What does it mean to truly listen to music and let it shape your identity? Join host Buzz Knight on this week's episode of takin' a walk as he dives deep into the inspiring journey of trumpeter, vocalist, and band leader Jon Lampley. Growing up as the only black child in his school in Akron, Ohio, Lampley shares how his unique upbringing and the music-infused environment of his church molded his artistic path. Through heartfelt stories, he reveals how these contrasting experiences not only shaped his musical journey but also his personal development.
As a member of the Late Show with Stephen Colbert's house band, Jon Lampley learned the art of internalizing music quickly and listening deeply—skills that every performing musician cherishes. Tune in as he reflects on these invaluable lessons and how they contributed to his growth as an artist. With his debut album, Notes to Self, Lampley showcases his evolution as a songwriter, blending various musical influences that highlight his diverse background. This episode is a treasure trove of music history insights, exploring the creative journeys of an artist who has collaborated with legendary musicians like Stevie Wonder.
But that's not all; Lampley opens up about his dreams for the future as he approaches a pivotal moment in his career with the end of the Late Show. His gratitude for the experiences he's had shines through as he emphasizes the importance of not taking them for granted. As the conversation unfolds, he expresses a heartfelt wish to take a walk with Louis Armstrong, reflecting on the profound impact Armstrong had on his life as a musician and entertainer. This episode encapsulates the essence of music and resilience, making it a must-listen for anyone passionate about indie music journeys and legendary musician conversations.
Join us for this compelling episode of takin' a walk where Buzz Knight and John Lampley explore the stories behind albums, the cultural impact of music, and the emotional healing that comes through artistic expression. Whether you're a fan of jazz music, rock music history, or simply love music storytelling, this episode is sure to inspire. Don't miss out on the chance to gain insights into the life of an artist who embodies the spirit of music history on foot and the power of musician storytelling. Tune in now! #legendary musician interviews
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Taking a Walk, I'm buzznight and welcome to the Taking
a Walk Podcast. Now there's a sound that lives somewhere
between a Sunday morning church service and a late night
Brooklyn bar, between the sacred and the celebratory, between gospel
fire and jazz cool. It's not a sound you can
easily categorize, and that is exactly the point. The man
(00:23):
behind it grew up as the only black kid at
his school during the week, and then spent his Sundays
inside a church in Akron, Ohio, where his family played
and sang and called the spirit down. Those two worlds,
the outsider and the Anointed, shaped everything. He went on
to anchor the house band on The Late Show with
Stephen Colbert for nearly a decade, tour arenas with oar Co,
(00:48):
found the jazz funk collective Huntertones, and share stages with
Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, and Gary Clark Junior.
And yet through all of it, he never st being
that kid in the church pew watching music do something
to people that words simply couldn't. His debut album, called
Night Service Live at Lunico's, proof that some things that
(01:11):
worth waiting for today, we're going to be taking a
Walk with trumpeter, vocalist, band leader and one of the
most joyful presences in music today, John Lampley.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Next on Taking a Walk, Taking a Walk.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
John Lampley, Welcome to the Taking a Walk Podcast.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
It's an honor to have you here. Oh, it's an
honor to be here. Buzz. Thank you so much for
having me.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
So your time growing up as this kid in school, Sundays, church,
and Akron pretty extraordinary cultural tightrope that you were walking
as a kid. How did navigating in those worlds shape
you as a musician but also as a person.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
And I think that having kind of this unique experience
of being a kid growing up and a family where
all of my cousins and aunts and uncles and my
moms sang or played an instrument at church, being surrounded
by gospel music, but then kind of going to school
and being in school band, which was an entirely different tradition,
(02:25):
those things shaped me in many ways. My family was,
you know, rooted in faith, so as a human being
that was kind of like very grounding for me from
a young age. And I think that had a lot
to do with, you know, how I've grown up, not
just musically but as a person.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
But it was also really interesting because the older.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
I got, you know, when I was a little kid,
I was only allowed to listen to gospel music.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
You know, there was nothing else.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
But the older I got, you know, I'd start going
to my friend's houses and you know, they were listening
to alternative rock and hip hop. And so it's like
I started to hear these new sounds as I got older,
and that was kind of coming through the lens of
this church kid who knew the sound of gospel music.
