Josef Leimberg

Los Angeles-based trumpeter and composer Josef Leimberg had a lengthy résumé before he became known to a broader audience through his work on <a href="spotify:artist:2YZyLoL8N0Wb9xBt1NhZWg">Kendrick Lamar</a>'s platinum-certified, Grammy-winning To Pimp a Butterfly. He arrived during the early '90s as a member of the short-lived rap group <a href="spotify:artist:2zECPi9ogImRzMOvxxROhD">Mad Kap</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0zCyco6JHJv7zKHbyMmsut">King Tee</a> associates who were among the early acts on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Loud+Records%22">Loud Records</a>. After one album with that group, Leimberg shifted into session gigs. During the remainder of the '90s and the early 2000s, the artists who featured his work included <a href="spotify:artist:7uf4u6fdkpVycU3CPIC2mx">Volume 10</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:43SXnO2N4X024u3l9MfvXD">Busdriver</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0IXabnQgJf7eO1hIF71YS9">Freestyle Fellowship</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:7hJcb9fa4alzcOq3EaNPoG">Snoop Dogg</a>. Leimberg's exposure increased toward the end of the 2000s and into the 2010s with bold additions to <a href="spotify:artist:7IfculRW2WXyzNQ8djX8WX">Erykah Badu</a>'s New Amerykah, Pt. 1, Sa-Ra's Nuclear Evolution: The Age of Love, and <a href="spotify:artist:0XzVyZOZF7FIsQ7VbBZ9Yy">Shafiq Husayn</a>'s Shafiq En' A-Free-Ka. He also appeared on a crop of <a href="spotify:artist:0ZrpamOxcZybMHGg1AYtHP">Robin Thicke</a> albums. After working with <a href="spotify:artist:0CKa42Jqrc9fSFbDjePaXP">Big K.R.I.T.</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:450o9jw6AtiQlQkHCdH6Ru">Funkadelic</a>, Leimberg co-wrote, co-produced, and appeared on "How Much a Dollar Cost" and "You Ain't Gotta Lie (Momma Said)," two of the deeper highlights on To Pimp a Butterfly. The next year, Leimberg gathered fellow Pimp players <a href="spotify:artist:7MNEVabc4cs19CbzAFZmXz">Terrace Martin</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6HQYnRM4OzToCYPpVBInuU">Kamasi Washington</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:4jCbgl5Dmt3uOh8WRQfpPs">Bilal</a>, along with the likes of <a href="spotify:artist:7FjGU7aqZcwNk3ICLLmcSX">Jimetta Rose</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:2RdnkH5txHb9c4vGwq0I31">Georgia Anne Muldrow</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:6SlLXvZvYEGnurxBUpUdri">Miguel Atwood-Ferguson</a>, and recorded his first album, Astral Progressions. A progressive fusion of spiritual/cosmic jazz, soul, and hip-hop, it was released in October 2016 on the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22World+Galaxy%22">World Galaxy</a> label. ~ Andy Kellman, Rovi