December 9, 2025 • 65 mins
Nate Smith, the GRAMMY-nominated drummer, composer, and producer, joins Norah in the studio for a conversation about how he got his start, navigating the art of self-promotion in the modern age, and his connection with some of his collaborators. The episode is full of music, including a special drum solo, and an impromptu jam.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, I'm Norah Jones and today I'm playing along with
Nate Smith.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
I'm just playing long.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
We.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Am just playing lone Weezy.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Hey, I'm Nora, and thanks for joining us on the
Playing Along podcast with me as always. Sitting here in
front of me in a lovely orange sweater is Sarah Oda. Thanks,
It's actually Cherry Redd.
Speaker 4 (00:29):
Oh.
Speaker 5 (00:33):
Our guest today is the Grammy nominated drummer, composer, and
producer Nate Smith. His drumming style runs itself to a
broad range of music, so he's collaborated with several artists
including Brittany Howard, The Fearless Flyers, Childish Gambino, Yeba, Robbie Coltrane,
Pat Metheny, and one Miss Norah Jones.
Speaker 6 (00:55):
Hi.
Speaker 7 (00:57):
He also co wrote and co produced Heaven Can Wait
for Michael Jackson's two thousand and one invincible album, Oh Wow.
He's also released two masterful solo drum albums and has
a very popular YouTube channel, oh It's very popular with performances, interviews,
and more so be sure to check that out. And
his latest album, Live Action, just came out in August
(01:18):
of twenty twenty five.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
We had a lot of fun. I love him.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
He's a great, great, incredible drummer, fun person to play with.
This was really special. I hope you enjoy it. Here
we go with Nate Smith. We just play a little groove,
do something that's our sound check.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Nice, nice, nice man, that's good.
Speaker 6 (03:02):
Good.
Speaker 4 (03:03):
Oh, it's so great to hear you play.
Speaker 8 (03:06):
Yay.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Yes, When did we do that recording session? That was
twenty nineteen.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Yeah, I feel like the record came out in twenty twenty.
Speaker 4 (03:16):
Yeah it did. Yeah, right right in the middle of it.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
Yep, right in the middle smackdap. I just moved to Nashville,
and I remember receiving a package.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Oh yeah, I was very, very exciting, and you did
a little home video for the.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
That's right for a video for me. I remember setting
it up at the crib. I had had the phone
set up and I sat. I had my one snare drum.
I didn't even have a kick drum in the shot.
I had a snare drum. Yeah, And I set up
and just played and I hoped that I wasn't disturbing
my neighbors.
Speaker 4 (03:47):
Oh man, thanks for doing that.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Oh for sure, for sure. It was fun. I will
say we couldn't do it together.
Speaker 4 (03:52):
I was too. It would have been fun.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
Yeah, yeah, because we had a good time at the session.
Did we do two or three songs?
Speaker 1 (03:57):
That we did a few songs, but that's the only
one that ever got released that was with Jesse Murphy.
Jesse Murphy, Yeah, and that was the song was to
live jam.
Speaker 4 (04:08):
Yeah, you want to.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
Play it, Let's play it?
Speaker 4 (04:10):
Yeah, why not? We're here, let's kidd it all right.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Then we're gonna dive into some of your music, yes,
which I've been practicing, which is much harder.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Okay, okay.
Speaker 9 (04:26):
What two threelish.
Speaker 8 (04:58):
And fine be free is wather I was after?
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Don't change older than me?
Speaker 10 (05:10):
Evelove is the answer in front of my face. I
and this morning and find watching the places.
Speaker 11 (05:32):
These cracks in my heart can't be filled you smell.
Speaker 8 (05:40):
Can't find or use all the time that I spare.
Speaker 10 (05:48):
I want laughing color, to breathe outside the line, to
believe in this moment.
Speaker 12 (06:00):
Vampy Simbama, who said all those things to make you
(06:32):
go and hide so stuck an yokey that you came
from outside, Please throw down the dumbness as best as
you can.
Speaker 8 (06:50):
Badly leave this boy. I'll be jamma.
Speaker 10 (06:58):
To ly in this spot and fatly free.
Speaker 8 (07:07):
There's what ho was after bat change b evelove is
the answer in.
Speaker 10 (07:19):
FLNT the merphant hardy name this spy and Finn much.
Speaker 8 (07:30):
Is badly in this moment and.
Speaker 10 (07:35):
Fat face had loved in this moment and for much.
Speaker 4 (08:45):
Nice.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Oh yes, oh, it's so fun to play with you.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
No, thank you so much.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
That's great. Take my phones off the time.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Oh, yes, you have such a great groove.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
I mean, of course, thank you, thank you so much.
I mean you too. You know, it's playing time on piano,
like rhythmic piano is a thing, and and also the
way you comp for yourself too, that's a that's a
that's an that's a layer. You know that. Not a
lot of people who singing play piano have that, so
(09:20):
you definitely have it.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
Oh, thank you.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
I've definitely gotten better at it over the years, you know,
like I feel like I'm I feel like I'm right
now in the groove of of my thing.
Speaker 4 (09:30):
Yes, more than ever.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
Yes, you sound like it's so nice.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Isn't it so nice to have a job where you
just constantly feel like you're getting better at Yeah?
Speaker 3 (09:39):
Yeah, I mean even there there are sometimes when I
feel like I'll play a gig and I'll think, you know, man,
do that sound good?
Speaker 4 (09:45):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (09:45):
And especially now within the internet age where your your
gigs are played back to you. Oh gosh, people are
always out with this fan with the phone you listen
back to how did I actually sound?
Speaker 13 (09:57):
You know?
Speaker 3 (09:58):
But you know, overall, I I got to say, you know,
I feel kind of in the same way. I feel
like I'm settling into a groove too, like really settling
into my thing, which I feel like took me a
while to kind of find, you know.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
Yeah, I mean I don't think most people are twenty
years old knowing what their thing is.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Yeah, for sure, for sure, And I'm still finding it
at forty nine. Yeah, you know, in three days, forty.
Speaker 4 (10:22):
Nine, Happy advanced birthday.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
Thank you, thank you very much. I edge in the house.
Speaker 4 (10:27):
I feel nice.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
I think that's part of that's part of the joy
of this sort of era of our lives.
Speaker 4 (10:35):
I'm in my forties too.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
Yeah, I feel really really alive musically more than ever.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
I feel like in my twenties I was I was scared. Yeah,
I had a lot of things going on, but I
was unsure of a lot of it.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
You know, I feel like I always was trying to
prove or please you know. That's the other thing. Like
I was in a lot of situations where I was
trying to like be good enough, you know, And now
I kind of feel like I'm in a place where
I kind of know the things that I'm good at.
I know the things that I want to work on
(11:11):
for myself. But I kind of know, you know, if
people are calling me for something, I know what they're
calling for. And I feel like can walk into a
room with a lot more confidence about it, which you know,
it took a while to get that, but but I
feel like I'm settling into that kind of swag now,
you know, which feels really good, feels really great.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Yeah, you're in town. You were playing at the Blue
Note all week.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
I was at the Blue Note with the Fearless Flyers.
Played four nights, two shows a night.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
Okay, that's a lot. I just did the Blue Note
with Robert Clasper. I did five nights. Yes, doing two shows.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
A night is hard. It's hard, I mean because it's
too like full hour fifteen.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
Ish, right, yep. We did we averaged about I mean,
the second sets were always longer because we were you know,
we're loose, and the crowd is a little more loose.
Everybody has a little you know, they pre gaming with
the liquor, so everybody's a little bit more worked up.
So it feels real good. And so we would play
maybe sixty five minutes the first set and they would
turn the house over. And then sometimes the second set
(12:10):
would be like, you know, hour fifteen.
Speaker 4 (12:12):
Yeah, hour and a half, you know, okay, yeah, yeah,
we're going, we were going. Yeah, you must be exhausted.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
I am worn now.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
I couldn't believe how exhausting it was because not only
well doing two shows. I mean we're used to playing
in clubs back in the day, right where you do
two or three sets, but I feel like there's never
that much time in between. Yeah, and at the Blue Note,
it's about hour and.
Speaker 8 (12:34):
A half and a half.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
It's just enough time to get real sleepy, yeah exactly,
you know, and then you have to rev back up
for the people, you know, and you want to play
your best because you know, people pay their money, they
made plans, they hired the sitter that you know. But
just to let y'all know, it's not always as easy
as it looks it's not as easy.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
That's a hard gig, it is, but it's a great audience,
I feel like, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
And really a cool place. I mean, you know, they're
really nice to you. Yeah, they're nice.
Speaker 4 (13:02):
But it's tiny.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
It is, it is there's no real like hiding place.
You know, you're kind of like in it with the fans,
which I guess is part of the appeal of the
club too.
Speaker 4 (13:11):
Yeah, it's cool.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
Yeah. Did you ever do the Blue Note Cruise or
any of that stuff?
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Now?
Speaker 4 (13:15):
Have you?
Speaker 3 (13:15):
I did it. I did it twice.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
How long was it on a boat? Because that is
that freaks me out.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
Yeah, it was like five days.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
Okay, I could you get off at all?
Speaker 8 (13:25):
They docking?
Speaker 3 (13:26):
Yeah, they were docking. I feel like I don't think
I ever got off. I think I just stayed on. Really,
you know, I got to say it was the best
sleep I've had the rock I mean the Rocky I
was knocked all the way out. That's great, way down like,
but no, the Blue Note Cruise is kind of similar
because people are just there, the artists are just walking
at with them. You're on a boat with them, like
(13:47):
there's nowhere to go, you know. So yeah, you can
hang out in your cabin all day, but as soon
as you walk out, you're going to see people.
Speaker 4 (13:54):
Yeah, you know, that's part of the fun.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
People are mistaking me for you know, Hey, man, Kendrick,
I love you playing man. You're great. I was like, thanks,
I'll take it. People thinking I'm you know whoever? You know?
Speaker 4 (14:07):
Yeah, come on the name, Well.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
You know, maybe now, but I definitely got a couple
of Hey Brian Man, you did Brian Blade, Little Brian Blade.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
It's the glasses, the style.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
Yeah, so I don't and I don't mind either one.
I'll take all of All of them are compliments to
me because I love him brothers. So yeah, yeah, that's cool. Yep.
Speaker 4 (14:30):
And you're living in Nashville.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
No, well you moved. I moved. I just moved in January.
I moved to Virginia back home.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Nice.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
So my I'm from Chesapeake originally.
Speaker 4 (14:40):
How far is that from DC? I don't know Virginia
at all.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
Yeah, So Chesapeake is four hours by car southeast of DC,
well three and a half, so not really close, not
super close. Richmond is half that two hours away. That's
where I live from Richmond, Virginia.
Speaker 4 (14:54):
Nice.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
Yeah, and I lived there for like four years before
I moved to New York. So I was and I
went to grad school there. I'm born and raised in Virginia,
so I was there for my whole life until I
came to You were to grad school, Yeah, I did.
I started grad.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
School, Oh for music or for something else?
Speaker 3 (15:14):
No, I was music.
Speaker 4 (15:16):
Well I graduated, It's okay, Yeah, I graduated.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
In my book, I got the School of Hard Knocks degree,
the honorary. Oh yeah, yeah, No, I started. So I
went to James Madison University undergrad and I wasn't a
music major. I majored in media arts and design. Yeah.
Back in the day, they used to call it mass communication.
Speaker 4 (15:35):
What's media arts and design? Is that handy?
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Now?
Speaker 4 (15:37):
With social media?
Speaker 3 (15:38):
It kind of is. Actually, I end up using a
lot of the stuff I learned because it was you know,
we studied advertising, we studied like branding, we studied all
that stuff.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
Well, now you got to be your own pr person
as a musician, which is a whole other thing.
Speaker 4 (15:52):
Whole other it's a whole other brain type.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
Yes, right, yes, And you know, I feel like it
kind of worked out in my favor because some of
the ideas I still kind of go back to that
you know, introduction to mass communication class where the guy
was talking about how to reach an audience and how
to engage in audience. So it you know, it works,
and I've seen it work really great for some other musicians,
(16:16):
and I've paid attention to what they've done. Yeah, and
also I've seen it, you know, not work so great
for other.
Speaker 4 (16:21):
You know, so I'm but you're aware of that whole thing.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
I am.
Speaker 4 (16:24):
Yeah, And you've done some online videos that are pretty huge.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
Yeah, yeah, I mean social media was I mean, I
guess like everybody, I joined Facebook, I think two thousand
and nine. That was when you know, it was abroun
and then Instagram was a few few years later, like
twenty twelve. I feel like I got my first and
so I didn't really start posting videos of myself playing
(16:50):
drums until like maybe twenty fifteen, sixteen. But then once
I saw that the videos were resonating, then I was like, okay, well,
let me just keep posting stuff and I'll just you know.
And it was around the same time that I started Kenfolk,
and I was trying to make the record and trying
to sort of build an audience, and I was paying
attention to cats who were doing that, building their audience
(17:11):
online and hoping that you know, a fraction of that
audience would pay tickets, would buy tickets to come see
me play.
Speaker 4 (17:19):
And it worked.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
It worked.