And I feel like once I really started to you know,
(03:15):
play and try to figure out how to improvise on
the instrument, it was like all of these sounds were
kind of just coming out inside of me. But I
also think just growing up in Akron, Ohio and Ohio
in general, there were so many phenomenal gospel musicians that
I got to hear at my own church on Sundays
(03:38):
or visiting other churches in the region.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
And you know a.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
Lot of people will ask, oh, well, like as a
trumpet player, as an artist, who were your you know,
biggest influences. And for me, you know, before I go
to lists, the names that everybody knows, like the Stevie
Wonders or the Otis Reddings. I feel like my earliest,
you know, biggest influences were, you know, Eugene Wilson, who
(04:02):
was the choir director and would sing every Sunday, or
James Thomas, who was you know, one of the men
who sang on the praise team. Like these were the
voices that I was hearing from an early age and
watching them not only sing, you know, the way that
they sang, but kind of command an audience and be
able to control the tone of a room. I think
(04:24):
before I ever knew that I wanted to do this
for a living, I saw that, and deep inside of myself,
I was like, you know what, I want to be
able to do that someday.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
If that makes sense, it makes total sense.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
And so that leads me to the trumpet and the
fact probably that when you first picked up the trumpet,
since so much of your influences were steeped in your faith,
it wasn't really like you were in all necessarily of
the lineage of great trumpet players.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Is that right?
Speaker 3 (04:56):
Absolutely correct? When I first picked up the trumpet, you know,
I'll never forget it. As soon as I could, you know,
play a couple of scales. You know, you get like
fifth grade band, sixth grade band, they're teaching you scales.
As soon as my mom could hear that, like I
could make my way through a couple of scales on
my own, she was like, all right, you're taking your
(05:17):
trumpet to church. You just go in the corner and
start playing with the musicians.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
You know.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
It didn't tell anybody anything, just showed up one Sunday
and started playing. And I didn't know anything about you know,
Louis Armstrong or Freddie.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Hubbard or Roy Hargrove or Lee Morgan.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
I knew that my mom wanted me to show up
at church and play trumpet, and so I was learning
all of these songs by ear.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
You know, nobody was really teaching me any of the music.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
It would just be listening to the organ player, listening
to the bass player and kind of like finding my
way through. Honestly, it wasn't until I got to college
and my freshman year of college at Ohio State, started
hanging with some musicians that were like, hey, you should
actually check out you know, this jazz lineage, because up
(06:06):
until then, it was like you know, I wasn't listening
to jazz. My family didn't listen to jazz. My dad
listened to like R and B soul music. But when
I got to college and I actually started studying with
an incredible trumpet player from New Orleans named Kenyata Beasley,
he was the one that was like, look, if you
want to play this instrument, these are.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
The guys that you have to check out.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
You have to check out Louis Armstrong, you have to
check out Freddy Hubbard. And when I started listening to them,
it was mind blowing because you know, for me, as
somebody who was in love with the sounds of gospel,
the sounds of soul music, to hear guys playing the
instrument that way, it was absolutely mind blowing. And eventually
I was led to who I would argue is my
(06:49):
biggest hero on the instrument, Roy Hargrove. And Roy Hargrove
I think spoke to me when I heard him play,
because I could tell immediately that he was all also
coming from this gospel tradition, but he was so rooted
in the lineage of jazz, and I just wanted to
do what he was doing, both on the trumpet but
(07:12):
also I love that he he didn't just play jazz.
