Big Brooklyn Red

Big Brooklyn Red specializes in freestyling. No, not the kind of freestyling where some rapper matches syllables for hours on end. Red just sings, playing and twisting the chorus from Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On,” for example, until he’s fueling a freeform jam session all on his own. His style is illustrative of what the new soul scene (as opposed to the R&B scene) is all about — art over artifice, spontaneity over calculation, and reality over fantasy. It’s his raw vocal talent, however, that has helped him build up quite a fan base over the years, many of whom will undoubtedly turn out for this event benefiting the Society of Afrocentric Artists and Scholars. Opening up for Red is Q, a recent transplant from Washington D.C. with a sound reminiscent of Sarah Vaughn.