Connie Price & The Keystones are a Los Angeles-based funk and soul project led by guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, producer and composer Dan Ubick, who performs under the name Connie Price. Ubick was previously a member of Breakestra, and the Keystones developed from his early recordings of instrumental funk made in Los Angeles in the early 2000s. The project takes its name from Ubick's middle name, Constantine.
Ubick recorded some of the project's first tracks himself, playing drums, bass and guitar on an eight-track recorder. These recordings became some of the earliest 7-inch releases on Now-Again Records, including “The Badger / Sweet Soul Music” and “Highland Park / Time To Kill.” He also recorded as The Sand Dollars, including a version of Donovan's “Get Thy Bearings” featuring Chris Manak, better known as Peanut Butter Wolf.
In 2004, Ubick began working with horn arranger Todd M. Simon, and the Keystones expanded into a larger ensemble. Their debut album, Wildflowers, was released on Now-Again in 2004 and featured musicians connected with groups including Funk Inc., The Poets of Rhythm and L.A. Carnival. The album combined raw funk and soul with jazz, psychedelic sounds and cinematic influences. The track “Double Dutch” was subsequently sampled by Slum Village and DJ Dez.
The group followed with the Sticks & Stones EP in 2005 before moving to Ubiquity Records for Tell Me Something in 2008. The album brought a stronger hip hop element to their sound, featuring appearances from Percee P, Ohmega Watts, Wildchild, Soup and Marc 7 of Jurassic 5, Aloe Blacc, Blood of Abraham and Myka Nyne.
Between 2007 and 2009, Connie Price & The Keystones became one of the principal backing bands for Scion's Live Metro series, performing with artists including Big Daddy Kane, EPMD, Slick Rick, The Beatnuts, Redman, M.O.P., Brand Nubian, De La Soul and Too $hort. The relationship with Big Daddy Kane developed further, with the Keystones becoming his regular backing band from 2008 to 2012.
The group's third full-length album, Lucas High, appeared in 2019. Named after session musician Doug Lucas, the album combined original Keystones recordings with samples from Lucas's work and featured a large cast of hip hop and soul artists, including Macy Gray, Brand Nubian, The Pharcyde, Big Daddy Kane, Rapsody, Lady of Rage, Talib Kweli, Brother J of X-Clan, M.O.P. and Guilty Simpson.
Connie Price & The Keystones have also released a series of later 7-inch recordings, including collaborations connected with New Orleans funk, which were subsequently collected on Uptown Rulers: The NOLA Breaks Singles. Their music has appeared in films, television programmes and video games, including DJ Hero and NBA Street 4, and their recordings have been sampled by artists including Slum Village, Oh No, Guilty Simpson and Lily Allen.
With their combination of raw funk, soul, jazz, cinematic music, psychedelic sounds and hip hop, Connie Price & The Keystones occupy an interesting position between the Los Angeles funk revival and the hip hop production tradition, with their extensive catalogue of 7-inch releases making them particularly relevant to DJs and crate diggers.