He was you know, his music kind of had this
R and B flavor to it. He was featured on
you know, di'angelo records, John Mayer records, and I was like,
man like, I want to be like that guy when
I grow up. But but yeah, it took me a
little longer to get steeped into the real lineage of
(07:34):
the trumpet, and I think that early on that led
to some insecurity. You know, there were people that were
listening to you know, Freddi Hubbard and transcribing solos when
they're fourteen or fifteen years old, or hearing stories of
Wynn and Marcelis like, you know, being able to play
all this stuff at the age of sixteen. I'm like,
man like, I had just found out who Lee Morgan was,
(07:55):
and I'm like nineteen twenty years old. But eventually, I
think it just kind of encouraged me to get to
the point where, you know, those musicians in that tradition
respected what I was doing. So I really kind of
dove into that lineage when I was in college, if
that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
You've been part of the Late Show House band since
I think day one right twenty fifteen, playing alongside John
Baptiste and now Lewis Cato night after night. As I
said before we started the interview, I said, I see
you every day, you know, and here you are. What
(08:32):
does that kind of sustained a high wire performance teach
you that you can't learn anywhere else.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
I think being a part of the band at the
Late Show for the past ten years has been an
incredible experience. It's really hard to describe. It's like every
day we're playing different music. Every day. You have to
internalize music very quickly. It's been this massive study in performance,
(09:09):
not just with what we're doing, but watching Steven every
night and his team put that show together and how
he presents it both to the audience in the room
but also to the audience on TV. But I think
the thing that I've learned that I would say I
could not have learned, or anybody could really not learn
anywhere else, is how to internalize music incredibly quickly. And
(09:33):
notice that I'm not saying memorize, because I think memorizing
music and internalizing music are two very different things. I
think it's like one day we will have to learn
a specific song to walk on Michelle Obama and the
next day we'll have to learn a set of music
that we're playing with James Taylor, And it's like, you
(09:54):
only have so much space in the docket. So the
key is being able to internalize and learn that music
kind of as quickly and as deeply as possible. And
I think the longer that I was over there, the
better I got at that. And we kind of all
talk about this in the band, how much quicker now
we can learn music because of our experience there. I
(10:18):
think that that's that's kind of the thing that is
that happened over there that I don't think would happen
anywhere else.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
But also, I.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
Mean there's so many non music things that we've learned
over there. I think one of the big things that
I've learned over there is how to listen, both you know,
within the bandstand in an environment where there's cameras, where
there's an audience, but also again watching Steven interview hundreds
of hundreds of people over the years and just watching
(10:47):
the way that he's listening. You know, there's an agenda
that he's there to promote, but also if somebody says something,
he'll grab that and that will lead to a conversation,
and it's just like that type of listening is a
very deep thing and apple to you know, our world
as musicians. So I think I've learned a lot of
that as well.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
So you're at an interesting crossroads here with the show
soon coming to an end unfortunately, and you've got new
music out as well. That's obviously something that I want
you to talk about and how proud you are of it.
Talk about the new work and talk about this crossroads moment.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
Yeah, So it is, you know, very surreal that this
thing that has been kind of the centerpiece of my
musical world is coming to an end. But it's also
you know, giving me a lot of time to focus
on some of my own music. I've been very you know,
(11:50):
fortunate to have a career where I've been at the
Late Show. I've been playing with this band Oar for
fifteen years. I've gotten to do some work with Lake
Street Dive. I've been able to be a part of
a lot of really amazing bands and artists projects. Co
founded a kind of jazz funk project called hundred Tones.
But specifically, over the last three years, I've been focusing
(12:11):
on writing my own music.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Not just as a trumpet player, but also as a singer.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
And I think that I'm really, really, really proud of
this album notes to self because I am kind of
exploring different ways to make sounds, to try to amalgamate
all of the sounds that I'm hearing in my head,
all the different music that I like to listen to,
but also just it's my first fab really, you know,
(12:38):
putting myself out there as a songwriter. And you know,
I've let a lot of my friends listen to the
music that I look up to as songwriters and against
a very vulnerable thing as like an instrumentalist primarily, and
everybody's like, man like a like you sound pretty good
as a singer, and be like, we didn't know you were,
you know, writing songs like this, And that makes me
(13:00):
really happy that the people that I respect as artists,
you know, are saying that this work is cool and
that it's meaningful. But at the end of the day,
I'm proud of this because I think it's a very
honest reflection of where I'm at, and in the next
phase of my career, I kind of want my own
artistry to be a bigger part of it. So I'm really,
I'm looking forward to people hearing it and kind of
(13:21):
deciding what they think of the music.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Music sounds unbelievable and appreciate that.
Speaker 4 (13:28):
We'll be right back with more of the Taking a
Walk Podcast. Welcome back to the Taking a Walk Podcast.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
You've been in rooms with some of the greatest musicians alive,
not just your bandmates who are unbelievable musicians, but people
like Stevie Wonder and Paul Simon and Billy Joel. Is
there a moment from one of those collaborations that literally
stopped you in your track and reminded you how remarkable
(14:03):
life is?
Speaker 3 (14:05):
I mean, there are many, There are many, but the
one that I will give is.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Stevie Wonder.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
I think has been a north star of mine from
very early on. Like I said, you know, grew up
listening to gospel music. My dad listened to a lot
of R and B and soul. And I picked up
a CD when I was probably in ninth or tenth
grade and it was just like the Greatest Hits type
CD of Stevie Wonders, and I remember just be like,
(14:34):
how can all of this music come out of one
human being?
