BIOGRAPHY
El Michels Affair formed in Brooklyn in 2000 around multi-instrumentalist Leon Michels, who had cut his teeth as a teenager in the Meters-inspired Mighty Imperials before a stint with Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings. The group debuted on Soul Fire in 2002 with the single "Easy Access," followed by the album Sounding Out the City, first issued in 2005 and reissued the next year as the inaugural release on Michels' own Truth & Soul label. AllMusic describes the band's sound as "cinematic soul," a blend of vintage jazz, funk, soul, rocksteady, Afrobeat and hip-hop. A run of instrumental reworkings of Wu-Tang Clan classics, capped by the albums Enter the 37th Chamber (2009) and Return to the 37th Chamber (2017), led to touring with Raekwon and other Clan members. After Truth & Soul closed in 2016, Michels co-founded Big Crown Records, home to later releases Adult Themes, Yeti Season and 2023's Glorious Game with Black Thought. In 2025 Michels won a Grammy for producing Norah Jones' album Visions.