Soul Saturday: Zo! shows love for retro jazz, soul ahead of Detroit homecoming
Detroit natives Zo! & Tall Black Guy will perform with singer Deborah Bond on July 8 at El Club.
On Saturday, Detroit natives Zo!, real name Lorenzo Ferguson, and Tall Black Guy will return home as part of their Abstractions tour with singer Deborah Bond. The tour takes its name from the duo’s first collaborative album originally released in 2021.
While Ferguson has been a mainstay as a producer and keyboardist for several groups and solo projects for the past decade, the latest record has a special connection to Detroit.
He sat down with me ahead of their Saturday performance at El Club in Detroit to discuss the music that gives him goosebumps, how close he was to pursuing a Major League Baseball career, and the special connection Detroit has to the release.
Listen: Why Zo!’s latest release has a special connection to Detroit
Lorenzo “Zo!” Ferguson is a Detroit-area born and raised multi-instrumentalist and producer. He says while creating the album with Tall Black Guy, they were constantly reminded of home.
“The third song we ever did, we called that [instrumental] Woodward Avenue,” recalled Ferguson. “[It] sounds like you’re riding down Woodward Avenue in a Lincoln or Caddy…it just sounded like home.”
Listen to the entire interview using the media player above.
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