Stacey Lamont Sydnor

Today, the Wilson Brothers remain the driving force behind MANDRILL, strongly supported by a new generation of players. Still touring the U.S. and internationally, MANDRILL’S live performance at San Diego’s Saville Theater was broadcast worldwide on Jazz 88.3 FM and they appeared at the Carter Barron Amphitheatre in Washington, D.C. where their vibrant energy and sensual beats combined to create an extraordinary live performance that had the audience dancing in the aisles.

The Carter Barron performance also showcased the second generation of Wilson musicians with the advent of The Drill Collective (TDC) featuring The One Sun Lion Ra. He and the other new young artists of TDC are sure to establish themselves as the next generation of phenomenal musicians and performers. The presentations have in common powerful and positive messages and will span the spectrum from music, spoken word and poetry, to the visual domain. Look for the One Sun Lion Ra’s CD coming soon. Hailing from Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn, New York, this extraordinary group is one of the country’s greatest musical treasures. MANDRILL, formed by the Panamanian Wilson Brothers (Lou, Ricardo, Carlos & Wilfredo), is a family crew of astonishing multi-instrumentalists whose background is a melting pot of Caribbean culture blended with the sound and heart of Urban America. With sixteen albums that include the smash hits “Fencewalk,” “Git It All,” “Hang Loose,” “Polk Street Carnival,” “Ape Is High,” “House of Wood,” and thirty years of thrilling audiences all over the world to their credit, MANDRILL has shared the stage with the likes of Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock; James Brown, Patti LaBelle, David Bowie, Earth, Wind & Fire; Tito Puente and The Fania All Stars; The Eagles, Deep Purple, Mott The Hoople, Jim Croce and the New World Symphony. MANDRILL rocked San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall and opened the Grand Performances summer series on the beautiful California Plaza in downtown Los Angeles. The group also completed highly successful engagements in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. Of particular note, the D.C. event celebrates musical history when the group headlined the bill that packed RFK Stadium beyond capacity as 80,000 people came to see MANDRILL, along with Parliament-Funkadelic, Buddy Miles, Rare Earth and the Jimmy Castor Bunch in 1973, breaking the previously long-held attendance record set by the Rolling Stones.