Speaker 4 (17:20):
That's amazing.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
It's a slow burn, but it did work.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
That's I mean, that's how it is now, that's how
you have to do it.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
I think, yeah, for sure. I mean music, I think
now more than ever, music is almost a visual art
form now because we're thinking about, you know, like how
the you know, how we're branding our cover art and
our promo flyers and all that stuff. We're thinking about
it so much, you know. And I don't know if
(17:46):
that's necessarily a good or bad thing, but I do
think that the two way it is, it's just the
way it is. It's just the way it is. I mean,
you know, I don't know how I feel about streaming
and streaming good or bad, I don't know, but it is.
It is what it is. It's how yeah, right, I know,
But I don't know.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
As someone who sold a lot of records in the
early two thousand, I would say it's not great.
Speaker 4 (18:05):
I can dig it, but it's just the way it is.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
It's just the way it is.
Speaker 4 (18:08):
I mean, you can't.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
Yeah, the audience has made up its mind about how
people want to consume music.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
I mean that you definitely can reach so many more
people this way and streaming too.
Speaker 4 (18:20):
Yeah, and it's crazy though.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
It's like, I don't think a record label will even
look at anybody who doesn't have an online presence and
a lot of followers.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
Yeah, and it it It sucks because a lot of
great artists who really just want to make great music
aren't visible.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
And they're not they're not thinking about self promotion all
the time. You have to think about it, even if
you're not naturally inclined to or not.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
Yeah, it's it's because there's so much stuff and there
are so many people. You know, the idea of like
making yourself seen so you can be found, you know
what I mean, that's kind of the vibe is like,
you know, I want to just just see me do
my thing, see me sing or play my instrument or whatever,
(19:05):
and hopefully my audience, the people that it really resonates with,
will find me. It's just a new reality for artists.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
Well speak in of ken Folk. So that band started,
You started that band around twenty.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
Fifteen, twenty fourteen. Actually we played our no I'm sorry,
we played our first gig at Rockwood. Oh really yeah,
twenty thirteen.
Speaker 4 (19:24):
Oh cool.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
Labor Day weekend twenty thirteen was.
Speaker 4 (19:27):
John in the band John Coward.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
Yeah. So initially it was Jalil Shaw and saxophone, Fema
Efron on bass, Chris Bowers was playing piano at the time. Cool.
Jeremy most was playing guitar, and Alma What was singing
with us and she wrote all the lyrics to the
music too.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
Oh nice. Yeah, so she sings on this song that
we're gonna try.
Speaker 4 (19:49):
Yeah, this is her song in your song.
Speaker 3 (19:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
Yeah, it's called Morning and Allison. Is this from the
first album?
Speaker 3 (19:55):
It is?
Speaker 4 (19:55):
Okay, cool, all right, let's give it a go. Let's
give it a go.
Speaker 11 (20:29):
Sunday morning, she says to light, waking up, slowly.
Speaker 14 (20:42):
Open windows, Sunday night, feeling ay and blow.
Speaker 10 (20:55):
Mac tree line you loves me at the center a
home in Sinster.
Speaker 8 (21:07):
With the day breaks.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
Let it sped time.
Speaker 8 (21:12):
To len Oud.
Speaker 10 (21:20):
Say place spy with change.
Speaker 6 (21:27):
Is hi.
Speaker 11 (21:30):
Secle Sunday morning, she says to that, why came up?
(22:33):
Slowly open windows?
Speaker 4 (22:42):
Suny minds feeling the way blow.
Speaker 8 (22:53):
My Trea like you loves where the sydy uh huh
ins and style.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
What the Dame rates it's.
Speaker 8 (23:10):
Time two mm hmmm, said.
Speaker 7 (23:19):
Say l.
Speaker 10 (23:22):
Expine and say it's my mind.
Speaker 4 (23:51):
That's high.
Speaker 3 (23:52):
You you killed it, You killed it. Yes, that was beautiful,
Thank you, thank you. Shout out to Alma Work for
those lyrics.
Speaker 4 (23:59):
Yes, they're great. Yeah, and yeah it was cool playing
it too.
Speaker 15 (24:05):
I never played songs like this right right, Yeah, it's
like you know kind of, I mean, I guess the
mixed meter sort of it's like, yeah, six four four
four thing.
Speaker 4 (24:15):
But I didn't think about that at all.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
You sent me that chart, which was super helpful for
the chords, but I didn't look at the time signatures
because I felt like just feeling it was easier.
Speaker 3 (24:25):
That's the that to me, that's the greatest sort of
I mean, that's kind of the intention is like, even
if you're writing in mixed meter stuff, it should feel
as none. Yeah, I don't know, it should just feel natural.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
You shouldn't feel like you're counting. Yes, yeah, it definitely doesn't.
It feels so good.
Speaker 3 (24:45):
Yea.
Speaker 4 (24:46):
So it was six and then.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
Four yeah, one two three four one oh yeah, right right,
as soon as you count, it's like oh no, yeah, yeah,
it's just.
Speaker 4 (24:59):
Yeah the end, and in me is like, okay, I
know how it is, but I don't do a lot
of mixed meters.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
Yeah, no, no, it's kind of a thing. It's like
one of those I kind of have always heard music
in that way, either like three bar phrases or mixed
meter stuff or maybe odd meter stuff, but in a
way that kind of feels like still has a little
dance to it.
Speaker 4 (25:20):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it feels natural. Yeah, if you can't dance.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
To it, I mean, no, that's the vibe I mean.
And I played with you know, New York taught me
a lot. Man. I played with a lot of musicians
who excuse me with overwrite or sort of overthink in
my opinion, like it was kind of like, you know,
the music was hard just to be hard, you know.
Speaker 4 (25:42):
I hate that.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
Yeah, and it's just I you know, and there were
so many things to remember and so many booby traps
written into the music that it was like it was
almost impossible to play it. It was like you know,
I mean you if you shed it long enough, everything's
hard until you learn it.
Speaker 4 (25:57):
Yeah, like a language's a language.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
It's like a language, you know. But I felt sometimes
the intention of the writing was to like trip up people,
or trip up musicians, or or impress.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
Other musicians impressed especially I think, yeah, yeah, and when
you can't turn your brain off and just go in
the flow state, Yeah, it's not as good.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
It's not as good. It's not as good. I mean
it has to be for some I don't know. For me,
I feel like music should be enjoyable, you know what
I mean, I think it should be.
Speaker 4 (26:23):
Yeah, I agree, Yeah, I feel like different strokes different.
Speaker 3 (26:26):
You know. Some people want to like show up and like,
you know, like kind of solve a math problem. You know.
Speaker 4 (26:31):
It's like, that's true. I'm not one of those people.
Speaker 3 (26:33):
Me neither. Me neither. Even though the music has some
hiccups in it, I'm not thinking like that.
Speaker 4 (26:40):
What did you go up listening to?
Speaker 6 (26:42):
Like?
Speaker 4 (26:42):
Where does all this come from?
Speaker 3 (26:44):
So my dad's record collection is where it starts for me.
Both of my folks were teachers, my mom to our
third grade and my dad was a high school principal. Amazing, Yeah,
And so they worked hard all all, you know, all
week and the weekend was really the time to sort
of hang out and celebrate. So all their friends would
(27:05):
come over and Dad would put on records and at
the time, it was sort of like the golden age
of like instrumental R and B. So it was like
David Sanborn, Bob James, Quincy Jones, Herbie Hancock. You know,
those are the records that were in the house, George Duke,
that's so cool. Yeah. Yeah, and they were, you know,
cranking it. They were playing it, you know, and Off
(27:26):
the Earth, Wind to Fire and Michael Jackson, all the
big stars too. But the stuff that was really in
the house that he was playing on a regular basis
was that he kind of really dug that music. There
was something in it that resonated with him. So I just,
you know, kind of soaked it all up. And you know,
this My journey with the drums sort of began with
my brother. My older brother has had a drum kit
(27:49):
and he played a little bit in high school. He's
ten years older than me, so when he went away
to college, so there's two older than him.
Speaker 4 (27:56):
Oh wow.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
So I have a half brother who's fourteen years older
than me. I have a sister who's twelve years old
than me. Then my brother and then your ten years
ten years. Yeah, that's a lot. Yeah, I was. I
was definitely a surprise. That was different. I just showed up.
They thought they were done. But yeah, my bro he
went away to school and he went away to college,
(28:18):
and his drums were still in the house. So I
just one day decided to sort of set the drums
up and see what I could do with them. And
this was around the time I started playing in school too,
like concert band, you know, like middle school middle school, Yeah,
like fifth grade, so playing like snare drum and you know,
glockenspiel and you know, So that all kind of happened
(28:38):
concurrently for me, the drum set and high school band,
in middle school band.
Speaker 4 (28:43):
Okay, were you on the drum line?
Speaker 7 (28:45):
I was.
Speaker 3 (28:46):
I was a marching band geek.
Speaker 4 (28:47):
I'm obsessed with the drum line. Oh my god, best
feeling in the world.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
Yes, to just see it and feel it, Yes, yes,
it is incredible. I was so like drum Court International.
I was like watching those competitions. I was writing my
own drum line stuff here. Yeah. Yeah, I was really
into it. I was a complete percussion ensemble.
Speaker 4 (29:07):
That's amazing.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
Marching band nerd Yeah.
Speaker 4 (29:09):
I did marching band for one year and I was
all in.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
I played saxophone, saxophone, yeah, yes, yeah, I was always
looking at the drummers.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
It's a vibe, man, because you know, not only the
sort of you know, the rudimental and rudimentary dexterity and
all the stuff that the gods were doing, but also
the visual things that drummers were doing.
Speaker 4 (29:26):
Yeah, it's so cool.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
It was really cool to watch, and so I just
got it way into it, got absorbed by it, shed
it all the time, and would try to like play
some of that stuff on the drum set too. And
that's kind of the sort of beginning. So marching band
and stuff during the day, and then at night I
come home and listen to like Sting or Prince or
Peter Gabriel or whatever. Yeah, and it was like that
(29:48):
was my life.
Speaker 4 (29:49):
You know, that's so cool. Yeah, were you into jazz
at that time?
Speaker 3 (29:52):
Jazz kind of came later. So my senior year in
high school, I discovered an art blaky record called Album
of the Year came out, and I think.
Speaker 4 (30:01):
It's the best title of any album.
Speaker 3 (30:03):
I love it. I love it, I love it. The
band was I think it was Winton, Bill Pierce, Bobby Watson,
and I think Charles from Bro Bass. But but that
was the band and it was like it blew me away.
And this was near the end. I think this was
(30:23):
like Art Blake. He had kind of lost most of
his hearing by this time or he had, you know,
so that the time wasn't quite as like rock solid
as the older records, but he still had that riot symbol,
he still had that press role, you know, and I
was just captivated. But I was just like, what is
this sorcery that I've never heard before.
Speaker 4 (30:43):
That's the best feeling in the world. It really was
discovered something.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
Yeah, yeah, I listened to that album. I mean hundreds
of times. I wore my poor dad, I know, he
was so tied. Yeah, put on some George Dude, what
are you doing? But that was like the gateway, yeah,
you know. And then then later, you know, I discovered Miles,
(31:08):
which you know, by extension, I discovered Jimmy Cobb and
Tony Williams and you know, then discovered Train and I
discovered Elvin, you know, and Elvin was another one that
was like I didn't know you could do that, you know,
just watch I saw videos of him playing too, like
old videos, and I was just like, what is he doing?
How is he doing it? So, you know, it was
it was like magic, you know. Yeah, so that was
(31:32):
the beginning of So this is like senior year in
high school, freshman year in college, sophomore year in college.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
Yeah, and you were studying media. But were you playing
in bands already? All the bands and you're playing in
every band.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
I just I wanted to play in every band. It
was like I played in the small group of the
school small group, the school big band.
Speaker 4 (31:51):
So you played in school too, you were doing music
in school as well.
Speaker 3 (31:54):
Yeah, yeah, I was doing I mean I wasn't a
music major, but I was playing in all the bands,
you know, And and that was like I started as
a music major. Then I realized that I kind of
wanted to learn more about like the studio and more
about just a different side of the of the business.
So that's when media. Yeah, I just wanted to learn
a little more of it of just just not like
sticking to sort of the rigid like I mean, theory
(32:17):
and ear training have definitely come in handy too, but
I wanted to learn more about like the outside.
Speaker 4 (32:22):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're already playing.
Speaker 3 (32:24):
I was already playing. Yeah, you know, uh yeah, So
that was that was the beginning of my journey with jazz,
yeah and everything and everything. Yeah yeah, drum card, drum quote?
Speaker 7 (32:34):
Is it?
Speaker 3 (32:35):
Yeah? Drum quote?
Speaker 7 (32:36):
Was it? I?
Speaker 3 (32:37):
And also between uh semesters in the summer I was working,
I had three jobs that kind of prepared me for
So my first two summers I worked at Paramounts Kings Dominion,
which is a theme park New Richmond, doing what I
played in a motown.
Speaker 4 (32:55):
Band, best practice in the world.
Speaker 3 (32:57):
It was awesome. It was awesome. It was just like
we played four shows a day. It was hot, four
shows a day in the sweltering heat, and we played
hits from the seventies, eighties, nineties, something like that. And
you know, I had to wear this ugly ass Hawaiian
shirt with like these white pants. It was just terrible.
(33:18):
It's terrible. There are there are pictures in video somewhere.
Oh god.
Speaker 4 (33:23):
But it was a great teacher.
Speaker 3 (33:24):
It was a great teacher, a great teacher. We played
a bunch of tunes, a bunch of different styles. Then
my third summer I worked at Disney Did in Florida
and also very hot. Yes, and we did another four
show a day, but we had guest artists every week.
