Chocolate Genius

Chocolates Genius, known alternately as Chocolates Genius Inc., may be the brainchild of Marc Anthony Thompson, an eclectic vocalist and songwriter whose function has encompassed modern types of R&B, jazz, folk, and rock and roll. Thompson was created in Panama, elevated in California, and later on moved to NY, where he became mixed up in downtown avant-garde picture. When his early single career, including the Warner-distributed albums Marc Anthony Thompson (1984) and W & Paris (1989), strike a lifeless end, Thompson produced that downtown picture his center point, most notably documenting with guitarist Marc Ribot in the middle-’90s. Thompson conceived Chocolates Genius partially as a tale — the alias of the imaginary, self-important recluse — nonetheless it soon converted into a full-fledged documenting project. Two appropriate Chocolates Genius albums, Dark Music (1998) and Godmusic (2001), had been released around the Richard Branson-founded V2 label. The loose, free-floating collective of instrumentalists who backed Thompson included Ribot, Jane Scarpantoni, John Medeski, Chris Wood, Chris Whitley, and Vernon Reid, amongst others. Thompson and his affiliates then passed Chocolates Genius Inc. for Dark Yankee Rock and roll (2005), Swansongs (2010), and Truth vs. Beauty (2016), mainly low-key and atmospheric functions for smaller brands. Thompson’s activity between produces included studio use Lizz Wright and touring as an associate of Bruce Springsteen’s Seeger Classes Band.