Your musical palate will expand the moment you get a rich sampling of the title track to DW3’s On the Floor.
The “On the Floor” smash hit is pregnant with mood-altering magic. The track conjures up visions of a darkened dance floor with a bottle of merlot waiting in the wings, and you’re pulled up close to that special woman as you shadow dance to the R&B-infused jazz hit with just a twist of Latin influence.
These diverse musical forms intersect seamlessly, which is why “On the Floor” and its predecessor, “I Got You,” have created a lot of noise for the Mexican-American jazz trio DW3 — which stands for Down With Three — Billy and Eric Mondragon and Damon Montelongo. “I Got You” soared to No. 1 in the United Kingdom and No. 19 in the United States with “On the Floor” causing equal damage to the charts here and broad.
Before you take in their look and get images of Menudo dancing on the brain, I implore you not to get their ethnicity twisted. “Our style is really old school,” explains Billy Mondragon of their South Central Los Angeles and East L.A. roots. “We grew up on all of the sounds of Motown, Marvin Gaye and Luther Vandross. We’ve always been big fans of real singing, real singers and real music. It’s a big part of how we formed our sound. And we’re a live band. Were a ‘Latin’ Mint Condition.”
DW3, in fact, had been simmering on the peripheral of mainstream jazz stardom for three decades now, where their sound was able to marinate into sonic pleasure oasis it is now. But while the mass public was oblivious to their skills, the jazz industry had long ago brought them into the fold. They’ve played with or toured with the likes of Jeffrey Osbourne and have sung backup vocals for Patti Austin.
“It’s like a dream come true. You touring with the people that you admire all your life. It’s pretty surreal. It’s pretty amazing to be in their presence,” says Damon Montelongo. Billy and Eric Mondragon, particularly, grew up in a musical family and they can no more part from music than they can give up breathing.
“Music is life to us. It’s all we’ve ever known,” Eric Mondragon explains. “Billy and I grew up in recording studios. It’s something that we always wanted to know and what we always knew we were going to do. It’s everything we always wanted.”
While musical notes flow through their veins, they admit that it there were some dry moments trying and grinding to get to this point.
“We’re been trying to get here for quite some time and there’s been a lot of discouraging moments and you think you’re about to make they burst your bubble time and time again. Being in this business and being Latino, there’s a lot of misconceptions about what you can do,” Damon noted. “They want to put you in a Salsa band. We grew up in East L.A. and South Central. We were exposed to urban music and hip-hop. Latinos listen to a lot of the same music as the urban market.”
Now, on the precipice of blowing up, armed with hard-hitting cuts from On the Floor, the trio is primed to saturate the landscape with a tidal wave of their brand of intoxicating jazz.
“We’re getting reports of the love from overseas, but the reality hasn’t set it in yet. It’s good to hear and get emails from people from across the world,” Billy says. “And being told, ‘we love your stuff, when are you coming to England, and when are you coming to Canada?’ It’s one of the best feelings ever. It’s hard to describe, but it feels great. Hopefully, we can get there and see these people and have them see us. Right now [we’re] in a dream state.”
And DW3 will put you in that same dream state once you pop in On the Floor. –terry shropshire