Name yeah, yeah, that's so cool. We had Joe Williams
game one year, we had one one week we had
(33:46):
Ramsey Lewis there. We had Diane Reeves. She was she
was the game changer. Yeah, she was great. Yeah, and
yeah that was the it all kind of was sort
of preparing me. While I was there, I met Andre Hayward,
who was a trombonist, and he had just done jazz
Ahead with Betty Carter and he was like, you should
beat Betty. So he was how I met her and
(34:09):
started playing with her.
Speaker 4 (34:10):
Wow, that's amazing.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (34:12):
And did you and Chris Thomas overlap with Betty?
Speaker 3 (34:14):
No, I didn't know Chris. I didn't when I was
in the band. Curtis Lundy was her regular bass player
and he'd been with her for a long time.
Speaker 4 (34:22):
I love her so much.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
Yes, Yes, what a different I've kind of felt that
way when I got one of her albums.
Speaker 4 (34:28):
I was like, this is different.
Speaker 3 (34:29):
She's incredibly different. Yeah. Yeah, and I kind of feel like,
you know, she said this an interview. She was like
something to the effect of, you know, I'm the last
jazz singer or after me, there are no more jazz singers.
And I kind of got what she meant because of
the way that she would like stretch form and you know,
(34:50):
sort of elongate rhythm and just kind of this this
elasticity and her singing and her phrasing. But she was
always aware of where everything was. No, she wasn't willy nilly.
She was always she always knew. And I feel like
you can kind of look at like, Okay, well here's
here's a Cassandra Wilson and maybe even like a Gretchen
(35:11):
Parlatto or somebody like that. There's that kind of a thing.
I can kind of see a thread there, you know.
So she was she was very special.
Speaker 4 (35:18):
Yeah, that's so amazing.
Speaker 3 (35:19):
Play there, Yeah, not long, I mean the last couple
of years of her life. I played on and off
with her, all right, And I did Jazz Ahead with
her twice.
Speaker 4 (35:27):
I'm sorry, what is jazz Ahead?
Speaker 3 (35:28):
Oh right? So jazz Ahead? And this is actually a
good promo for Jazz Ahead because it's still happening. So
Jazz Ahead was a residency that Betty Carter started at
the time, I think it was here in New York
and she would bring a dozen or so musicians, maybe
a little more together and young musicians, and so she
(35:49):
would introduce them to each other and they would all
bring in their own compositions and rehearse for a week
together and learn each other's tunes, and then they played
two concerts at the end of the of the of
the week.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
That's so cool.
Speaker 3 (36:00):
It was incredible. It was really impressive.
Speaker 1 (36:02):
It's more interactive than just like mentoring. Yes, it's like
everybody gets to be themselves.
Speaker 3 (36:07):
Yeah, and build community. You know, I'm still cool with
people at jazz I met Jason Ran at Jazz Ahead.
I met Casey Benjamin at Jazz Ahead. You know, so
these are these are all great musicians who are still
kind of out here doing amazing things. You know.
Speaker 4 (36:19):
That's amazing. Yeah, and she started it.
Speaker 3 (36:21):
She started it. Yeah, that's so great, and she so
we did. The first year I did it was nineteen
ninety six, and then the second year I did it,
it was April of ninety eight, and it had moved
to the Kennedy Center where it still is, and that
night they announced that they were going to keep doing
Jazz Ahead. You know, we're going to start Jazz Ahead
here at the Kennedy Center. She was so happy and
(36:42):
then sadly she passed away like I think four or
five months later, like September. Yeah, but she knew it
was going to she knew it was going to keep doing. Yeah,
it's great, it's great. So Jazz Ahead was really really
good to me. And it also exposed me to musicians
my age who were playing at a super high level.
And I hadn't really seen that.
Speaker 4 (37:02):
Who are touring you know, Yeah, this is before you
moved to New.
Speaker 3 (37:04):
York, before I moved way before.
Speaker 4 (37:06):
Yeah, so yeah, you weren't in a big hub of that.
Speaker 3 (37:08):
No, I wasn't. I had kind of been sort of
in the Virginia kind of bubble, and coming there, I
was like, Wow, this number one, it makes you want
to get better. And then number two it's like, you know,
you can you actually see that it's possible to do it, you.
Speaker 4 (37:23):
Know, And it also makes you better, Yes, playing with
musicians who are better.
Speaker 3 (37:28):
Yes, it makes you better. And that's that's the mantra
of my life. Actually, that's why BA makes me better,
and Brian Blade makes everybody better. He's he's just he's
the greatest. He's the greatest. But Yeah, that was That
was jazz ahead and that was my my time with Betty.
Speaker 4 (37:45):
That's amazing.
Speaker 3 (37:45):
Yeah, yeah, she was so important.
Speaker 4 (37:49):
You play with a lot of singers and you play
with Brittany Howard.
Speaker 3 (37:52):
Brittany Howard who I love she is.
Speaker 4 (37:54):
She's like another unique, wonderful voice, one of one of one.
Speaker 2 (38:00):
Yeah, She's just so.
Speaker 3 (38:01):
She's a very special person.
Speaker 4 (38:03):
She's great always.
Speaker 3 (38:04):
Yeah, yeah, she really is. We we before I met her.
The year before I met her, I feel like I
played the second Alabama Shake's album, Sound in Color. I
feel like, no, I didn't play on it. I just played.
I was listening to it for like a year, like
every day for a year. So somewhere in my mind,
I feel like I summoned Brittany Howard. I was like
(38:26):
reaching out to her.
Speaker 4 (38:28):
I believe that stuff.
Speaker 3 (38:29):
Yeah, yeah, I really. I was just like, you know,
she's so special. The band was great, you know, no,
no shaded all to the guys in the band, but
but Brittany was definitely the star, you know, of the
band and the creative force of it, you know. So
and then out of out of nowhere, I got an
email from her manager about playing with her.
Speaker 1 (38:50):
So I was was the first thing the album, Yeah, Jamie, Jamie,
which is such a great album.
Speaker 3 (38:55):
It's a dope, dope record.
Speaker 1 (38:57):
And I know how much she loves you too, because
I've seen talk about you and it's just such a
special connection.
Speaker 4 (39:03):
You guys have.
Speaker 3 (39:04):
It really is.
Speaker 4 (39:04):
She worships you. Yeah, she loves playing with you.
Speaker 3 (39:07):
It's yeah, it definitely goes both ways. I mean, I
think that she's a very special I mean I use
that word a lot, but she's just no, she is.
Speaker 4 (39:16):
She is you know, she's unique.
Speaker 3 (39:18):
She's unique. There's no one like her, you know, and
very few and in historically very few like her. You know,
like a woman of color standing in front of a
band with a guitar playing her ass off.
Speaker 4 (39:31):
He is a great guitar player.
Speaker 2 (39:32):
Yeah, yeah, you know.
Speaker 3 (39:33):
And so it's like it's that's She's Hailey's comic. Man.
She's very special.
Speaker 4 (39:38):
She also kind of has this the way she sings.
Speaker 1 (39:41):
She's got a really beautiful voice, but she just sings
with such conviction of what she's saying, and she's just
she's not precious about anything yet she has a beautiful voice.
So that's a really nice combo of like just badass or.
Speaker 3 (39:58):
Yeah, the ultimate bad assery. Yeah, she's fantastic, man, She's fantastic.
Speaker 16 (40:04):
And so she did.
Speaker 4 (40:05):
She did a song on your kin folk album.
Speaker 3 (40:06):
She did on the newer one, Yeah, the one that
came out. It came out twenty twenty one.
Speaker 4 (40:10):
Yeah, it's great.
Speaker 3 (40:11):
Oh thank you?
Speaker 4 (40:12):
Is that John Coward on.
Speaker 3 (40:13):
The piano, John Coward on piano.
Speaker 4 (40:15):
I could totally hear that.
Speaker 3 (40:16):
Yes, our man, our man, love John Johnny c Johnny
can do that's what we call him, can do well.
Speaker 4 (40:23):
Can we do a version of it?
Speaker 1 (40:24):
That's me not trying to be brittany, but yes, but
loving her very much.
Speaker 17 (40:30):
Gonna do my.
Speaker 4 (40:32):
My version of this song is it's beautiful.
Speaker 3 (40:35):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (40:36):
Did you guys write this together?
Speaker 3 (40:37):
We did. I'd written the melody. We've been playing it
as an instrumental for a little while, and then I
it was written in dedication to my dad, and I'm
not a lyricist, so I wanted to reach out to her.
I said, you know, would you consider writing some lyrics?
And she was like sure. She did send it to me,
and I sent it to her and she the text
threat is very funny of the ideas that we're going
(40:57):
back and forth. She just kind of turned around super fast,
and she's and it's it's brilliant.
Speaker 4 (41:04):
That's great. It's a really beautiful sentiment.
Speaker 3 (41:08):
Thank you. Yeah, yeah, you know for pop yeah.
Speaker 6 (41:29):
Mm hmmm.
Speaker 17 (41:39):
On a fly away, Fly to a place I have
never known.
Speaker 2 (41:51):
On the behind me, nothing can bring me down.
Speaker 13 (41:57):
When I get off the ground, I have no fee
at all. I forget that I could ever fall.
Speaker 1 (42:14):
I want to go.
Speaker 17 (42:17):
When no one can keep me bound.
Speaker 2 (42:21):
When I get off bread, no more will ouh way.
Speaker 17 (42:32):
I have no means in words.
Speaker 6 (42:36):
Hmm.
Speaker 18 (42:39):
If you could see me fly, its smell.
Speaker 6 (42:46):
With you.
Speaker 2 (42:51):
I want to fly.
Speaker 18 (42:52):
Away where we could all be together.
Speaker 2 (43:02):
I want to feel that can.
Speaker 6 (43:06):
You get.
Speaker 18 (43:09):
Besides no nor.
Speaker 6 (44:02):
Will a way?
Speaker 17 (44:07):
I have no means and why.
Speaker 8 (44:13):
If you could see.
Speaker 2 (44:15):
And fly you smile.
Speaker 17 (44:20):
Then I want to fly away.
Speaker 14 (44:30):
Where we get all me together. I want to feel
that kind of wall you gain besides.
Speaker 8 (44:44):
The sun, I'm gonna fly away. I can see the
end of the Runwaydow.
Speaker 18 (44:59):
Won't look behind me.
Speaker 17 (45:01):
Nothing can keep me down.
Speaker 18 (45:04):
Now that I'm on.
Speaker 2 (45:07):
Grass, It'll be nothing but blueskin now.
Speaker 6 (45:17):
That I'm all.
Speaker 3 (45:20):
Gros love it.
Speaker 4 (45:37):
Yeah, beaut It's a beautiful song.
Speaker 3 (45:39):
Thank you, thank you, very much.
Speaker 4 (45:41):
Started crying a little bit.
Speaker 3 (45:44):
Thank you. Yeah, that's that's a that's a special one.
Speaker 8 (45:47):
Yeah you day.
Speaker 3 (45:48):
Yeah, it's real sweet. I've been thinking about him a
lot as I get a little older, you know, I
keep you know, every day since since he's been he
passed away in twenty fifteen. Okay, so since he's been
on I've thought a lot of thought about him a lot,
I bet. Yeah. And I see him now, like I
look in the mirror. I'm like, oh, okay, well, oh man,
(46:11):
it's like he's oh, he's right there, right there. You know.
Speaker 4 (46:14):
That's amazing.
Speaker 1 (46:17):
With two teacher parents, well, principal and a teacher, did
you guys do a lot of vacations on the school
breaks or something?
Speaker 3 (46:25):
We did. We didn't go too far. We would go
visit family mostly so my mom is from Salem, Virginia,
which is western Virginia, so it's heading toward like the
Virginia West Virginia border, so that you know, and so
she her people are out there. We would go visit
my grandmother out there, and we would stay for a
(46:48):
good chunk of the summer out there. Those are great summers.
Speaker 7 (46:51):
Man.
Speaker 3 (46:51):
And my dad, his family was close by to where
we lived. So yeah, Grandma and Grandad and they were
right there, so we saw them regularly. Okay, so going
to see Grandma Irene was like a special it was
a special trip. Yeah, yeah, and it was it was cool.
I really really love those those summers. We had a
really good time. I had a bunch of cousins up
there too, so we would all. You know, it was
(47:12):
like those were my uh those were actually like like
my my sibling group there, you.
Speaker 4 (47:17):
Know, because we were your siblings were so much older.
Speaker 3 (47:19):
They were so much older. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (47:21):
Yeah, so it was cool.
Speaker 3 (47:22):
Yeah, I kind of had like slightly sort of old
only child vibes in the house.
Speaker 4 (47:26):
Yeah, it makes sense.
Speaker 1 (47:27):
Yeah, you know, well that's why you named your album
kin Folk maybe because your family is pretty important.
Speaker 3 (47:33):
It's very important. And always looking for it too, like
always finding family, your friend family.
Speaker 4 (47:38):
Yeah, it's pretty special.
Speaker 1 (47:39):
It is. It's a nice community being a musician, it is,
and it's varied really, and it's all over the world,
all over the world.
