JJ Whitefield

Guitarist, composer, producer, and bandleader Jan Weissenfeldt records under the alias JJ Whitefield. From the 1990s forward he has channeled his creativity across a wide range of idioms, projects, and releases issued under numerous guises. His earliest venture delved into ’70s street funk alongside Poets of Rhythm on the 1999 album Practice What You Preach. Alongside drummer and sibling Max he launched the Whitefield Brothers to investigate psychedelic R&B and Afrobeat. He subsequently assembled the ethno-funk outfit Karl Hector & the Malcouns, whose 2008 debut Sahara Swing found favor on dancefloors from Germany and India to the Americas. The ensemble followed with several singles plus the albums Unstraight Ahead (2014) and Non Ex Orbis (2019). Also in 2019 Weissenfeldt unveiled his first solo effort, Brother All Alone. Two further releases appeared in 2023: Ethio Meditations/Drama al Dente and the psychedelic funky fusion set Puzzled. In 2024 he examined links between spiritual jazz and underground R&B on The Infinity of Nothingness, recorded with his big band Forced Meditation.