About
Mandrill is an American multi-genre band formed in Brooklyn, New York City in 1968.
Their early albums (Mandrill, Mandrill Is, Composite Truth, Just Outside Of Town, and Mandrilland) are sometimes wild and experimental and sometimes danceable and fun, often times both at once. Their approach is somewhat comparable to early Funkadelic. Like Funkadelic, by their 1975 album called Solid they had settled into a smoother, more traditional funk sound, losing much but not all of their progressive edge.
Over the years, Mandrill has headlined concerts featuring Parliament-Funkadelic, Earth Wind & Fire, Tito Puente and the Fania All Stars, Patti LaBelle, War, Lionel Ritchie and the Commodores, Curtis Mayfield, Osibisa, Gil Scott-Heron, Randy Weston, Max Roach, Wayne Shorter, Grover Washington, Mott the Hoople and many more.
Mandrill has also shared the stage with legendary artists like Duke Ellington (who personally chose them to join him for a sold out concert at Philharmonic Hall in New York City), Miles Davis, Stevie Wonder, Ike and Tina Turner, James Brown, Leon Russell, Eddie Kendrics, Michael Jackson and the Jackson Five, David Bowie and others.