Rhythm Real is the brainchild of Los Angeles drummer, bandleader, and music educator Dean Mucetti. Dean formed the band in August of 2015 as a type of workshop ensemble in order to create a way for a couple of his former middle school music students to gain playing experience after graduating. Since then, Dean Mucetti & Rhythm Real has been bringing together the talents of younger players with more experienced musicians in order to facilitate a collaborative meeting of diverse socioeconomic, cultural, and generational backgrounds. Dean would soon invite friends from his college days at the California Institute of the Arts and other musicians he knew in hopes of finding a creative meeting point between the variables of experiences. A consistency with this process of engagement over time eventually resulted in the band playing some of L.A.’s most coveted clubs such as the Baked Potato in Studio City, the Blue Whale in Little Tokyo, the World Stage in Leimert Park, and Catalina Bar & Grill in Hollywood.

       The music itself began as a composite type of sound where the James Brown funk of Clyde Stubblefield, Bootsy Collins, and Jimmy Nolen was combined with the spontaneous music tradition of Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, and John Coltrane. Along with these luminaries as inspiration, Dean was also conceptually influenced by the work of modern day musician-composers such as Henry Threadgill, Steve Coleman, and Tyshwan Sorey. These influences were filtered through the band's particular methods of study, practice, and development during rehearsals one to two times a week, a schedule which has continued on for most of the band’s existence starting seven years ago.