Having in the past supported the likes of Roy Ayers, Fred Wesley, Gil Scott Heron, Don Blackman and James Brown (playing bass in the funk band the Big Cheese Allstars), it’s no wonder that 6 foot 8" Englishman Charlie Tate´s music sounds the way it does. A move to Oakland, California, in Oct ‘02, the purchase of copious amounts of second hand jazz and COLOSSUS was born! Created as a complete album including the original version for the jazz lovers and a completely remixed version for the hip hop heads, on listening, it’s pretty self evident where "West Oaktown" is coming from….hip hop but with a hefty dose of jazz, funk and soul…...and as far as influences go …the opening paragraph pretty much says it all!