Speaker 2 (14:39):
And then the older I got, the deeper.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
I got into his discography, and just his music is
brilliant to me because it's virtuosic without sacrificing humanity. And
also as a songwriter, I think he found a way
to speak to universal, universal issues of love, of you know,
pro test of the black experience of you know, unity
(15:04):
in a.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Way that everybody loved. And I've always loved his music.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
And in twenty sixteen, he was interviewed on the show,
and he got up from the interview and came over
to the bandstand and sat at the piano and we
got to play his song Don't You Worry About a
Thing with him? And to be somebody that has revered
Stevie my whole life and to have him just sitting
(15:29):
there right next to me on the piano while we're
playing one of his songs, it's like.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
It was exactly what you said.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
One of these moments that it's just like, oh my god,
I'm so grateful and I can't believe that this is
my life, you know. And I've genuinely just every day
I try to take a second and practice gratitude because
I feel like I've had a lot of moments like
that at various junctures, you know, like you said, like
(15:57):
getting to do that with Paul Simon or somebody like
thunder Cat, or literally the other day getting to sing
background vocals with James Taylor, and I'm like, man, I'm
a kid from Talma, j Ohio, you know what I mean.
There's no way that I feel like this is what
I could have imagined my life being. So I'm extremely
grateful for that experience, all of those experiences. But yeah,
the Stevie Wonder one took me like a full two
(16:19):
weeks to even realize that that had even happened.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
You know, it's surreal.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Did you go back and watch it?
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Yeah, I like that night even watching it, it's like
you're it's like the type of thing where you watch
it and you're like, there's no way that's me. You know,
that's like somebody else on stage with Stevie Wonder. But
it's it's it's very very surreal to have those moments,
you know, it just I don't know, I feel like,
I mean, at this point, I was almost ten years
ago and it still really hasn't.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
When I say it out loud, it's like, yeah, man,
you got to play with Stevie it's like what you know.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Just hasn't really sunk in Bill, It's still it's wild,
and describe what it's been like being inside theater.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
I think that there are places that hold the weight of,
you know, so much history, whether it be you know,
for some people, maybe it's like a baseball stadium like Fenway,
or you know, a venue like Madison Square Garden, and
the Ed Sullivan Theater is certainly one of those venues.
(17:26):
You know, this is a theater that kind of carries
this deep, rich tradition of late night television, not just
as we know it now, but like literally you think
about somebody like Ed Sullivan who had some of the
legendary entertainers on this show, and then you know Letterman
who carried on that tradition, and then Steven who's carried
on that tradition, and you know, you think about the
(17:47):
epic moment of the Beatles with the women screaming, and
you're like, this is the theater that I play in
every single day. And when we're in there doing the show,
it's like you can feel the ghost, for lack of
a better word, of that history in there when we're
making music and when we're creating, and I think that
(18:08):
it's something that I really try not to take for granted.
You know, it's getting to be a part of kind
of the lineage of entertainment in American history, really world history.
And when I think about the show any that's one
of the things that makes me the saddest.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
You know.
Speaker 3 (18:26):
It's like, you know, obviously it's going to be sad
to not do the show with Steven and this incredible
band as an incredible team. But it's like thinking about
that theater being empty is just very surreal when you
think about all of the things that have happened there.
So I think I'm just very grateful to have spent
the amount of time creating in that theater. And yeah,
(18:52):
it's also really weird that a place like that becomes familiar,
you know, you know, I like kind of like just
we rehearse there every other day. It's like I'm just
hanging out. Sometimes you got to be like, no, man,
this isn't normal. Like this is like the Ed Sullivan
Theater named after Ed Sullivan, who like your parents and
your grandparents like grew up on and you've gotten to
(19:12):
hang out in here for the last ten years. So
it's again, I just I've tried really hard not to
take that for granted, and especially in these last couple
of months that we're there, it's like every day, I
just every day before I go down stage, I try
to like touch the wall and it's just a reminder
that it's like, yeah, man, like you are in here
and this is real, and like, do not take that
(19:33):
for granted.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
And the Ed Sullivan story, which I didn't know to
the depth that I did from watching the recent documentary
on how he was such a champion of you know,
just endless array of artists, yes, you know, black artists,
and just really he broke the mold really when it
(19:56):
comes down to it, which a lot of people don't
think of Ed Sullivan that way, right.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
I Mean it's funny because you know, the technically when
you watched the Emmys, the technical term for a lot
of these shows is like a variety show. And when
you think about the Ed Sullivan Show, it was like
actually a variety show. You know, there were bands, but
there were dancers, there were actors that would do all
different sorts of things. And you know, imagine if you're
(20:24):
if you're you know, you get home, you're tuning in
to the Ed Sollivan.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Show, you knew to it.