Speaker 3 (47:48):
I mean, yeah, you know, I did this thing in
Montreal earlier this year, and it was I did three
nights and I got to do three different bands. So
the first night was uh, Leonel Lak and Michael League,
both of whom I've known for a while. And the
second night was Keifer of the pianist Keifer and this
basis cartoons. They're more they're younger guys and they're kind
(48:10):
of in this this hip hop jazz space, you know.
And the third night was with Corey Wong and Victor
Wooten Wo. So it was just a very rare, very varied,
like wide circle, but it felt great. All three nights
were great and just you know, reignited this this idea
for me that you know, the musical community, the extended family.
(48:34):
The family is so important. It's everything.
Speaker 4 (48:38):
Yeah, it's like a hu it is.
Speaker 3 (48:41):
Yeah, with kin Folk. The idea was that I came
to New York kind of on my own and didn't
really know that many people. I knew a few people,
but you know, and so the all the people that
are in the band are people that I feel like
I had some kind of familial connection with, you know, musically. Yeah,
So that that's why that's part of part of it.
Speaker 4 (49:03):
Yeah, that's the best it is with people who feel
like family.
Speaker 3 (49:07):
Yes, yes, And you know, over the years, as we've
you know, endured the slings and arrows of.
Speaker 4 (49:12):
Touring, which if you're not out there was someone.
Speaker 3 (49:16):
Yes, yeah, it's got to be right, it's gotta you
gotta be out there with people that are are good people.
It can be miserable, it really can, it really can.
So shout out to ken Folk when we toured last year,
the band that we had been working with, which was
Brad Allen Williams on guitar, Johnny c our Man, John
Coward and piano, who's always just a groove to be around.
(49:37):
He's a really great guy. Fema Ephron on bass, Julia
shawn saxophone, and Alma. Of course, Alma was great, amazing, Alma,
what was amazing. So indeed that's great.
Speaker 4 (49:49):
And tell me about what about the solo drum thing
because not everybody does that.
Speaker 1 (49:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (49:53):
I was heavily inspired by Max Roach's Drums Unlimited album
and I so this is actually the second installment of it.
This is the first one. Pocket Change came out in
twenty eighteen, So this is pocket Change too. It's coming
out Thursday, December four.
Speaker 4 (50:10):
You give me a little sample.
Speaker 3 (50:12):
Yeah, actually, oh no, no, no.
Speaker 4 (50:14):
No, it is what you do.
Speaker 3 (50:16):
Oh yeah, this is you know what I'm saying, you know,
you can't show up and I won't play. Yeah, okay,
(50:55):
that's it. The rest you gotta get on band camp
or whatever.
Speaker 2 (50:58):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (51:01):
Oh yeah. Yeah. It's so funny because the first one
I put out, I put it out in four formats.
I did a vinyl, I did streaming, of course, I
did a transcription book, and I did a sample pack
for producers to use, you know, so I'm kind of
pretty much doing the same thing this time. I'm not
sure about vinyl this time around, maybe, But one thing
(51:22):
I noticed was that a lot of like choreographers and
dance teachers would take the record and teach their whole
classes using the record. That is so cool, which I
thought was actually that's kind of perfect, you know, it's
perfect for that. So I've got, you know, I'm looking
forward to I saw so many people tagging me in
like their dance videos, tap dancers doing incredible stuff. But yeah,
it's really is it a through piece, separate tracks hyperatract
(51:46):
so there's like and everything is like three or so minutes.
So I'll start with like a little theme something like that,
and then sort of like DEVI eight and kind of
play around it. Yeah, and sometimes I'll come back to
the thing. Sometimes I'll just kind of stop, you know,
and it just feels like it's complete, you know.
Speaker 4 (52:04):
So is it improviser?
Speaker 3 (52:05):
Is it all improvised? Yeah? I would just probably like
set up. I would have a tempo in my head,
I'd set it up, set up a click, and then
I would do maybe one, maybe two takes, but most
of the times one take, like start to start to
stop to bottom.
Speaker 4 (52:18):
That's so cool.
Speaker 3 (52:19):
Yeah, yeah, so it. And I was amazed. It's like,
you know, I put out Kenfolk in twenty seventeen, and
it was like, you know, big band, big budget, guest artists,
all of that, Yeah, great man, all cool, and it
came out, did all the press, and then after that
it was like, okay, what I still saw. The only
thing people were sharing were these sixty minute snippets of
(52:39):
sixty second snippets of me playing the drums, just sol solo.
So I was like, you know what, I might as
well just do that.
Speaker 17 (52:46):
You can do both.
Speaker 2 (52:46):
Yeah, yeah, yeah I might.
Speaker 3 (52:48):
I might as well just just do that too, you know,
just give them that. That was the thing. So, uh,
that was the beginning of the pocket change thing.
Speaker 4 (52:55):
That's amazing.
Speaker 3 (52:56):
Yes, indeed, it's great. Yeah, and then I wanted to
dance to it.
Speaker 2 (53:00):
Yeah, you put it on?
Speaker 4 (53:01):
How my kids dance?
Speaker 3 (53:02):
Oh, it's going down, it's going down. I've seen a
lot of people have have tagged, you know, their their
babies reacting to it. But you know, or like they're
sometimes they'll put it on and like you know, they'll
they'll start like do like meditations and stuff to it.
It's it's really incredible. It's really amazing.
Speaker 4 (53:21):
It's really interesting. Yeah, I've never listened to anything like that.
Speaker 3 (53:25):
Yeah, it's really cool.
Speaker 1 (53:26):
Yeah, that's it's amazing. Well, thank you so much. This
has been so fun.
Speaker 3 (53:32):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (53:33):
I was wondering if we should play that song, that
Leonard Cohen song. Yes, I would love to you you
played on that whole album. It's a tribute to Leonard Cohen.
Speaker 3 (53:41):
Yeah. Yeah, here it is and produced by Larry Klein. Yeah,
so good. It's so good.
Speaker 4 (53:48):
You know. He asked me to do it, and I was.
Speaker 1 (53:50):
I really loved this song he suggested for me because
it was a later written song of Larrence. Yeah, not
something old that's been done Yeah, over and over, and
it's an incredible song.
Speaker 3 (54:03):
It's a great tune and you, I mean you sang
the hell out of it.
Speaker 1 (54:06):
Oh.
Speaker 4 (54:06):
Thanks.
Speaker 1 (54:06):
Well it was crazy because you know, we couldn't get
together and I knew that you guys were going to
pre record it.
Speaker 4 (54:14):
Yeah, and it was an incredible band.
Speaker 1 (54:16):
It was.
Speaker 4 (54:18):
It was you, Frizelle, Bill Frizzel.
Speaker 3 (54:21):
Scott Colly on bass, Kevin Hayes on piano okay, yeah,
and Emmanuel Wilkins on saxophone.
Speaker 2 (54:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (54:26):
It was like, it was a great band. I was
so bummed I couldn't be there in person.
Speaker 3 (54:31):
Yeah, it was. It was really cool. I think the
only person I met who's on the record, I think
Nathaniel Ratliff happened to be in LA.
Speaker 4 (54:38):
Oh yeah, because you guys did in LA.
Speaker 3 (54:39):
Yeah, so, but that was he. I think he was
the only of all the guest artists, the only one
who cut in studio with us.
Speaker 4 (54:48):
It's beautiful.
Speaker 1 (54:50):
I was surprised because the you know, when you when
you're not with somebody and they do something and then
you had to add your vocals, there's always a sense
of this can action and this didn't feel that way, right.
Speaker 3 (55:03):
It didn't.
Speaker 4 (55:03):
I mean, it felt really great, really great man.
Speaker 3 (55:06):
The band, you know, I love Scott Man. I think
Scott is one of the baddest bass players. Yeah, I
think he's great. I think. And I never played with Frizelle.
Speaker 4 (55:15):
That must have been fun.
Speaker 3 (55:16):
He's great and the sweetest person, definitely, just the nicest man. Yeah,
and I hope I get to play with him again.
And I just met Emmanuel that day too, so there.
And I known Kevin Hayes for a while.
Speaker 4 (55:27):
Yeah, I'm gonna use my headphones.
Speaker 3 (55:31):
Let's get in there. Yeah you start.
Speaker 19 (55:38):
Yeah, Steer your way past the ruins of the altar
(56:06):
around the month, Steal your way past the fables of
creation in the fall. Steal your way past the palaces
the rise above.
Speaker 2 (56:17):
The right here by month by month, day by thought
by fall, Steal your heart past the truth you believed
(56:37):
in yesterday.
Speaker 18 (56:39):
Such is fundamental goodness and the wisdom.
Speaker 6 (56:42):
Of the way.
Speaker 11 (56:43):
Steer your heart freshes heart past the women who you bought.
Speaker 8 (56:49):
Hereby month by month, day by.
Speaker 18 (56:55):
Day, thought by fuck, steal your way.
Speaker 10 (57:06):
Past the pain that is five more real than you,
the smashes, the cosmic.
Speaker 17 (57:12):
Model, the blinded every view.
Speaker 2 (57:15):
And please don't make me go there, though there be
a God or not. Year by my fine.
Speaker 18 (57:25):
Day by day.
Speaker 2 (57:30):
Five five f.
Speaker 20 (57:36):
Arrius was still ancient stones the blood and mountains week.
Speaker 2 (57:44):
As he died, and make them holy.
Speaker 21 (57:46):
Let us die and make things cheap, and see the
mere coma, which you probably forgot, year by.
Speaker 22 (58:01):
Month, by month, day by day, thought by thought, Stay away,
my heart, though.
Speaker 16 (58:17):
I have no right to ask to the one who's never,
never equal to the task, who knows he's been convicted,
who knows he will be shot here by.
Speaker 2 (58:32):
By month, day by day, thought.
Speaker 20 (58:40):
By thought, They wristmas still in the stones the blood
and mountains week.
Speaker 17 (58:53):
As he died, to make men holy.
Speaker 8 (58:56):
Let hus die and make things see.
Speaker 17 (59:01):
Let's say the mere couple, which you gradually forgot.
Speaker 2 (59:06):
He'll by months by month, day by day, fuck by.
Speaker 23 (59:17):
Thought, months by months, day by day, thought by f.
Speaker 2 (59:31):
Month by month, day.
Speaker 3 (59:34):
By day, thought by Yeah, that's fine, that sounded good.
Speaker 4 (01:00:15):
Thought it sounded good.
Speaker 3 (01:00:16):
Yeah, all right, sweet beautiful. Yeah, but that's it. I
just got here.
Speaker 4 (01:00:22):
Let's do more.
Speaker 3 (01:00:23):
Wait a minute.
Speaker 6 (01:01:06):
Then.
Speaker 3 (01:02:05):
I could just do this like all day, all day,
all day, all day, we make a whole mixtape, the
whole mixtape.
Speaker 17 (01:02:12):
We should.
Speaker 3 (01:02:14):
You're still rolling in. Let's go, man, Thank you so much,
Thank you Nora, thank you for having me.
Speaker 4 (01:02:20):
You're the best.
Speaker 3 (01:02:21):
You are the bomb, you are the bomb. I love you, man.
I am thrilled. Thank you.
Speaker 4 (01:02:27):
I love you so much.
Speaker 3 (01:02:28):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 4 (01:02:42):
Thanks for listening. That was so fun? Are we too,
crafty ladies? That was so nice?
Speaker 3 (01:02:49):
So fun?
Speaker 4 (01:02:51):
No, that was so fun, so good. I love impromptu
drum jams. Some of his songs are hard too. Yeah,
he's very, very s but also has a sensitive touch.
Speaker 1 (01:03:03):
Oh so sensitive, and such a specific beat. You know
everybody has the plays back.
Speaker 4 (01:03:08):
As the signature. Yeah, so he makes it look so
easy too. He's just a cool dude.
Speaker 1 (01:03:24):
If you want to know what we played in this episode,
the first song we did was called to Live, which
is one of mine from my album pick Me Up
Off the Floor in twenty twenty, which Nate played on
the track on the recording. The second song we did
I Love This One Morning and Allison from Nate's album
Kinfolk Postcards from Everywhere, which came out in twenty seventeen,
and the singer on the album is Ama What. The
(01:03:47):
third song we did was called Fly for Mike from
Kinfolk To See the Birds on the album is sung
by the Lovely Brittany Howard. Fourth song we did, Wow,
We did a lot of songs. He did a snippet
from which is the track on a Strum's solo album
titled pocket Change Too Mad Currency. We did another song
(01:04:08):
called Steer Your Way, which was a Leonard Cohen song
from his album You Want It Darker and also from
the tribute album that I sang on and Nate played on.
Speaker 4 (01:04:17):
The Sixth song we did was just some jamming.
Speaker 1 (01:04:21):
Special thanks to Nate Smith for joining us today. We'll
be back next week with John Legend. Nora Jones is
playing along. Is a production of iHeart Podcasts. I'm Your
Host Norah Jones. Today's show was recorded by Andy Tobb
and assisted by Samuel Wall at Brooklyn. Recording mixed by
Jamie Landry, edited by Sarah Oda. Additional recording by Matt Marinelli.
(01:04:43):
Audio post production and mastering by Greg Tobler. Artwork by
Eliza Frye. Photography by Shervin Lenz. Coordinating producer Rachel Ward,
Executive producers Aaron wan Kaufman and Jordan Runtog. Marketing Lead
Queen and Ake, and produced by Norah Jones and Sarah Odah.
Speaker 2 (01:05:03):
Deuce by nor Jones.
