Meet Leslie “Zeke” Ratliff | Music Director, Movmnt Band

We had the good fortune of connecting with Leslie “Zeke” Ratliff (of Movmnt Band), and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Leslie “Zeke”, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
At the beginning, we knew we could be successful if we stuck to our influences for our sound. Every member of Movmnt Band has roots in Jazz Fusion, Funk, Rap/Trap, and Neo Soul. Put that together with a lot of practice, and we knew we had something others can enjoy.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
What started out as college jam sessions at SMU, has turned into creating our own sound as Movmnt Band. In 2013, Cornell Lacy (bass) and I started shedding on grooves we came up with in my dorm room. From the start, it was really fun! A little later in the year, Paulo Calomeni (guitar) joined after hearing some of our rough song ideas. Tony “Lil Katt” Reed (drums) subbed in on one of our first concerts, and immediately asked if he could continue with us. All in all, coming together as Movmnt Band was all about creating and experiencing music that moved us.

As time has gone on, it’s been both a joy and a challenge to make an impact in the world of Jazz Fusion. Our first album, self-titled “Movmnt Band”, took a lot of motivation and creativity since it was a sound we had to create ourselves. Despite the challenges, people all over the world have let us know they enjoy what we did! That reception has pushed us to this day to push ourselves with our recorded music and live shows. So yea, we’re excited about what’s ahead!

We’re currently finishing up our second album which will be available later this year! In the mean time, check out our single “XLR” on all streaming platforms, and look out for our new single “Blue Chucks” available soon.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Anybody new to Dallas HAS to check out the Deep Ellum district! It’s the hub of music, arts and food in the DFW Metroplex, and you can find world class music and art there any given day. Some great eating spots nearby we like are The Freeman Cafe, Serious Pizza, and Twisted Root. We’ve had incredible experiences there constantly, so it’s definitely worth the drive!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
We wanna dedicate our shoutout to the (whole) DFW Musicians community. (All of ‘em!). Without all the people in it, we could not have the success we achieved thus far.

Website: MovmntBand.com

Instagram: @Movmnt.Band

Facebook: facebook.com/movmntband

Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCk8bVrIz0MBKRrICzm-2QIw