Speaker 3 (20:30):
You came to expect something that would blow your mind
and you'd learn something new. And I think that that's
a really wonderful tradition. And again I give a lot
of credit to Steven, who is you know, taken on
that mantle and in his own way, really explored a
wide array of topics across comedy but also across you know,
(20:53):
interviewing the various guests and featuring different types of artists
on the show. But yeah, Ed Slivan truly was aoneer
in that way.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
So since we do call this podcast taking a walk.
In closing, John Lampley, is there someone that you would
like to take a walk with if you could just
suspend belief, living or dead, Who would you take a
walk with him? Where would you take that walk with him?
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (21:17):
Wow, what a wonderful question. I feel like we could
do a whole separate podcast.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
On that alone.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
Right, If I could take a walk with somebody, I
would take a walk with Lewis Armstrong, who I believe
is the greatest not just trumpet player. I think he
is the greatest entertainer of all time. And obviously I'm
a trumpet player, so I'm biased, but I would take
(21:45):
a walk with him around Prospect Park, which, for those
who don't know, is kind of the Brooklyn version of
Central Park, if you will. And being a Brooklyn night
the entire time that I've been in New York, it's
kind of because I'm a place that's very comforting to me,
and i'd love to walk with Pops around that park
and just you know, ask him for advice, not just
(22:09):
on trumpet, but on you know, being an artist, but
also I think I just asked him story. I'd love
to hear him tell stories, you know, just over an
incredibly prolific and wide ranging career. I would love to
just kind of hear him talk about what he experienced
and you know, in that voice that we have all
(22:30):
come to love. So I think that would be the
person I would love to take a walk with on
you know, a nice sunny day in Brooklyn, New York.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
That'd be pretty amazing. And I'm gonna throw a plug
in for the Lewis Armstrong Museum and the house there,
which is an incredible take, especially with all the great
audio as you walk through there, but you feel like
Pops is actually there, but I'd love to be a
fly on the wall with that. John Lampley, congrats on
(23:03):
Notes to Self. You have an open invite to come
back anytime on the Taking a Walk Podcast. Thank you
for all the joy that you continue to give us,
and thanks for being on Taking a Walk.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
Buzz Thank you so much for having me. I really
appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
I'm Buzznight, and thanks for listening to the Taking a
Walk Podcast. Now, please check out our companion podcasts produced
by Buzznight Media Productions with your host Lynn Hoffman. Music
Save Me showcasing the healing power of music, and comedy
Save Me shining a light on how laughter is the
best medicine. All shows are available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify
(23:45):
and are part of the iHeart podcast network.
Taking a Walk, I'm buzznight and welcome to the Taking
a Walk Podcast. Now there's a sound that lives somewhere
between a Sunday morning church service and a late night
Brooklyn bar, between the sacred and the celebratory, between gospel
fire and jazz cool. It's not a sound you can
easily categorize, and that is exactly the point. The man
(00:23):
behind it grew up as the only black kid at
his school during the week, and then spent his Sundays
inside a church in Akron, Ohio, where his family played
and sang and called the spirit down. Those two worlds,
the outsider and the Anointed, shaped everything. He went on
to anchor the house band on The Late Show with
Stephen Colbert for nearly a decade, tour arenas with oar Co,
(00:48):
found the jazz funk collective Huntertones, and share stages with
Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, and Gary Clark Junior.
