving flow.
We’ve assembled a phenomenal team of musicians, rappers, and singers to bring Jay Dee’s catalog to life. The formation will see Teo Marangon on the sampler while on bass and guitar there will be Titus Maz and Tay Grace.
Amazing Grammy nominated Producer Teo Marangon managing beats samples and sounds simultaneously while brilliant guitarist & multi-instrumentalist Titus Maz blending Jazz harmonies with famously Detroit-Flavoured broken beats.
On the mic, the house band will be joined by some talented members from the UK hip-hop scene.
Can’t wait to see you there!
Doors open at 6.30 PM
