Nolen Entertainment Presents: Sunday Night Live - Reggies Chicago

ALFONZO JONES EXPERIMENT

Alfonzo Jones’ love of music started in church, watching and imitating every move and sound of the drummer at the age of 3. Once Alfonzo’s mother and grandmother grew tired of finding damaged pots and pans, they placed a drum set in front of him and he has been banging away at his future ever since. Everyday, Alfonzo played along with tapes and videos and watched every drummer he encountered intently in order to learn. From there, Alfonzo was not only playing drums at school, but also the church he grew up in, Liberty Temple.

While in high school, under the tutelage of Phillip Crews, he gathered a wide range of influences including Dennis Chambers, Tony Williams, Carter Beauford, Elvin Jones, and Jimmy Cobb. In 2002, with Alfonzo as the drummer, his high school was chosen as one of the top 15 best high school bands by the Essentially Ellington Jazz Band Competition, garnering opportunities to study with Wynton Marsalis, Herlin Riley and other members of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. In 2012, Alfonzo was selected as one of the top 10 drummers in the country for the Roland V-Drums drumoff contest, and has participated and progressed far in other national drum competitions.

Throughout his career, Alfonzo has worked in several genres, and has shared the stage with established artists and musicians such as Wynton Marsalis, Brian Courtney Wilson, James Fortune, Vicki Winans, Wycleff Gordon, Orbert Davis, Martha Munizzi, Tye Tribbett, Kierra Sheard, Pinqy Ring and more. Aside from playing at Liberty Temple Full Gospel Church, Alfonzo can be seen playing with the band Left.Jones, Mike Zabrin’s Funktastic, National recording artist Nikki Lynette and the O’my’s.

Alfonzo hopes to create his legacy through music, but also by being a good human being. As a shining example to aspiring drummers, he’s well on his way to that goal

D2G

Chicago Hip-Hop Props Award-Winner Anthony Di’Angelo Ingram, Jr. or “D2G” as he’s called in the Hip-Hop scene, is a laborer in music all around. Growing up on the southeast side of Chicago, 2G would always relate any life situation to a song that would describe his emotion at the time. Inspired by artists like Rakim, KRS-One, and Slick Rick, he began writing at age 11 and would later transform his writings into songs. Graduating from Hyde Park Academy in 2005, he would find himself enrolled into Columbia College Chicago, where he became fascinated by the artistic environment. This atmosphere would later introduce 2G to various artists and producers.

A focused emcee in his own right, D2G seeks to bring glory back to his hometown of Chicago and earn his rightful place among hip-hop’s elite. Since releasing his first solo project in 2011, The Blood Diamond Tape, and his first album in 2013, July 9th: A Cancer Story, D2G has been performing and promoting his music across the city. After releasing his critically acclaimed sophomore effort, Short Summers Long Winters, in 2015, D2G went on to win the Chicago Props Award for Best Male Emcee. His latest effort, The Next Hot Day, brings the emcee back to his storytelling roots as he produces the sequel to his first “audiofilm”. There seems to be end in sight for this emcee’s emcee.