And yet through all of it, he never st being
that kid in the church pew watching music do something
to people that words simply couldn't. His debut album, called
Night Service Live at Lunico's, proof that some things that
(01:11):
worth waiting for today, we're going to be taking a
Walk with trumpeter, vocalist, band leader and one of the
most joyful presences in music today, John Lampley.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Next on Taking a Walk, Taking a Walk.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
John Lampley, Welcome to the Taking a Walk Podcast.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
It's an honor to have you here. Oh, it's an
honor to be here. Buzz. Thank you so much for
having me.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
So your time growing up as this kid in school, Sundays, church,
and Akron pretty extraordinary cultural tightrope that you were walking
as a kid. How did navigating in those worlds shape
you as a musician but also as a person.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
And I think that having kind of this unique experience
of being a kid growing up and a family where
all of my cousins and aunts and uncles and my
moms sang or played an instrument at church, being surrounded
by gospel music, but then kind of going to school
and being in school band, which was an entirely different tradition,
(02:25):
those things shaped me in many ways. My family was,
you know, rooted in faith, so as a human being
that was kind of like very grounding for me from
a young age. And I think that had a lot
to do with, you know, how I've grown up, not
just musically but as a person.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
But it was also really interesting because the older.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
I got, you know, when I was a little kid,
I was only allowed to listen to gospel music.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
You know, there was nothing else.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
But the older I got, you know, I'd start going
to my friend's houses and you know, they were listening
to alternative rock and hip hop. And so it's like
I started to hear these new sounds as I got older,
and that was kind of coming through the lens of
this church kid who knew the sound of gospel music.
And I feel like once I really started to you know,
(03:15):
play and try to figure out how to improvise on
the instrument, it was like all of these sounds were
kind of just coming out inside of me. But I
also think just growing up in Akron, Ohio and Ohio
in general, there were so many phenomenal gospel musicians that
I got to hear at my own church on Sundays
(03:38):
or visiting other churches in the region.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
And you know a.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
Lot of people will ask, oh, well, like as a
trumpet player, as an artist, who were your you know,
biggest influences. And for me, you know, before I go
to lists, the names that everybody knows, like the Stevie
Wonders or the Otis Reddings. I feel like my earliest,
you know, biggest influences were, you know, Eugene Wilson, who
(04:02):
was the choir director and would sing every Sunday, or
James Thomas, who was you know, one of the men
who sang on the praise team. Like these were the
voices that I was hearing from an early age and
watching them not only sing, you know, the way that
they sang, but kind of command an audience and be
able to control the tone of a room. I think
(04:24):
before I ever knew that I wanted to do this
for a living, I saw that, and deep inside of myself,
I was like, you know what, I want to be
able to do that someday.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
If that makes sense, it makes total sense.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
And so that leads me to the trumpet and the
fact probably that when you first picked up the trumpet,
since so much of your influences were steeped in your faith,
it wasn't really like you were in all necessarily of
the lineage of great trumpet players.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Is that right?
Speaker 3 (04:56):
Absolutely correct? When I first picked up the trumpet, you know,
I'll never forget it. As soon as I could, you know,
play a couple of scales. You know, you get like
fifth grade band, sixth grade band, they're teaching you scales.
As soon as my mom could hear that, like I
could make my way through a couple of scales on
my own, she was like, all right, you're taking your
(05:17):
trumpet to church. You just go in the corner and
start playing with the musicians.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
You know.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
It didn't tell anybody anything, just showed up one Sunday
and started playing. And I didn't know anything about you know,
Louis Armstrong or Freddie.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Hubbard or Roy Hargrove or Lee Morgan.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
I knew that my mom wanted me to show up
at church and play trumpet, and so I was learning
all of these songs by ear.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
You know, nobody was really teaching me any of the music.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
It would just be listening to the organ player, listening
to the bass player and kind of like finding my
way through. Honestly, it wasn't until I got to college
and my freshman year of college at Ohio State, started
hanging with some musicians that were like, hey, you should
actually check out you know, this jazz lineage, because up
(06:06):
until then, it was like you know, I wasn't listening
to jazz. My family didn't listen to jazz. My dad
listened to like R and B soul music. But when
I got to college and I actually started studying with
an incredible trumpet player from New Orleans named Kenyata Beasley,
he was the one that was like, look, if you
want to play this instrument, these are.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
The guys that you have to check out.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
You have to check out Louis Armstrong, you have to
check out Freddy Hubbard. And when I started listening to them,
it was mind blowing because you know, for me, as
somebody who was in love with the sounds of gospel,
the sounds of soul music, to hear guys playing the
instrument that way, it was absolutely mind blowing. And eventually
I was led to who I would argue is my
(06:49):
biggest hero on the instrument, Roy Hargrove. And Roy Hargrove
I think spoke to me when I heard him play,
because I could tell immediately that he was all also
coming from this gospel tradition, but he was so rooted
in the lineage of jazz, and I just wanted to
do what he was doing, both on the trumpet but
(07:12):
also I love that he he didn't just play jazz.
