Shovaly has spent over two decades playing guitar, and his individual style draws on his life journey: family ties to the Middle East, African music learned as lead guitarist of the Afrobeat band Kumasi, and jazz as the idiom that ties it all together. The 'Plus' in his band's name stands for the rotating cast of projects, styles, and musicians he works with — from organ-trio-plus-horns lineups to intimate solo guitar sets.
Or Shovaly Plus plays original compositions, funky grooves, and classic jazz standards reworked with oriental and hip-hop motifs, inspired by Galactic, Soulive, Grant Green, Miles Davis, and Avishai Cohen. The band released its debut EP, Live at the New Orleans Jazz Museum, in 2022, and its single 'Take It Easy' in 2023 — mixed and mastered by Soulive drummer Alan Evans — and was featured in the August 2023 edition of OffBeat.
Beyond his own band, Shovaly is the lead guitarist of Kumasi, appearing on their albums Togetherness (2015), Akoben (2018), and Live at the Marigny Studios (2021). He plays regularly around New Orleans — the Jazz Museum, House of Blues, Frenchmen Street, the Four Seasons' Chandelier Bar — and appeared at the 2022 NOLAxNOLA Music Festival.