Speaker 1 (01:05:05):
Say, Hey, that's us odio d Odo totally thanks for listening, Bye,
listen next time.
Speaker 4 (01:05:14):
Like and subscribe please
Hi, I'm Norah Jones and today I'm playing along with
Nate Smith.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
I'm just playing long.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
We.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Am just playing lone Weezy.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Hey, I'm Nora, and thanks for joining us on the
Playing Along podcast with me as always. Sitting here in
front of me in a lovely orange sweater is Sarah Oda. Thanks,
It's actually Cherry Redd.
Speaker 4 (00:29):
Oh.
Speaker 5 (00:33):
Our guest today is the Grammy nominated drummer, composer, and
producer Nate Smith. His drumming style runs itself to a
broad range of music, so he's collaborated with several artists
including Brittany Howard, The Fearless Flyers, Childish Gambino, Yeba, Robbie Coltrane,
Pat Metheny, and one Miss Norah Jones.
Speaker 6 (00:55):
Hi.
Speaker 7 (00:57):
He also co wrote and co produced Heaven Can Wait
for Michael Jackson's two thousand and one invincible album, Oh Wow.
He's also released two masterful solo drum albums and has
a very popular YouTube channel, oh It's very popular with performances, interviews,
and more so be sure to check that out. And
his latest album, Live Action, just came out in August
(01:18):
of twenty twenty five.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
We had a lot of fun. I love him.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
He's a great, great, incredible drummer, fun person to play with.
This was really special. I hope you enjoy it. Here
we go with Nate Smith. We just play a little groove,
do something that's our sound check.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Nice, nice, nice man, that's good.
Speaker 6 (03:02):
Good.
Speaker 4 (03:03):
Oh, it's so great to hear you play.
Speaker 8 (03:06):
Yay.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Yes, When did we do that recording session? That was
twenty nineteen.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Yeah, I feel like the record came out in twenty twenty.
Speaker 4 (03:16):
Yeah it did. Yeah, right right in the middle of it.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
Yep, right in the middle smackdap. I just moved to Nashville,
and I remember receiving a package.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Oh yeah, I was very, very exciting, and you did
a little home video for the.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
That's right for a video for me. I remember setting
it up at the crib. I had had the phone
set up and I sat. I had my one snare drum.
I didn't even have a kick drum in the shot.
I had a snare drum. Yeah, And I set up
and just played and I hoped that I wasn't disturbing
my neighbors.
Speaker 4 (03:47):
Oh man, thanks for doing that.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Oh for sure, for sure. It was fun. I will
say we couldn't do it together.
Speaker 4 (03:52):
I was too. It would have been fun.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
Yeah, yeah, because we had a good time at the session.
Did we do two or three songs?
Speaker 1 (03:57):
That we did a few songs, but that's the only
one that ever got released that was with Jesse Murphy.
Jesse Murphy, Yeah, and that was the song was to
live jam.
Speaker 4 (04:08):
Yeah, you want to.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
Play it, Let's play it?
Speaker 4 (04:10):
Yeah, why not? We're here, let's kidd it all right.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Then we're gonna dive into some of your music, yes,
which I've been practicing, which is much harder.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Okay, okay.
Speaker 9 (04:26):
What two threelish.
Speaker 8 (04:58):
And fine be free is wather I was after?
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Don't change older than me?
Speaker 10 (05:10):
Evelove is the answer in front of my face. I
and this morning and find watching the places.
Speaker 11 (05:32):
These cracks in my heart can't be filled you smell.
Speaker 8 (05:40):
Can't find or use all the time that I spare.
Speaker 10 (05:48):
I want laughing color, to breathe outside the line, to
believe in this moment.
Speaker 12 (06:00):
Vampy Simbama, who said all those things to make you
(06:32):
go and hide so stuck an yokey that you came
from outside, Please throw down the dumbness as best as
you can.
Speaker 8 (06:50):
Badly leave this boy. I'll be jamma.
Speaker 10 (06:58):
To ly in this spot and fatly free.
Speaker 8 (07:07):
There's what ho was after bat change b evelove is
the answer in.
Speaker 10 (07:19):
FLNT the merphant hardy name this spy and Finn much.
Speaker 8 (07:30):
Is badly in this moment and.
Speaker 10 (07:35):
Fat face had loved in this moment and for much.
Speaker 4 (08:45):
Nice.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Oh yes, oh, it's so fun to play with you.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
No, thank you so much.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
That's great. Take my phones off the time.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Oh, yes, you have such a great groove.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
I mean, of course, thank you, thank you so much.
I mean you too. You know, it's playing time on piano,
like rhythmic piano is a thing, and and also the
way you comp for yourself too, that's a that's a
that's an that's a layer. You know that. Not a
lot of people who singing play piano have that, so
(09:20):
you definitely have it.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
Oh, thank you.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
I've definitely gotten better at it over the years, you know,
like I feel like I'm I feel like I'm right
now in the groove of of my thing.
Speaker 4 (09:30):
Yes, more than ever.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
Yes, you sound like it's so nice.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Isn't it so nice to have a job where you
just constantly feel like you're getting better at Yeah?
Speaker 3 (09:39):
Yeah, I mean even there there are sometimes when I
feel like I'll play a gig and I'll think, you know, man,
do that sound good?
Speaker 4 (09:45):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (09:45):
And especially now within the internet age where your your
gigs are played back to you. Oh gosh, people are
always out with this fan with the phone you listen
back to how did I actually sound?
Speaker 13 (09:57):
You know?
Speaker 3 (09:58):
But you know, overall, I I got to say, you know,
I feel kind of in the same way. I feel
like I'm settling into a groove too, like really settling
into my thing, which I feel like took me a
while to kind of find, you know.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
Yeah, I mean I don't think most people are twenty
years old knowing what their thing is.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Yeah, for sure, for sure, And I'm still finding it
at forty nine. Yeah, you know, in three days, forty.
Speaker 4 (10:22):
Nine, Happy advanced birthday.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
Thank you, thank you very much. I edge in the house.
Speaker 4 (10:27):
I feel nice.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
I think that's part of that's part of the joy
of this sort of era of our lives.
Speaker 4 (10:35):
I'm in my forties too.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
Yeah, I feel really really alive musically more than ever.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
I feel like in my twenties I was I was scared. Yeah,
I had a lot of things going on, but I
was unsure of a lot of it.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
You know, I feel like I always was trying to
prove or please you know. That's the other thing. Like
I was in a lot of situations where I was
trying to like be good enough, you know, And now
I kind of feel like I'm in a place where
I kind of know the things that I'm good at.
I know the things that I want to work on
(11:11):
for myself. But I kind of know, you know, if
people are calling me for something, I know what they're
calling for. And I feel like can walk into a
room with a lot more confidence about it, which you know,
it took a while to get that, but but I
feel like I'm settling into that kind of swag now,
you know, which feels really good, feels really great.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Yeah, you're in town. You were playing at the Blue
Note all week.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
I was at the Blue Note with the Fearless Flyers.
Played four nights, two shows a night.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
Okay, that's a lot. I just did the Blue Note
with Robert Clasper. I did five nights. Yes, doing two shows.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
A night is hard. It's hard, I mean because it's
too like full hour fifteen.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
Ish, right, yep. We did we averaged about I mean,
the second sets were always longer because we were you know,
we're loose, and the crowd is a little more loose.
Everybody has a little you know, they pre gaming with
the liquor, so everybody's a little bit more worked up.
So it feels real good. And so we would play
maybe sixty five minutes the first set and they would
turn the house over. And then sometimes the second set
(12:10):
would be like, you know, hour fifteen.
Speaker 4 (12:12):
Yeah, hour and a half, you know, okay, yeah, yeah,
we're going, we were going. Yeah, you must be exhausted.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
I am worn now.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
I couldn't believe how exhausting it was because not only
well doing two shows. I mean we're used to playing
in clubs back in the day, right where you do
two or three sets, but I feel like there's never
that much time in between. Yeah, and at the Blue Note,
it's about hour and.
Speaker 8 (12:34):
A half and a half.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
It's just enough time to get real sleepy, yeah exactly,
you know, and then you have to rev back up
for the people, you know, and you want to play
your best because you know, people pay their money, they
made plans, they hired the sitter that you know. But
just to let y'all know, it's not always as easy
as it looks it's not as easy.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
That's a hard gig, it is, but it's a great audience,
I feel like, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
And really a cool place. I mean, you know, they're
really nice to you. Yeah, they're nice.
Speaker 4 (13:02):
But it's tiny.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
It is, it is there's no real like hiding place.
You know, you're kind of like in it with the fans,
which I guess is part of the appeal of the
club too.
Speaker 4 (13:11):
Yeah, it's cool.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
Yeah. Did you ever do the Blue Note Cruise or
any of that stuff?
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Now?
Speaker 4 (13:15):
Have you?
Speaker 3 (13:15):
I did it. I did it twice.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
How long was it on a boat? Because that is
that freaks me out.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
Yeah, it was like five days.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
Okay, I could you get off at all?
Speaker 8 (13:25):
They docking?
Speaker 3 (13:26):
Yeah, they were docking. I feel like I don't think
I ever got off. I think I just stayed on. Really,
you know, I got to say it was the best
sleep I've had the rock I mean the Rocky I
was knocked all the way out. That's great, way down like,
but no, the Blue Note Cruise is kind of similar
because people are just there, the artists are just walking
at with them. You're on a boat with them, like
(13:47):
there's nowhere to go, you know. So yeah, you can
hang out in your cabin all day, but as soon
as you walk out, you're going to see people.
Speaker 4 (13:54):
Yeah, you know, that's part of the fun.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
People are mistaking me for you know, Hey, man, Kendrick,
I love you playing man. You're great. I was like, thanks,
I'll take it. People thinking I'm you know whoever? You know?
Speaker 4 (14:07):
Yeah, come on the name, Well.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
You know, maybe now, but I definitely got a couple
of Hey Brian Man, you did Brian Blade, Little Brian Blade.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
It's the glasses, the style.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
Yeah, so I don't and I don't mind either one.
I'll take all of All of them are compliments to
me because I love him brothers. So yeah, yeah, that's cool. Yep.
Speaker 4 (14:30):
And you're living in Nashville.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
No, well you moved. I moved. I just moved in January.
I moved to Virginia back home.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Nice.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
So my I'm from Chesapeake originally.
Speaker 4 (14:40):
How far is that from DC? I don't know Virginia
at all.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
Yeah, So Chesapeake is four hours by car southeast of DC,
well three and a half, so not really close, not
super close. Richmond is half that two hours away. That's
where I live from Richmond, Virginia.
Speaker 4 (14:54):
Nice.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
Yeah, and I lived there for like four years before
I moved to New York. So I was and I
went to grad school there. I'm born and raised in Virginia,
so I was there for my whole life until I
came to You were to grad school, Yeah, I did.
I started grad.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
School, Oh for music or for something else?
Speaker 3 (15:14):
No, I was music.
Speaker 4 (15:16):
Well I graduated, It's okay, Yeah, I graduated.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
In my book, I got the School of Hard Knocks degree,
the honorary. Oh yeah, yeah, No, I started. So I
went to James Madison University undergrad and I wasn't a
music major. I majored in media arts and design. Yeah.
Back in the day, they used to call it mass communication.
Speaker 4 (15:35):
What's media arts and design? Is that handy?
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Now?
Speaker 4 (15:37):
With social media?
Speaker 3 (15:38):
It kind of is. Actually, I end up using a
lot of the stuff I learned because it was you know,
we studied advertising, we studied like branding, we studied all
that stuff.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
Well, now you got to be your own pr person
as a musician, which is a whole other thing.
Speaker 4 (15:52):
Whole other it's a whole other brain type.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
Yes, right, yes, And you know, I feel like it
kind of worked out in my favor because some of
the ideas I still kind of go back to that
you know, introduction to mass communication class where the guy
was talking about how to reach an audience and how
to engage in audience. So it you know, it works,
and I've seen it work really great for some other musicians,
(16:16):
and I've paid attention to what they've done. Yeah, and
also I've seen it, you know, not work so great
for other.
Speaker 4 (16:21):
You know, so I'm but you're aware of that whole thing.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
I am.
Speaker 4 (16:24):
Yeah, And you've done some online videos that are pretty huge.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
Yeah, yeah, I mean social media was I mean, I
guess like everybody, I joined Facebook, I think two thousand
and nine. That was when you know, it was abroun
and then Instagram was a few few years later, like
twenty twelve. I feel like I got my first and
so I didn't really start posting videos of myself playing
(16:50):
drums until like maybe twenty fifteen, sixteen. But then once
I saw that the videos were resonating, then I was like, okay, well,
let me just keep posting stuff and I'll just you know.
And it was around the same time that I started Kenfolk,
and I was trying to make the record and trying
to sort of build an audience, and I was paying
attention to cats who were doing that, building their audience
(17:11):
online and hoping that you know, a fraction of that
audience would pay tickets, would buy tickets to come see
me play.
Speaker 4 (17:19):
And it worked.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
It worked.
Speaker 4 (17:20):
That's amazing.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
It's a slow burn, but it did work.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
That's I mean, that's how it is now, that's how
you have to do it.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
I think, yeah, for sure. I mean music, I think
now more than ever, music is almost a visual art
form now because we're thinking about, you know, like how
the you know, how we're branding our cover art and
our promo flyers and all that stuff. We're thinking about
it so much, you know. And I don't know if
(17:46):
that's necessarily a good or bad thing, but I do
think that the two way it is, it's just the
way it is. It's just the way it is. I mean,
you know, I don't know how I feel about streaming
and streaming good or bad, I don't know, but it is.