He was you know, his music kind of had this
R and B flavor to it. He was featured on
you know, di'angelo records, John Mayer records, and I was like,
man like, I want to be like that guy when
I grow up. But but yeah, it took me a
little longer to get steeped into the real lineage of
(07:34):
the trumpet, and I think that early on that led
to some insecurity. You know, there were people that were
listening to you know, Freddi Hubbard and transcribing solos when
they're fourteen or fifteen years old, or hearing stories of
Wynn and Marcelis like, you know, being able to play
all this stuff at the age of sixteen. I'm like,
man like, I had just found out who Lee Morgan was,
(07:55):
and I'm like nineteen twenty years old. But eventually, I
think it just kind of encouraged me to get to
the point where, you know, those musicians in that tradition
respected what I was doing. So I really kind of
dove into that lineage when I was in college, if
that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
You've been part of the Late Show House band since
I think day one right twenty fifteen, playing alongside John
Baptiste and now Lewis Cato night after night. As I
said before we started the interview, I said, I see
you every day, you know, and here you are. What
(08:32):
does that kind of sustained a high wire performance teach
you that you can't learn anywhere else.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
I think being a part of the band at the
Late Show for the past ten years has been an
incredible experience. It's really hard to describe. It's like every
day we're playing different music. Every day. You have to
internalize music very quickly. It's been this massive study in performance,
(09:09):
not just with what we're doing, but watching Steven every
night and his team put that show together and how
he presents it both to the audience in the room
but also to the audience on TV. But I think
the thing that I've learned that I would say I
could not have learned, or anybody could really not learn
anywhere else, is how to internalize music incredibly quickly. And
(09:33):
notice that I'm not saying memorize, because I think memorizing
music and internalizing music are two very different things. I
think it's like one day we will have to learn
a specific song to walk on Michelle Obama and the
next day we'll have to learn a set of music
that we're playing with James Taylor, And it's like, you
(09:54):
only have so much space in the docket. So the
key is being able to internalize and learn that music
kind of as quickly and as deeply as possible. And
I think the longer that I was over there, the
better I got at that. And we kind of all
talk about this in the band, how much quicker now
we can learn music because of our experience there. I
(10:18):
think that that's that's kind of the thing that is
that happened over there that I don't think would happen
anywhere else.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
But also, I.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
Mean there's so many non music things that we've learned
over there. I think one of the big things that
I've learned over there is how to listen, both you know,
within the bandstand in an environment where there's cameras, where
there's an audience, but also again watching Steven interview hundreds
of hundreds of people over the years and just watching
(10:47):
the way that he's listening. You know, there's an agenda
that he's there to promote, but also if somebody says something,
he'll grab that and that will lead to a conversation,
and it's just like that type of listening is a
very deep thing and apple to you know, our world
as musicians. So I think I've learned a lot of
that as well.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
So you're at an interesting crossroads here with the show
soon coming to an end unfortunately, and you've got new
music out as well. That's obviously something that I want
you to talk about and how proud you are of it.
Talk about the new work and talk about this crossroads moment.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
Yeah, So it is, you know, very surreal that this
thing that has been kind of the centerpiece of my
musical world is coming to an end. But it's also
you know, giving me a lot of time to focus
on some of my own music. I've been very you know,
(11:50):
fortunate to have a career where I've been at the
Late Show. I've been playing with this band Oar for
fifteen years. I've gotten to do some work with Lake
Street Dive. I've been able to be a part of
a lot of really amazing bands and artists projects. Co
founded a kind of jazz funk project called hundred Tones.
