The selections you wrote down for our “Record Collection” feature series, weeks ago, show how eclectic your tastes are. Would you like to tell us a bit of your musical background and the beginnings of your career?
I grew up listening to a lot of Miles Davis, Oscar Peterson, and Motown in my parents home. When I began to develop my own tastes I fell in love with grunge and hip-hop in the 90’s. But as a musician I was classically trained and excelled in orchestra, as well as jazz band, so all of those elements have combined to make the sound you hear today.
How the bass and the jazz music in particular entered in your life?
I started playing upright bass when I was 13 because it was the only instrument you didn’t have to take home with you from school. (laughs) I was being a lazy teenager, but the moment I put it in my hands and played the first note I fell in love, and it immediately became my life’s passion. I began playing jazz because I wanted to play my mothers favorite songs for her. I first learned how to play All Blues from Miles Davis’ “Kind of Blue” album, and continued to learn songs that made her smile. After hearing Ray Brown in the Oscar Peterson Trio, I knew I wanted to emulate him until I could find my own sound.
Which role LA played in your evolution as a musician? By the lyrics of L.A. Won´t Bring You Down one can tell you have mixed feelings, a sort of love/hate relationship maybe, with your hometown.
I love Los Angeles and I definitely don’t have any mixed emotions about that. L.A. Won’t Bring you Down is written to all the wonderful people who live here from around the world that sometimes find that their dreams are harder to achieve than they thought. It is meant to lift their spirits. What I love most about L.A. is that every element of the human experience can be experienced here, except snow. It has beautiful beaches, so that you can stay grounded by nature, it has busy city structures, so you can work hard and become whatever you wish; and it has Hollywood in the center of it, where dreams and fantasy are always on display. It is a city filled with possibility and potential. I’ve lived in many different parts of Los Angeles, it’s a very large city, some of it has gangs and poverty and some of it is luxurious. Being around that kind of diversification as a young musician makes the art you create sound very eclectic.
Can you tell us something about your work as a session-man for musical legends like Joni Mitchell or (since our readers are very much into hip hop) young masters of the genre as Kendrick Lamar and your work on “To Pimp…” in particular?
I’ve been very fortunate to work with a lot of incredibly talented artists, legends even. I was the musical director for Ms. Lauryn Hill for a while, and even got to work with Mos Def, Common, and Chris Cornell. In those situations, I immediately turn into a student. Paying attention to everything they do and trying to learn from them as gently as possible, so as not to encroach on the job at hand. On Kendrick’s “To Pimp A Butterfly”, I was brought in later in the process to play upright bass on a couple of songs that Kamasi Washington and Terrace Martin were working on. All of the sessions were intense, and focused. No joking around. You could tell that everyone was bringing all of their energy to the album, and wanted to do something unique. I’m honored to have been a part of such a landmark album. It really helped to shine the light back on Los Angeles and gave Kamasi’s “The Epic” and my album “UPRISING” a chance to reach a wider audience, the kind of audience we are accustomed to performing in front of each night in LA, but now on a global scale.
How did you meet Kamasi Washington and started working together?
Kamasi and I first met in our High School Jazz Band. We weren’t friends at first because he was really into modal music, and I was into rock and west coast jazz. We were always grouped together because we were really focused and serious young men, who shared a passion for jazz, but it wasn’t until we both went to UCLA that we became really close friends. I think from University forward we’ve have always played each others music, and helped each other grow as artists. We also play a lot of video games together; it’s how we express our competitive sides. On stage we act as one brain, but with video games we compete like brothers.
Can you tell us something about the history of the West Coast Get Down, the musical collective the both of you founded together?
The WCGD is a band of brothers that have all known each other for 25 plus years. We all grew up in Los Angeles and went to school together. Because of a lot of third-party music education programs that were brought to the schools by Bob Brodhead and Barbara Sealy (now our managers) we were constantly brought together for live performances. Each of us learned about music, and how to play it together, simultaneously. I gave us the name West Coast Get Down when we were performing a residency in Hollywood. The name stuck and we’ve used it ever since. The kind of bond we have is unique, and is rarely captured the way we did when we made all of those albums. I feel very fortunate to be such good friends with such amazingly talented musicians like Tony Austin, Cameron Graves, Ryan Porter, and Kamasi Washington.
Can you tell us something about the making of “Uprising” and the circumstances in which the album was produced, as we know, out of the same sessions that gave birth to “The Epic” too?
Uprising began at Tony Austin’s studio. He and I co-produced the album with Barbara Sealy. We knew we wanted to make a really intimate album, something the felt huge, but very close and visceral. As we moved along, other members of the WCGD decided they wanted to make their albums as well. It was at that point that, as a group, we decided to go into the studio together. Barbara Sealy, Tony Austin, Kamasi Washington and I all organized these massive sessions in which 170 songs were recorded in 30 days. It took a lot of work and concentration, but in the end we accomplished something that felt like a landmark in our lives. “UPRISING” was a very methodical album, and we took care to ensure that it sounded natural and emotional, and that the message of the songs came through clearly.
Talking about your lyrics again, and in particular about the Sky High ones: there is a constant sense of defiance, the will to redraft and redress things in your words. What do you think about it?
Sky High is a song that focuses on the moment in a life where you realize that your physical ability, and your mental ability have met in the middle. As you get older your body begins to give up, but your mind gets stronger. There’s a moment where they are both at a positive median. I feel like I have had a fair amount of experiences in life, I’ve experienced hurt and turmoil, as well as great joy and love. Mentally I’m in a strong place. The upright bass is a very physical instrument. My body is well equipped to handle the tortures of that instrument, but the speed at which I play, the intensity that I bring to the instrument can’t last forever, it’s physically impossible. This realization brought up an emotion in me that I think many people feel, and don’t know how to express. To be present in the moment, to recognize that you are in your prime, and to make the best of it is an act of realization. To command those abilities for a lifetime is an act of defiance toward nature itself.
Your lyrics seem expecially crucial when we look at the state of the political situation in the U.S.A. What´s your opinion about the recent events and the growing discontent and protests?
I support the act of protest no matter what side of the political spectrum you are aligned. I think it is important that people express how they feel, and discuss their ideas publicly. We are fortunate to live in a time where there are a great many ways, available to us all, through which we can express our concerns. The U.S.A. is going through a political awakening and it is exciting to see people standing up for what they believe in. Sometimes it takes the shock of an election, or the right kind of protest subject matter, to spark people’s involvement. Luckily, as an artist, I have music. I am able to express my emotions every time I write a song, or stand on a stage and perform. Art is its own form of protest, and is so important for the emotional stability of a society. I think we will all learn a lot about each other in the coming years.
Your plans for 2017? Will you play in Europe and maybe in Italy too?
I plan on bringing the WCGD all over the world, especially Europe in support of UPRISING. Italy has always been so kind to us. It is one of my favorite cultures in the world. I hope to perform there many times this year, and in the future.
