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Miles Bonny
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Genre: Jazz

There are rappers, producers, musicians, designers.

And there’s Miles Bonny. Besides being an incredible trumpet player and a gifted singer, the Kansas-City native prefers to do all these things himself. Together with DJ Day he’s paying homage to Raphael Saadiq with their „Instant Saadiq“-EP on MPM. His Album „Lumberjack Soul“ will follow in November. Nevertheless, the passionate pedestrian and soccer player does not lose his calm, whatsoever. Just half an hour to go before the show? That doesn’t keep Miles from having a Kölsch and a conversation about music, fotography and food with me at the „Hallmackenreuther“ at Brüsseler Platz in Cologne.

So Miles, I just read you were said to be the missing link between D’Angelo and Willie Nelson?

(laughs) Oh man, I dunno. But I like these artists a lot, as I draw inspiration from them. My father used to play the trumpet and my mother the guitar â€" I’ve always been surrounded with music. At one point I started to play myself, without even having HipHop on my mind. Somewhat later, my cousin introduced me to Run DMC. This got me so hooked that I got myself an MPC and started to use my musical abilities to make beats.

Your Grandmother is the well-known music-therapist Helen Bonny. Does she know bout your music?

Yeah, she listens to pretty much everything and is excited about it. I’m thinking about sending her some acapella tracks, as I find her approach very interesting. In so called “Sessions” she plays music to her patients and after that they are painting together (“Guided Imagery and Music”). It’s very similar to my technique: When I make music, I can see the beat and the melodies before my inner eye. I think these approaches are very promising and I could see myself working in this field as well. I wish I could go back to my old job as a social worker and combine working with children with music.

You’ve been working with German artists like Fleur Earth and Suff Daddy lately.

That’s mostly due to my affiliation with Melting Pot Music. Olski and his guys work with a lot of great artists. Besides that I’m doing a project with Brenk from Vienna, so I’ve met many interesting people outside from Germany as well. Just recently I visited Diplo in Stockholm. Traveling and exploring different cultures is just very exciting and a huge inspiration for me.

You’re not only responsible for your music but you’re also into photography, video editing and designing flyers etc.

Well, I have to (laughs). If I see a nice motive I just feel the urge to take it with me, you know. That’s why I bought a camera in the first place but I do some remittance work as well. You’re simply more independent when you also take care of this stuff.

Is it true that nutrition and food in general is also of big interest for you?

Yeah, that’s true. I really started to think about my eating habits, about what is good for you and what hurts your body. I mean, Germany is famous for sausages and meat. But I also recognized this boom of organic products, which I think is good. We should get back to do more cultivation ourselves and inform about what we actually do to our bodies. Everything else is just hurtful and leads to uncomfortable feelings â€" physically and mentally. I often though about doing a whole album on this topic, maybe this will even be my next project.

PLEASE NOTE ::
* I was born in NY, not a native of KC but have lived here for awhile now. Im based in KC…. um i guess thats about it. Thanks!
* A lot of those words were translated from German and not exactly what i said in English. But thats ok. Its also what you get when you transate to another language and then back again. so be it. Im grateful for the translation and the experience itself. TO learn more about Helen Bonny’s work VISIT HERE.

photography by R WINTER
translation by Julian Brimmers (MPM)