It is what it is. It's how yeah, right, I know,
But I don't know.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
As someone who sold a lot of records in the
early two thousand, I would say it's not great.
Speaker 4 (18:05):
I can dig it, but it's just the way it is.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
It's just the way it is.
Speaker 4 (18:08):
I mean, you can't.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
Yeah, the audience has made up its mind about how
people want to consume music.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
I mean that you definitely can reach so many more
people this way and streaming too.
Speaker 4 (18:20):
Yeah, and it's crazy though.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
It's like, I don't think a record label will even
look at anybody who doesn't have an online presence and
a lot of followers.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
Yeah, and it it It sucks because a lot of
great artists who really just want to make great music
aren't visible.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
And they're not they're not thinking about self promotion all
the time. You have to think about it, even if
you're not naturally inclined to or not.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
Yeah, it's it's because there's so much stuff and there
are so many people. You know, the idea of like
making yourself seen so you can be found, you know
what I mean, that's kind of the vibe is like,
you know, I want to just just see me do
my thing, see me sing or play my instrument or whatever,
(19:05):
and hopefully my audience, the people that it really resonates with,
will find me. It's just a new reality for artists.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
Well speak in of ken Folk. So that band started,
You started that band around twenty.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
Fifteen, twenty fourteen. Actually we played our no I'm sorry,
we played our first gig at Rockwood. Oh really yeah,
twenty thirteen.
Speaker 4 (19:24):
Oh cool.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
Labor Day weekend twenty thirteen was.
Speaker 4 (19:27):
John in the band John Coward.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
Yeah. So initially it was Jalil Shaw and saxophone, Fema
Efron on bass, Chris Bowers was playing piano at the time. Cool.
Jeremy most was playing guitar, and Alma What was singing
with us and she wrote all the lyrics to the
music too.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
Oh nice. Yeah, so she sings on this song that
we're gonna try.
Speaker 4 (19:49):
Yeah, this is her song in your song.
Speaker 3 (19:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
Yeah, it's called Morning and Allison. Is this from the
first album?
Speaker 3 (19:55):
It is?
Speaker 4 (19:55):
Okay, cool, all right, let's give it a go. Let's
give it a go.
Speaker 11 (20:29):
Sunday morning, she says to light, waking up, slowly.
Speaker 14 (20:42):
Open windows, Sunday night, feeling ay and blow.
Speaker 10 (20:55):
Mac tree line you loves me at the center a
home in Sinster.
Speaker 8 (21:07):
With the day breaks.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
Let it sped time.
Speaker 8 (21:12):
To len Oud.
Speaker 10 (21:20):
Say place spy with change.
Speaker 6 (21:27):
Is hi.
Speaker 11 (21:30):
Secle Sunday morning, she says to that, why came up?
(22:33):
Slowly open windows?
Speaker 4 (22:42):
Suny minds feeling the way blow.
Speaker 8 (22:53):
My Trea like you loves where the sydy uh huh
ins and style.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
What the Dame rates it's.
Speaker 8 (23:10):
Time two mm hmmm, said.
Speaker 7 (23:19):
Say l.
Speaker 10 (23:22):
Expine and say it's my mind.
Speaker 4 (23:51):
That's high.
Speaker 3 (23:52):
You you killed it, You killed it. Yes, that was beautiful,
Thank you, thank you. Shout out to Alma Work for
those lyrics.
Speaker 4 (23:59):
Yes, they're great. Yeah, and yeah it was cool playing
it too.
Speaker 15 (24:05):
I never played songs like this right right, Yeah, it's
like you know kind of, I mean, I guess the
mixed meter sort of it's like, yeah, six four four
four thing.
Speaker 4 (24:15):
But I didn't think about that at all.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
You sent me that chart, which was super helpful for
the chords, but I didn't look at the time signatures
because I felt like just feeling it was easier.
Speaker 3 (24:25):
That's the that to me, that's the greatest sort of
I mean, that's kind of the intention is like, even
if you're writing in mixed meter stuff, it should feel
as none. Yeah, I don't know, it should just feel natural.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
You shouldn't feel like you're counting. Yes, yeah, it definitely doesn't.
It feels so good.
Speaker 3 (24:45):
Yea.
Speaker 4 (24:46):
So it was six and then.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
Four yeah, one two three four one oh yeah, right right,
as soon as you count, it's like oh no, yeah, yeah,
it's just.
Speaker 4 (24:59):
Yeah the end, and in me is like, okay, I
know how it is, but I don't do a lot
of mixed meters.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
Yeah, no, no, it's kind of a thing. It's like
one of those I kind of have always heard music
in that way, either like three bar phrases or mixed
meter stuff or maybe odd meter stuff, but in a
way that kind of feels like still has a little
dance to it.
Speaker 4 (25:20):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it feels natural. Yeah, if you can't dance.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
To it, I mean, no, that's the vibe I mean.
And I played with you know, New York taught me
a lot. Man. I played with a lot of musicians
who excuse me with overwrite or sort of overthink in
my opinion, like it was kind of like, you know,
the music was hard just to be hard, you know.
Speaker 4 (25:42):
I hate that.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
Yeah, and it's just I you know, and there were
so many things to remember and so many booby traps
written into the music that it was like it was
almost impossible to play it. It was like you know,
I mean you if you shed it long enough, everything's
hard until you learn it.
Speaker 4 (25:57):
Yeah, like a language's a language.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
It's like a language, you know. But I felt sometimes
the intention of the writing was to like trip up people,
or trip up musicians, or or impress.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
Other musicians impressed especially I think, yeah, yeah, and when
you can't turn your brain off and just go in
the flow state, Yeah, it's not as good.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
It's not as good. It's not as good. I mean
it has to be for some I don't know. For me,
I feel like music should be enjoyable, you know what
I mean, I think it should be.
Speaker 4 (26:23):
Yeah, I agree, Yeah, I feel like different strokes different.
Speaker 3 (26:26):
You know. Some people want to like show up and like,
you know, like kind of solve a math problem. You know.
Speaker 4 (26:31):
It's like, that's true. I'm not one of those people.
Speaker 3 (26:33):
Me neither. Me neither. Even though the music has some
hiccups in it, I'm not thinking like that.
Speaker 4 (26:40):
What did you go up listening to?
Speaker 6 (26:42):
Like?
Speaker 4 (26:42):
Where does all this come from?
Speaker 3 (26:44):
So my dad's record collection is where it starts for me.
Both of my folks were teachers, my mom to our
third grade and my dad was a high school principal. Amazing, Yeah,
And so they worked hard all all, you know, all
week and the weekend was really the time to sort
of hang out and celebrate. So all their friends would
(27:05):
come over and Dad would put on records and at
the time, it was sort of like the golden age
of like instrumental R and B. So it was like
David Sanborn, Bob James, Quincy Jones, Herbie Hancock. You know,
those are the records that were in the house, George Duke,
that's so cool. Yeah. Yeah, and they were, you know,
cranking it. They were playing it, you know, and Off
(27:26):
the Earth, Wind to Fire and Michael Jackson, all the
big stars too. But the stuff that was really in
the house that he was playing on a regular basis
was that he kind of really dug that music. There
was something in it that resonated with him. So I just,
you know, kind of soaked it all up. And you know,
this My journey with the drums sort of began with
my brother. My older brother has had a drum kit
(27:49):
and he played a little bit in high school. He's
ten years older than me, so when he went away
to college, so there's two older than him.
Speaker 4 (27:56):
Oh wow.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
So I have a half brother who's fourteen years older
than me. I have a sister who's twelve years old
than me. Then my brother and then your ten years
ten years. Yeah, that's a lot. Yeah, I was. I
was definitely a surprise. That was different. I just showed up.
They thought they were done. But yeah, my bro he
went away to school and he went away to college,
(28:18):
and his drums were still in the house. So I
just one day decided to sort of set the drums
up and see what I could do with them. And
this was around the time I started playing in school too,
like concert band, you know, like middle school middle school, Yeah,
like fifth grade, so playing like snare drum and you know,
glockenspiel and you know, So that all kind of happened
(28:38):
concurrently for me, the drum set and high school band,
in middle school band.
Speaker 4 (28:43):
Okay, were you on the drum line?
Speaker 7 (28:45):
I was.
Speaker 3 (28:46):
I was a marching band geek.
Speaker 4 (28:47):
I'm obsessed with the drum line. Oh my god, best
feeling in the world.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
Yes, to just see it and feel it, Yes, yes,
it is incredible. I was so like drum Court International.
I was like watching those competitions. I was writing my
own drum line stuff here. Yeah. Yeah, I was really
into it. I was a complete percussion ensemble.
Speaker 4 (29:07):
That's amazing.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
Marching band nerd Yeah.
Speaker 4 (29:09):
I did marching band for one year and I was
all in.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
I played saxophone, saxophone, yeah, yes, yeah, I was always
looking at the drummers.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
It's a vibe, man, because you know, not only the
sort of you know, the rudimental and rudimentary dexterity and
all the stuff that the gods were doing, but also
the visual things that drummers were doing.
Speaker 4 (29:26):
Yeah, it's so cool.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
It was really cool to watch, and so I just
got it way into it, got absorbed by it, shed
it all the time, and would try to like play
some of that stuff on the drum set too. And
that's kind of the sort of beginning. So marching band
and stuff during the day, and then at night I
come home and listen to like Sting or Prince or
Peter Gabriel or whatever. Yeah, and it was like that
(29:48):
was my life.
Speaker 4 (29:49):
You know, that's so cool. Yeah, were you into jazz
at that time?
Speaker 3 (29:52):
Jazz kind of came later. So my senior year in
high school, I discovered an art blaky record called Album
of the Year came out, and I think.
Speaker 4 (30:01):
It's the best title of any album.
Speaker 3 (30:03):
I love it. I love it, I love it. The
band was I think it was Winton, Bill Pierce, Bobby Watson,
and I think Charles from Bro Bass. But but that
was the band and it was like it blew me away.
And this was near the end. I think this was
(30:23):
like Art Blake. He had kind of lost most of
his hearing by this time or he had, you know,
so that the time wasn't quite as like rock solid
as the older records, but he still had that riot symbol,
he still had that press role, you know, and I
was just captivated. But I was just like, what is
this sorcery that I've never heard before.
Speaker 4 (30:43):
That's the best feeling in the world. It really was
discovered something.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
Yeah, yeah, I listened to that album. I mean hundreds
of times. I wore my poor dad, I know, he
was so tied. Yeah, put on some George Dude, what
are you doing? But that was like the gateway, yeah,
you know. And then then later, you know, I discovered Miles,
(31:08):
which you know, by extension, I discovered Jimmy Cobb and
Tony Williams and you know, then discovered Train and I
discovered Elvin, you know, and Elvin was another one that
was like I didn't know you could do that, you know,
just watch I saw videos of him playing too, like
old videos, and I was just like, what is he doing?
How is he doing it? So, you know, it was
it was like magic, you know. Yeah, so that was
(31:32):
the beginning of So this is like senior year in
high school, freshman year in college, sophomore year in college.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
Yeah, and you were studying media. But were you playing
in bands already? All the bands and you're playing in
every band.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
I just I wanted to play in every band. It
was like I played in the small group of the
school small group, the school big band.
Speaker 4 (31:51):
So you played in school too, you were doing music
in school as well.
Speaker 3 (31:54):
Yeah, yeah, I was doing I mean I wasn't a
music major, but I was playing in all the bands,
you know, And and that was like I started as
a music major. Then I realized that I kind of
wanted to learn more about like the studio and more
about just a different side of the of the business.
So that's when media. Yeah, I just wanted to learn
a little more of it of just just not like
sticking to sort of the rigid like I mean, theory
(32:17):
and ear training have definitely come in handy too, but
I wanted to learn more about like the outside.
Speaker 4 (32:22):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're already playing.
Speaker 3 (32:24):
I was already playing. Yeah, you know, uh yeah, So
that was that was the beginning of my journey with jazz,
yeah and everything and everything. Yeah yeah, drum card, drum quote?
Speaker 7 (32:34):
Is it?
Speaker 3 (32:35):
Yeah? Drum quote?
Speaker 7 (32:36):
Was it? I?
Speaker 3 (32:37):
And also between uh semesters in the summer I was working,
I had three jobs that kind of prepared me for
So my first two summers I worked at Paramounts Kings Dominion,
which is a theme park New Richmond, doing what I
played in a motown.
Speaker 4 (32:55):
Band, best practice in the world.
Speaker 3 (32:57):
It was awesome. It was awesome. It was just like
we played four shows a day. It was hot, four
shows a day in the sweltering heat, and we played
hits from the seventies, eighties, nineties, something like that. And
you know, I had to wear this ugly ass Hawaiian
shirt with like these white pants. It was just terrible.
(33:18):
It's terrible. There are there are pictures in video somewhere.
Oh god.
Speaker 4 (33:23):
But it was a great teacher.
Speaker 3 (33:24):
It was a great teacher, a great teacher. We played
a bunch of tunes, a bunch of different styles. Then
my third summer I worked at Disney Did in Florida
and also very hot. Yes, and we did another four
show a day, but we had guest artists every week.
