Breakestra

Breakestra is a funk music project founded by Miles Tackett and based in Los Angeles, California. Breakestra was first formed in 1997 as a strictly live ensemble playing "covers" of funk, soul, and jazz breaks that had been sampled in late 1980s & early 1990s hip-hop seamlessly, blended into each other in the same style that early hip hop DJs would do in the pre-sampling days of the 1970s when they would DJ records at block parties. Tackett, also known as "Musicman", records, composes, plays bass, upright cello, guitar, keyboards and drums. He also sings along with the other front man Mix Master Wolf. The style in which Breakestra plays live setting & on record is much influenced by late 1960s and early 1970s funk & soul-jazz music and the respective samples that were used in late 1980s/early 1990s hip hop as The Live Mix, Part 1 and The Live Mix, Part 2 show. After releasing their first 7 inch single "Getcho Soul Togetha" (an original composition in fact) in 1999 on Stones Throw records and two full-length albums of mostly covers and sample-filled breaks, Breakestra put out Hit the Floor in 2005 on Ubiquity Records, which included all-original recordings fusing elements of hip hop, funk, and soul. Tackett put together another original full length, "Dusk Till Dawn" in late 2009 that featured guest rapper Chali 2na, the late DJ DUSK & soul vocalist Afrodyete "the African goddess of love".Tackett continues to bring different incarnations of Breakestra out on tour when not working on projects in his home studio. Breakestra covered The Mohawks' "Champ" in 2005 on the in-game soundtrack for Tony Hawk's American Wasteland.