Bilal

Philidelphia born Bilal is surely one of the most significant artists of our changing times. He will return to Yoshi’s this month. His falsettos recall the energy of Joe Cocker at Woodstock and he approaches swing and scat with the same expansion and technique as Ella Fitzgerald. Most audiences were first made aware of Bilal courtesy of his breathtaking backing vocals on Common's Like Water for Chocolate, most notably on the track "Funky for You. Like Nina Simone, Bilal is classically trained in jazz and big band arrangements and opera voice (he reportedly is proficient in seven languages). He also writes his music, lyric and note and has performed with such well-known neo-soul artists as Erykah Badu, Jill Scott and John Legend. It's that scope, and Bilal's willingness to push around within soul music, that's gotten him the nod from everyone from straight-up R&B fans to new-school soul jazz heads.

http://www.myspace.com/bilaloliver