LISTEN TO OUR LATEST RELEASE "BLACKPOP"
Why “BlackPop” you ask?
Ben Williams, primarily known as a jazz bassist (and in recent years also as a vocalist), and Syndee Winters known for her lead roles in Broadway Musicals grew up heavily influenced by artists like Prince, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, just to name a few. While these artists have always influenced Ben's work in the jazz idiom, he wanted to fully showcase his love for the canon of great Black pop music. Lest we forget jazz itself is the original pop music (and often borrowed from Broadway showtunes). It is no coincidence that a jazz artist and a Broadway performer of today can get together to celebrate this rich history.
Butterfly Black is about the celebration of Black music’s contribution to Pop music. THERE IS NO POP MUSIC WITHOUT BLACK MUSIC.
Aside from that, we are doing this 100% independent. The 11 tracks of “BlackPop” will be available exclusively (for the time being) on our website and on Bandcamp; a platform that allows you to actually pay for the music you love (how about that for throwback??)
“Butterfly Black is single handedly bringing melody back into music." -Tavis Smiley.
"As soon as you hit play you hear and feel the magic in the sound…” - Global Media R&B
“A soulful masterpiece that does everything right…”
"Bursting with infectious energy for our post-pandemic times, “Lifetime” is a millennial take on romantic love, self-love, and self-care."
"Butterfly Black’s strength lies not only in the couple’s intoxicating musical chemistry that is
evident both in the studio and onstage; it comes from their divergent individual artistic pasts."
ABOUT US
GRAMMY winner Ben Williams and Broadway’s Nala and Sarah Vaughan Vocal Jazz Competition recipient, Syndee Winters have come together to create Butterfly Black. A fresh new R&B duo that delivers bubbly, boogie-centric, and upscale R&B. Bursting with infectious energy for our post-pandemic times, and drawing upon the legacy of iconic male-female soul duos like Tammi Terrell and Marvin Gaye, Ike & Tina Turner, and Ashford & Simpson.
Butterfly Black’s strength lies not only in the couple’s intoxicating musical chemistry that is evident both in the studio and onstage; it comes from their divergent individual artistic pasts.
Williams is among the upper echelon of his contemporaries in the jazz scene. After winning the 2009 Thelonious Monk Institute International Jazz Competition, he has released a handful of critical-acclaimed solo albums and recorded and/or performed with numerous heavyweights such as Pat Metheny, Robert Glasper, George Benson, Jazzmeia Horn, Carmen Lundy, and Regina Carter, among others.
Winters is a commanding Broadway stage singer, dancer and actor, who has performed in such defining productions as Hamilton, The Lion King, Pippin, Motown The Musical, and Jesus Christ Superstar. Before working on Broadway, she was a dancer for the New York Knicks basketball team and a hip-hop and soul singer, who worked with Grandmaster Flash on his 2009 album, ‘The Bridge.’
Butterfly Black is currently at work on their debut 5-song EP, due out later this year, and gearing up for a series of performances both individually and as Butterfly Black.
