Hungry for Rapp Snitch Knishes, Fillet-O-Rapper and Deep Fried Frenz? Phoenicians have a chance to attend a live music event featuring a five-course meal inspired by MF DOOM’s 2004 album “MM..FOOD” on Monday, March 7.
The event, called SENSES: A Conscious Consumption of MF DOOM, is inspired by the album “MM..FOOD,” which MF DOOM described as a concept album about “things you find on a picnic, or at a picnic table,” in an interview with SPIN in 2004.
MF DOOM, or Daniel Dumile, who died on Oct. 31, 2020, was a beloved pillar of the hip-hop community. Best known for his albums “Madvillainy” and “Operation: Doomsday,” MF DOOM appeared on 35 total studio albums during his career, including six solo albums.
The event will feature prominent downtown Phoenix jazz musician Garrison Jones and culinary expert Chef Stephen Jones.
Garrison Jones, a staple of the local jazz scene and a member of Inkblot, one of Phoenix’s jazz fusion bands, is known for hosting downtown’s infamous jazz nights each Thursday at Cornish Pasty Co., featuring local jazz musicians from across the valley. In addition to hosting local jazz shows, Garrison also occasionally DJs at the Churchill.
Stephen Jones, who is not related to Garrison despite a shared last name, is also a visionary in his field, though he works with a different creative medium: Food.
With classical culinary training and many years of experience in culinary arts, Stephen is no less a composer than Garrison. Opening his own restaurant in 2018, The Larder + The Delta, Chef Jones is known for his southern culinary concepts.
Though the two did not know each other before, the Zenith Experiment brought them together in the hope that they would be able to create an immersive experience involving both food and music.
The Zenith Experiment, which is hosting the event, is a downtown Phoenix-based organization dedicated to bringing people together through music, food and other creative outlets.
Nicole Underwood, a producer for the event and founder of the Zenith Experiment, explained how the idea for the organization came to fruition, as well as how they paired Garrison with Chef Jones.
“The Zenith Experiment is meant to connect people through shared experiences with the power of music,” Underwood said. “What we provide is unique music events that focus on creative, intimate collaborations with other creatives such as chefs, dancers and poets so that we can reimagine what music means to us.”
Underwood explained that their events are meant to reconnect music listeners, musicians and other creative people with the spirit of musical creation itself. When planning the event, she was drawn to the idea of bringing together taste and sound, specifically jazz musicians and chefs due to the experimental and explorative aspects of each respective medium.
“When you’ve got a chef and a musician collaborating together, the creative process is asking how can a flavor inform the music that’s performed, or how can music influence and inspire you to create a certain dish,” Underwood said.
Underwood decided to introduce Garrison and Chef Jones to one another because of their experimental, visionary approaches to their respective arts, thinking that they might have creative chemistry.
“They were brought together and almost instantaneously they both thought of hip hop, and within 20 minutes they landed on MF DOOM just by getting to know each other,” Underwood said. “It really showcases the power of collaboration.”
Chef Jones expressed his love of creative collaboration, saying that the joining of taste and music as creative concepts drew him in.
“This collaborative idea resonated with me and I wanted to explore a new menu centered around my love of hip hop,” Chef Stephen Jones said. “Food and music are intimately connected. What better way to enjoy music and food at this level than celebrating this great leader of hip hop through curated flavors?”
As a testament to the experimental, creative nature of both cooking and jazz, Chef Jones plans to prepare an improvised course during the event, inspired by the live music.
The event will be held on Monday, March 7 at 6:00 p.m. at The Larder + The Delta. Tickets are available through The Zenith Experiment’s website.
And for hungry MF DOOM fans who might be wondering, yes, there will be a cookie dish included in the five-course meal inspired by the album’s final track, “Kookies.”
For more information, visit the event website.
Contact the reporter at clparri2@asu.edu.
Cami is Downtown Devil's co-executive editor. Cami is a third-year student studying print journalism and political science. When she's not writing or editing, she enjoys hosting radio shows, playing piano and bass, and teaching art classes at a local art studio.