Name yeah, yeah, that's so cool. We had Joe Williams
game one year, we had one one week we had
(33:46):
Ramsey Lewis there. We had Diane Reeves. She was she
was the game changer. Yeah, she was great. Yeah, and
yeah that was the it all kind of was sort
of preparing me. While I was there, I met Andre Hayward,
who was a trombonist, and he had just done jazz
Ahead with Betty Carter and he was like, you should
beat Betty. So he was how I met her and
(34:09):
started playing with her.
Speaker 4 (34:10):
Wow, that's amazing.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (34:12):
And did you and Chris Thomas overlap with Betty?
Speaker 3 (34:14):
No, I didn't know Chris. I didn't when I was
in the band. Curtis Lundy was her regular bass player
and he'd been with her for a long time.
Speaker 4 (34:22):
I love her so much.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
Yes, Yes, what a different I've kind of felt that
way when I got one of her albums.
Speaker 4 (34:28):
I was like, this is different.
Speaker 3 (34:29):
She's incredibly different. Yeah. Yeah, and I kind of feel like,
you know, she said this an interview. She was like
something to the effect of, you know, I'm the last
jazz singer or after me, there are no more jazz singers.
And I kind of got what she meant because of
the way that she would like stretch form and you know,
(34:50):
sort of elongate rhythm and just kind of this this
elasticity and her singing and her phrasing. But she was
always aware of where everything was. No, she wasn't willy nilly.
She was always she always knew. And I feel like
you can kind of look at like, Okay, well here's
here's a Cassandra Wilson and maybe even like a Gretchen
(35:11):
Parlatto or somebody like that. There's that kind of a thing.
I can kind of see a thread there, you know.
So she was she was very special.
Speaker 4 (35:18):
Yeah, that's so amazing.
Speaker 3 (35:19):
Play there, Yeah, not long, I mean the last couple
of years of her life. I played on and off
with her, all right, And I did Jazz Ahead with
her twice.
Speaker 4 (35:27):
I'm sorry, what is jazz Ahead?
Speaker 3 (35:28):
Oh right? So jazz Ahead? And this is actually a
good promo for Jazz Ahead because it's still happening. So
Jazz Ahead was a residency that Betty Carter started at
the time, I think it was here in New York
and she would bring a dozen or so musicians, maybe
a little more together and young musicians, and so she
(35:49):
would introduce them to each other and they would all
bring in their own compositions and rehearse for a week
together and learn each other's tunes, and then they played
two concerts at the end of the of the of
the week.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
That's so cool.
Speaker 3 (36:00):
It was incredible. It was really impressive.
Speaker 1 (36:02):
It's more interactive than just like mentoring. Yes, it's like
everybody gets to be themselves.
Speaker 3 (36:07):
Yeah, and build community. You know, I'm still cool with
people at jazz I met Jason Ran at Jazz Ahead.
I met Casey Benjamin at Jazz Ahead. You know, so
these are these are all great musicians who are still
kind of out here doing amazing things. You know.
Speaker 4 (36:19):
That's amazing. Yeah, and she started it.
Speaker 3 (36:21):
She started it. Yeah, that's so great, and she so
we did. The first year I did it was nineteen
ninety six, and then the second year I did it,
it was April of ninety eight, and it had moved
to the Kennedy Center where it still is, and that
night they announced that they were going to keep doing
Jazz Ahead. You know, we're going to start Jazz Ahead
here at the Kennedy Center. She was so happy and
(36:42):
then sadly she passed away like I think four or
five months later, like September. Yeah, but she knew it
was going to she knew it was going to keep doing. Yeah,
it's great, it's great. So Jazz Ahead was really really
good to me. And it also exposed me to musicians
my age who were playing at a super high level.
And I hadn't really seen that.
Speaker 4 (37:02):
Who are touring you know, Yeah, this is before you
moved to New.
Speaker 3 (37:04):
York, before I moved way before.
Speaker 4 (37:06):
Yeah, so yeah, you weren't in a big hub of that.
Speaker 3 (37:08):
No, I wasn't. I had kind of been sort of
in the Virginia kind of bubble, and coming there, I
was like, Wow, this number one, it makes you want
to get better. And then number two it's like, you know,
you can you actually see that it's possible to do it, you.
Speaker 4 (37:23):
Know, And it also makes you better, Yes, playing with
musicians who are better.
Speaker 3 (37:28):
Yes, it makes you better. And that's that's the mantra
of my life. Actually, that's why BA makes me better,
and Brian Blade makes everybody better. He's he's just he's
the greatest. He's the greatest. But Yeah, that was That
was jazz ahead and that was my my time with Betty.
Speaker 4 (37:45):
That's amazing.
Speaker 3 (37:45):
Yeah, yeah, she was so important.
Speaker 4 (37:49):
You play with a lot of singers and you play
with Brittany Howard.
Speaker 3 (37:52):
Brittany Howard who I love she is.
Speaker 4 (37:54):
She's like another unique, wonderful voice, one of one of one.
Speaker 2 (38:00):
Yeah, She's just so.
Speaker 3 (38:01):
She's a very special person.
Speaker 4 (38:03):
She's great always.
Speaker 3 (38:04):
Yeah, yeah, she really is. We we before I met her.
The year before I met her, I feel like I
played the second Alabama Shake's album, Sound in Color. I
feel like, no, I didn't play on it. I just played.
I was listening to it for like a year, like
every day for a year. So somewhere in my mind,
I feel like I summoned Brittany Howard. I was like
(38:26):
reaching out to her.
Speaker 4 (38:28):
I believe that stuff.
Speaker 3 (38:29):
Yeah, yeah, I really. I was just like, you know,
she's so special. The band was great, you know, no,
no shaded all to the guys in the band, but
but Brittany was definitely the star, you know, of the
band and the creative force of it, you know. So
and then out of out of nowhere, I got an
email from her manager about playing with her.
Speaker 1 (38:50):
So I was was the first thing the album, Yeah, Jamie, Jamie,
which is such a great album.
Speaker 3 (38:55):
It's a dope, dope record.
Speaker 1 (38:57):
And I know how much she loves you too, because
I've seen talk about you and it's just such a
special connection.
Speaker 4 (39:03):
You guys have.
Speaker 3 (39:04):
It really is.
Speaker 4 (39:04):
She worships you. Yeah, she loves playing with you.
Speaker 3 (39:07):
It's yeah, it definitely goes both ways. I mean, I
think that she's a very special I mean I use
that word a lot, but she's just no, she is.
Speaker 4 (39:16):
She is you know, she's unique.
Speaker 3 (39:18):
She's unique. There's no one like her, you know, and
very few and in historically very few like her. You know,
like a woman of color standing in front of a
band with a guitar playing her ass off.
Speaker 4 (39:31):
He is a great guitar player.
Speaker 2 (39:32):
Yeah, yeah, you know.
Speaker 3 (39:33):
And so it's like it's that's She's Hailey's comic. Man.
She's very special.
Speaker 4 (39:38):
She also kind of has this the way she sings.
Speaker 1 (39:41):
She's got a really beautiful voice, but she just sings
with such conviction of what she's saying, and she's just
she's not precious about anything yet she has a beautiful voice.
So that's a really nice combo of like just badass or.
Speaker 3 (39:58):
Yeah, the ultimate bad assery. Yeah, she's fantastic, man, She's fantastic.
Speaker 16 (40:04):
And so she did.
Speaker 4 (40:05):
She did a song on your kin folk album.
Speaker 3 (40:06):
She did on the newer one, Yeah, the one that
came out. It came out twenty twenty one.
Speaker 4 (40:10):
Yeah, it's great.
Speaker 3 (40:11):
Oh thank you?
Speaker 4 (40:12):
Is that John Coward on.
Speaker 3 (40:13):
The piano, John Coward on piano.
Speaker 4 (40:15):
I could totally hear that.
Speaker 3 (40:16):
Yes, our man, our man, love John Johnny c Johnny
can do that's what we call him, can do well.
Speaker 4 (40:23):
Can we do a version of it?
Speaker 1 (40:24):
That's me not trying to be brittany, but yes, but
loving her very much.
Speaker 17 (40:30):
Gonna do my.
Speaker 4 (40:32):
My version of this song is it's beautiful.
Speaker 3 (40:35):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (40:36):
Did you guys write this together?
Speaker 3 (40:37):
We did. I'd written the melody. We've been playing it
as an instrumental for a little while, and then I
it was written in dedication to my dad, and I'm
not a lyricist, so I wanted to reach out to her.
I said, you know, would you consider writing some lyrics?
And she was like sure. She did send it to me,
and I sent it to her and she the text
threat is very funny of the ideas that we're going
(40:57):
back and forth. She just kind of turned around super fast,
and she's and it's it's brilliant.
Speaker 4 (41:04):
That's great. It's a really beautiful sentiment.
Speaker 3 (41:08):
Thank you. Yeah, yeah, you know for pop yeah.
Speaker 6 (41:29):
Mm hmmm.
Speaker 17 (41:39):
On a fly away, Fly to a place I have
never known.
Speaker 2 (41:51):
On the behind me, nothing can bring me down.
Speaker 13 (41:57):
When I get off the ground, I have no fee
at all. I forget that I could ever fall.
Speaker 1 (42:14):
I want to go.
Speaker 17 (42:17):
When no one can keep me bound.
Speaker 2 (42:21):
When I get off bread, no more will ouh way.
Speaker 17 (42:32):
I have no means in words.
Speaker 6 (42:36):
Hmm.
Speaker 18 (42:39):
If you could see me fly, its smell.
Speaker 6 (42:46):
With you.
Speaker 2 (42:51):
I want to fly.
Speaker 18 (42:52):
Away where we could all be together.
Speaker 2 (43:02):
I want to feel that can.
Speaker 6 (43:06):
You get.
Speaker 18 (43:09):
Besides no nor.
Speaker 6 (44:02):
Will a way?
Speaker 17 (44:07):
I have no means and why.
Speaker 8 (44:13):
If you could see.
Speaker 2 (44:15):
And fly you smile.
Speaker 17 (44:20):
Then I want to fly away.
Speaker 14 (44:30):
Where we get all me together. I want to feel
that kind of wall you gain besides.
Speaker 8 (44:44):
The sun, I'm gonna fly away. I can see the
end of the Runwaydow.
Speaker 18 (44:59):
Won't look behind me.
Speaker 17 (45:01):
Nothing can keep me down.
Speaker 18 (45:04):
Now that I'm on.
Speaker 2 (45:07):
Grass, It'll be nothing but blueskin now.
Speaker 6 (45:17):
That I'm all.
Speaker 3 (45:20):
Gros love it.
Speaker 4 (45:37):
Yeah, beaut It's a beautiful song.
Speaker 3 (45:39):
Thank you, thank you, very much.
Speaker 4 (45:41):
Started crying a little bit.
Speaker 3 (45:44):
Thank you. Yeah, that's that's a that's a special one.
Speaker 8 (45:47):
Yeah you day.
Speaker 3 (45:48):
Yeah, it's real sweet. I've been thinking about him a
lot as I get a little older, you know, I
keep you know, every day since since he's been he
passed away in twenty fifteen. Okay, so since he's been
on I've thought a lot of thought about him a lot,
I bet. Yeah. And I see him now, like I
look in the mirror. I'm like, oh, okay, well, oh man,
(46:11):
it's like he's oh, he's right there, right there. You know.
Speaker 4 (46:14):
That's amazing.
Speaker 1 (46:17):
With two teacher parents, well, principal and a teacher, did
you guys do a lot of vacations on the school
breaks or something?
Speaker 3 (46:25):
We did. We didn't go too far. We would go
visit family mostly so my mom is from Salem, Virginia,
which is western Virginia, so it's heading toward like the
Virginia West Virginia border, so that you know, and so
she her people are out there. We would go visit
my grandmother out there, and we would stay for a
(46:48):
good chunk of the summer out there. Those are great summers.
Speaker 7 (46:51):
Man.
Speaker 3 (46:51):
And my dad, his family was close by to where
we lived. So yeah, Grandma and Grandad and they were
right there, so we saw them regularly. Okay, so going
to see Grandma Irene was like a special it was
a special trip. Yeah, yeah, and it was it was cool.
I really really love those those summers. We had a
really good time. I had a bunch of cousins up
there too, so we would all. You know, it was
(47:12):
like those were my uh those were actually like like
my my sibling group there, you.
Speaker 4 (47:17):
Know, because we were your siblings were so much older.
Speaker 3 (47:19):
They were so much older. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (47:21):
Yeah, so it was cool.
Speaker 3 (47:22):
Yeah, I kind of had like slightly sort of old
only child vibes in the house.
Speaker 4 (47:26):
Yeah, it makes sense.
Speaker 1 (47:27):
Yeah, you know, well that's why you named your album
kin Folk maybe because your family is pretty important.
Speaker 3 (47:33):
It's very important. And always looking for it too, like
always finding family, your friend family.
Speaker 4 (47:38):
Yeah, it's pretty special.
Speaker 1 (47:39):
It is. It's a nice community being a musician, it is,
and it's varied really, and it's all over the world,
all over the world.
Speaker 3 (47:48):
I mean, yeah, you know, I did this thing in
Montreal earlier this year, and it was I did three
nights and I got to do three different bands. So
the first night was uh, Leonel Lak and Michael League,
both of whom I've known for a while. And the
second night was Keifer of the pianist Keifer and this
basis cartoons. They're more they're younger guys and they're kind
(48:10):
of in this this hip hop jazz space, you know.
