VIDEO: “California Love – A Triptych” – Zo!, Carmen Rodgers & Sy Smith

In the spring of 2015, Zo!, Carmen Rodgers and Sy Smith came together as an underground soul power trio, playing live shows on the west coast for a stint they called the “California Love Tour“. Director Shawn Carter Peterson filmed the Los Angeles performance and created a beautiful long play video/short film, capturing the trio’s musical mastery and camaraderie in this presentation of three captivating singles from the show. Sy playfully flaunts her quick-paced scatting chops on “Personal Paradise”, Carmen drips with honey-coated cooing on “It’s Me”, and Zo! shows off his piano virtuosity with “Flight Of The Blackbyrd”. The acoustic set exhibits a beautiful simplicity of instrumentation; just piano (Zo!), upright bass (Maurice Ellis) and drums (Stacey Lamont Sydnor) which makes plenty of sonic room to experience the tunes stripped all the way down. And just like the human form, these tunes are even better naked.