Eclecticism is the practice of deriving ideas or styles from a broad range of sources.   Afroclecticism is using black cultural artifacts to create new, positive experiences.  

And that’s what J. Plunky Branch has practiced for decades: drawing from a wide range of music sources to develop his repertoire of Afro-funk, nu-jazz, hip-hop, R&B, neo-soul and world music songs.   

Almost two years in the making, Afroclectic, is the latest music journey by Plunky & Oneness.  The album is a deep collection of original songs curated to fashion an artistic collage of musical genres. Alongside the ever fresh Oneness and his beat-making son, Fire, as co-producer, Plunky boldly blurs the lines between categorical styles to share stories and creative visions of wonder.  

The playlist on Afroclectic flows from instrumental funk to odes of rhythm & blues, to soulful vocals tones and introspective smooth jazz. The liberated sonic mix is Afropolitan, rhythmic and seductive; paying tribute to our musical past with percussive offerings uplifting our inspired presence.  

Album songs snippets video: .be">

Plunky Branch started making albums in 1970 in San Francisco and then worked in New York’s jazz scene before going back to his hometown, Richmond, VA in 1975.  Since then he has released 25 albums, written 400 songs, toured in Europe, been to Africa six times, visited Cuba twice, played hundreds of gigs in clubs, concerts and festivals, made documentary films and videos, written his autobiography, and received numerous prestigious awards.

Plunky’s journey brings him to this place and time and with Afroclectic he brings forth a collection of songs that brims with optimism.  The music says yes, the future is now.  

Plunky & Oneness is a band of musical nomads based in one place, Virginia.  The group includes three Branches: Plunky (saxes, vocals), Muzi (bass, vocals) and Fire (percussion, tracks), Plunky, his brother and his son.  The featured vocalist, Charlayne “Chyp” Green, has been with the ensemble for almost 20 years, but she is as fresh as ever.  And there are revolving master instrumentalists (keyboardists, J. L Harris, Fabian Lance and Dr. Weldon Hill; guitarists, Carl Lester El and Chris Beasley; and percussionists, Asante and Abdou Mohammed) who combine forces to create music with diverse textures and possibilities. The songs on this album: Afro-funk instrumentals, R&B message songs with soulful vocals, and introspective smooth jazz, set the stage for dancing and mellow contemplations.  Plunky has combined the forces of Oneness to create visions of Afro-now-ness with multiple depths of field.

Afroclectic is consistently rhythmic, gritty, mellow and. funky.  You can thank Plunky later.