And the third night was with Corey Wong and Victor
Wooten Wo. So it was just a very rare, very varied,
like wide circle, but it felt great. All three nights
were great and just you know, reignited this this idea
for me that you know, the musical community, the extended family.
(48:34):
The family is so important. It's everything.
Speaker 4 (48:38):
Yeah, it's like a hu it is.
Speaker 3 (48:41):
Yeah, with kin Folk. The idea was that I came
to New York kind of on my own and didn't
really know that many people. I knew a few people,
but you know, and so the all the people that
are in the band are people that I feel like
I had some kind of familial connection with, you know, musically. Yeah,
So that that's why that's part of part of it.
Speaker 4 (49:03):
Yeah, that's the best it is with people who feel
like family.
Speaker 3 (49:07):
Yes, yes, And you know, over the years, as we've
you know, endured the slings and arrows of.
Speaker 4 (49:12):
Touring, which if you're not out there was someone.
Speaker 3 (49:16):
Yes, yeah, it's got to be right, it's gotta you
gotta be out there with people that are are good people.
It can be miserable, it really can, it really can.
So shout out to ken Folk when we toured last year,
the band that we had been working with, which was
Brad Allen Williams on guitar, Johnny c our Man, John
Coward and piano, who's always just a groove to be around.
(49:37):
He's a really great guy. Fema Ephron on bass, Julia
shawn saxophone, and Alma. Of course, Alma was great, amazing, Alma,
what was amazing. So indeed that's great.
Speaker 4 (49:49):
And tell me about what about the solo drum thing
because not everybody does that.
Speaker 1 (49:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (49:53):
I was heavily inspired by Max Roach's Drums Unlimited album
and I so this is actually the second installment of it.
This is the first one. Pocket Change came out in
twenty eighteen, So this is pocket Change too. It's coming
out Thursday, December four.
Speaker 4 (50:10):
You give me a little sample.
Speaker 3 (50:12):
Yeah, actually, oh no, no, no.
Speaker 4 (50:14):
No, it is what you do.
Speaker 3 (50:16):
Oh yeah, this is you know what I'm saying, you know,
you can't show up and I won't play. Yeah, okay,
(50:55):
that's it. The rest you gotta get on band camp
or whatever.
Speaker 2 (50:58):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (51:01):
Oh yeah. Yeah. It's so funny because the first one
I put out, I put it out in four formats.
I did a vinyl, I did streaming, of course, I
did a transcription book, and I did a sample pack
for producers to use, you know, so I'm kind of
pretty much doing the same thing this time. I'm not
sure about vinyl this time around, maybe, But one thing
(51:22):
I noticed was that a lot of like choreographers and
dance teachers would take the record and teach their whole
classes using the record. That is so cool, which I
thought was actually that's kind of perfect, you know, it's
perfect for that. So I've got, you know, I'm looking
forward to I saw so many people tagging me in
like their dance videos, tap dancers doing incredible stuff. But yeah,
it's really is it a through piece, separate tracks hyperatract
(51:46):
so there's like and everything is like three or so minutes.
So I'll start with like a little theme something like that,
and then sort of like DEVI eight and kind of
play around it. Yeah, and sometimes I'll come back to
the thing. Sometimes I'll just kind of stop, you know,
and it just feels like it's complete, you know.
Speaker 4 (52:04):
So is it improviser?
Speaker 3 (52:05):
Is it all improvised? Yeah? I would just probably like
set up. I would have a tempo in my head,
I'd set it up, set up a click, and then
I would do maybe one, maybe two takes, but most
of the times one take, like start to start to
stop to bottom.
Speaker 4 (52:18):
That's so cool.
Speaker 3 (52:19):
Yeah, yeah, so it. And I was amazed. It's like,
you know, I put out Kenfolk in twenty seventeen, and
it was like, you know, big band, big budget, guest artists,
all of that, Yeah, great man, all cool, and it
came out, did all the press, and then after that
it was like, okay, what I still saw. The only
thing people were sharing were these sixty minute snippets of
(52:39):
sixty second snippets of me playing the drums, just sol solo.
So I was like, you know what, I might as
well just do that.
Speaker 17 (52:46):
You can do both.
Speaker 2 (52:46):
Yeah, yeah, yeah I might.
Speaker 3 (52:48):
I might as well just just do that too, you know,
just give them that. That was the thing. So, uh,
that was the beginning of the pocket change thing.
Speaker 4 (52:55):
That's amazing.
Speaker 3 (52:56):
Yes, indeed, it's great. Yeah, and then I wanted to
dance to it.
Speaker 2 (53:00):
Yeah, you put it on?
Speaker 4 (53:01):
How my kids dance?
Speaker 3 (53:02):
Oh, it's going down, it's going down. I've seen a
lot of people have have tagged, you know, their their
babies reacting to it. But you know, or like they're
sometimes they'll put it on and like you know, they'll
they'll start like do like meditations and stuff to it.
It's it's really incredible. It's really amazing.
Speaker 4 (53:21):
It's really interesting. Yeah, I've never listened to anything like that.
Speaker 3 (53:25):
Yeah, it's really cool.
Speaker 1 (53:26):
Yeah, that's it's amazing. Well, thank you so much. This
has been so fun.
Speaker 3 (53:32):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (53:33):
I was wondering if we should play that song, that
Leonard Cohen song. Yes, I would love to you you
played on that whole album. It's a tribute to Leonard Cohen.
Speaker 3 (53:41):
Yeah. Yeah, here it is and produced by Larry Klein. Yeah,
so good. It's so good.
Speaker 4 (53:48):
You know. He asked me to do it, and I was.
Speaker 1 (53:50):
I really loved this song he suggested for me because
it was a later written song of Larrence. Yeah, not
something old that's been done Yeah, over and over, and
it's an incredible song.
Speaker 3 (54:03):
It's a great tune and you, I mean you sang
the hell out of it.
Speaker 1 (54:06):
Oh.
Speaker 4 (54:06):
Thanks.
Speaker 1 (54:06):
Well it was crazy because you know, we couldn't get
together and I knew that you guys were going to
pre record it.
Speaker 4 (54:14):
Yeah, and it was an incredible band.
Speaker 1 (54:16):
It was.
Speaker 4 (54:18):
It was you, Frizelle, Bill Frizzel.
Speaker 3 (54:21):
Scott Colly on bass, Kevin Hayes on piano okay, yeah,
and Emmanuel Wilkins on saxophone.
Speaker 2 (54:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (54:26):
It was like, it was a great band. I was
so bummed I couldn't be there in person.
Speaker 3 (54:31):
Yeah, it was. It was really cool. I think the
only person I met who's on the record, I think
Nathaniel Ratliff happened to be in LA.
Speaker 4 (54:38):
Oh yeah, because you guys did in LA.
Speaker 3 (54:39):
Yeah, so, but that was he. I think he was
the only of all the guest artists, the only one
who cut in studio with us.
Speaker 4 (54:48):
It's beautiful.
Speaker 1 (54:50):
I was surprised because the you know, when you when
you're not with somebody and they do something and then
you had to add your vocals, there's always a sense
of this can action and this didn't feel that way, right.
Speaker 3 (55:03):
It didn't.
Speaker 4 (55:03):
I mean, it felt really great, really great man.
Speaker 3 (55:06):
The band, you know, I love Scott Man. I think
Scott is one of the baddest bass players. Yeah, I
think he's great. I think. And I never played with Frizelle.
Speaker 4 (55:15):
That must have been fun.
Speaker 3 (55:16):
He's great and the sweetest person, definitely, just the nicest man. Yeah,
and I hope I get to play with him again.
And I just met Emmanuel that day too, so there.
And I known Kevin Hayes for a while.
Speaker 4 (55:27):
Yeah, I'm gonna use my headphones.
Speaker 3 (55:31):
Let's get in there. Yeah you start.
Speaker 19 (55:38):
Yeah, Steer your way past the ruins of the altar
(56:06):
around the month, Steal your way past the fables of
creation in the fall. Steal your way past the palaces
the rise above.
Speaker 2 (56:17):
The right here by month by month, day by thought
by fall, Steal your heart past the truth you believed
(56:37):
in yesterday.
Speaker 18 (56:39):
Such is fundamental goodness and the wisdom.
Speaker 6 (56:42):
Of the way.
Speaker 11 (56:43):
Steer your heart freshes heart past the women who you bought.
Speaker 8 (56:49):
Hereby month by month, day by.
Speaker 18 (56:55):
Day, thought by fuck, steal your way.
Speaker 10 (57:06):
Past the pain that is five more real than you,
the smashes, the cosmic.
Speaker 17 (57:12):
Model, the blinded every view.
Speaker 2 (57:15):
And please don't make me go there, though there be
a God or not. Year by my fine.
Speaker 18 (57:25):
Day by day.
Speaker 2 (57:30):
Five five f.
Speaker 20 (57:36):
Arrius was still ancient stones the blood and mountains week.
Speaker 2 (57:44):
As he died, and make them holy.
Speaker 21 (57:46):
Let us die and make things cheap, and see the
mere coma, which you probably forgot, year by.
Speaker 22 (58:01):
Month, by month, day by day, thought by thought, Stay away,
my heart, though.
Speaker 16 (58:17):
I have no right to ask to the one who's never,
never equal to the task, who knows he's been convicted,
who knows he will be shot here by.
Speaker 2 (58:32):
By month, day by day, thought.
Speaker 20 (58:40):
By thought, They wristmas still in the stones the blood
and mountains week.
Speaker 17 (58:53):
As he died, to make men holy.
Speaker 8 (58:56):
Let hus die and make things see.
Speaker 17 (59:01):
Let's say the mere couple, which you gradually forgot.
Speaker 2 (59:06):
He'll by months by month, day by day, fuck by.
Speaker 23 (59:17):
Thought, months by months, day by day, thought by f.
Speaker 2 (59:31):
Month by month, day.
Speaker 3 (59:34):
By day, thought by Yeah, that's fine, that sounded good.
Speaker 4 (01:00:15):
Thought it sounded good.
Speaker 3 (01:00:16):
Yeah, all right, sweet beautiful. Yeah, but that's it. I
just got here.
Speaker 4 (01:00:22):
Let's do more.
Speaker 3 (01:00:23):
Wait a minute.
Speaker 6 (01:01:06):
Then.
Speaker 3 (01:02:05):
I could just do this like all day, all day,
all day, all day, we make a whole mixtape, the
whole mixtape.
Speaker 17 (01:02:12):
We should.
Speaker 3 (01:02:14):
You're still rolling in. Let's go, man, Thank you so much,
Thank you Nora, thank you for having me.
Speaker 4 (01:02:20):
You're the best.
Speaker 3 (01:02:21):
You are the bomb, you are the bomb. I love you, man.
I am thrilled. Thank you.
Speaker 4 (01:02:27):
I love you so much.
Speaker 3 (01:02:28):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 4 (01:02:42):
Thanks for listening. That was so fun? Are we too,
crafty ladies? That was so nice?
Speaker 3 (01:02:49):
So fun?
Speaker 4 (01:02:51):
No, that was so fun, so good. I love impromptu
drum jams. Some of his songs are hard too. Yeah,
he's very, very s but also has a sensitive touch.
Speaker 1 (01:03:03):
Oh so sensitive, and such a specific beat. You know
everybody has the plays back.
Speaker 4 (01:03:08):
As the signature. Yeah, so he makes it look so
easy too. He's just a cool dude.
Speaker 1 (01:03:24):
If you want to know what we played in this episode,
the first song we did was called to Live, which
is one of mine from my album pick Me Up
Off the Floor in twenty twenty, which Nate played on
the track on the recording. The second song we did
I Love This One Morning and Allison from Nate's album
Kinfolk Postcards from Everywhere, which came out in twenty seventeen,
and the singer on the album is Ama What. The
(01:03:47):
third song we did was called Fly for Mike from
Kinfolk To See the Birds on the album is sung
by the Lovely Brittany Howard. Fourth song we did, Wow,
We did a lot of songs. He did a snippet
from which is the track on a Strum's solo album
titled pocket Change Too Mad Currency. We did another song
(01:04:08):
called Steer Your Way, which was a Leonard Cohen song
from his album You Want It Darker and also from
the tribute album that I sang on and Nate played on.
Speaker 4 (01:04:17):
The Sixth song we did was just some jamming.
Speaker 1 (01:04:21):
Special thanks to Nate Smith for joining us today. We'll
be back next week with John Legend. Nora Jones is
playing along. Is a production of iHeart Podcasts. I'm Your
Host Norah Jones. Today's show was recorded by Andy Tobb
and assisted by Samuel Wall at Brooklyn. Recording mixed by
Jamie Landry, edited by Sarah Oda. Additional recording by Matt Marinelli.
(01:04:43):
Audio post production and mastering by Greg Tobler. Artwork by
Eliza Frye. Photography by Shervin Lenz. Coordinating producer Rachel Ward,
Executive producers Aaron wan Kaufman and Jordan Runtog. Marketing Lead
Queen and Ake, and produced by Norah Jones and Sarah Odah.
Speaker 2 (01:05:03):
Deuce by nor Jones.
Speaker 1 (01:05:05):
Say, Hey, that's us odio d Odo totally thanks for listening, Bye,
listen next time.
Speaker 4 (01:05:14):
Like and subscribe please
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