But specifically, over the last three years, I've been focusing
(12:11):
on writing my own music.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Not just as a trumpet player, but also as a singer.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
And I think that I'm really, really, really proud of
this album notes to self because I am kind of
exploring different ways to make sounds, to try to amalgamate
all of the sounds that I'm hearing in my head,
all the different music that I like to listen to,
but also just it's my first fab really, you know,
(12:38):
putting myself out there as a songwriter. And you know,
I've let a lot of my friends listen to the
music that I look up to as songwriters and against
a very vulnerable thing as like an instrumentalist primarily, and
everybody's like, man like a like you sound pretty good
as a singer, and be like, we didn't know you were,
you know, writing songs like this, And that makes me
(13:00):
really happy that the people that I respect as artists,
you know, are saying that this work is cool and
that it's meaningful. But at the end of the day,
I'm proud of this because I think it's a very
honest reflection of where I'm at, and in the next
phase of my career, I kind of want my own
artistry to be a bigger part of it. So I'm really,
I'm looking forward to people hearing it and kind of
(13:21):
deciding what they think of the music.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Music sounds unbelievable and appreciate that.
Speaker 4 (13:28):
We'll be right back with more of the Taking a
Walk Podcast. Welcome back to the Taking a Walk Podcast.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
You've been in rooms with some of the greatest musicians alive,
not just your bandmates who are unbelievable musicians, but people
like Stevie Wonder and Paul Simon and Billy Joel. Is
there a moment from one of those collaborations that literally
stopped you in your track and reminded you how remarkable
(14:03):
life is?
Speaker 3 (14:05):
I mean, there are many, There are many, but the
one that I will give is.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Stevie Wonder.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
I think has been a north star of mine from
very early on. Like I said, you know, grew up
listening to gospel music. My dad listened to a lot
of R and B and soul. And I picked up
a CD when I was probably in ninth or tenth
grade and it was just like the Greatest Hits type
CD of Stevie Wonders, and I remember just be like,
(14:34):
how can all of this music come out of one
human being?
Speaker 2 (14:39):
And then the older I got, the deeper.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
I got into his discography, and just his music is
brilliant to me because it's virtuosic without sacrificing humanity. And
also as a songwriter, I think he found a way
to speak to universal, universal issues of love, of you know,
pro test of the black experience of you know, unity
(15:04):
in a.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Way that everybody loved. And I've always loved his music.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
And in twenty sixteen, he was interviewed on the show,
and he got up from the interview and came over
to the bandstand and sat at the piano and we
got to play his song Don't You Worry About a
Thing with him? And to be somebody that has revered
Stevie my whole life and to have him just sitting
(15:29):
there right next to me on the piano while we're
playing one of his songs, it's like.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
It was exactly what you said.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
One of these moments that it's just like, oh my god,
I'm so grateful and I can't believe that this is
my life, you know. And I've genuinely just every day
I try to take a second and practice gratitude because
I feel like I've had a lot of moments like
that at various junctures, you know, like you said, like
(15:57):
getting to do that with Paul Simon or somebody like
thunder Cat, or literally the other day getting to sing
background vocals with James Taylor, and I'm like, man, I'm
a kid from Talma, j Ohio, you know what I mean.
There's no way that I feel like this is what
I could have imagined my life being. So I'm extremely
grateful for that experience, all of those experiences. But yeah,
the Stevie Wonder one took me like a full two
(16:19):
weeks to even realize that that had even happened.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
You know, it's surreal.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Did you go back and watch it?
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Yeah, I like that night even watching it, it's like
you're it's like the type of thing where you watch
it and you're like, there's no way that's me. You know,
that's like somebody else on stage with Stevie Wonder. But
it's it's it's very very surreal to have those moments,
you know, it just I don't know, I feel like,
I mean, at this point, I was almost ten years
ago and it still really hasn't.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
When I say it out loud, it's like, yeah, man,
you got to play with Stevie it's like what you know.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Just hasn't really sunk in Bill, It's still it's wild,
and describe what it's been like being inside theater.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
I think that there are places that hold the weight of,
you know, so much history, whether it be you know,
for some people, maybe it's like a baseball stadium like Fenway,
or you know, a venue like Madison Square Garden, and
the Ed Sullivan Theater is certainly one of those venues.
(17:26):
You know, this is a theater that kind of carries
this deep, rich tradition of late night television, not just
as we know it now, but like literally you think
about somebody like Ed Sullivan who had some of the
legendary entertainers on this show, and then you know Letterman
who carried on that tradition, and then Steven who's carried
on that tradition, and you know, you think about the
(17:47):
epic moment of the Beatles with the women screaming, and
you're like, this is the theater that I play in
every single day. And when we're in there doing the show,
it's like you can feel the ghost, for lack of
a better word, of that history in there when we're
making music and when we're creating, and I think that
(18:08):
it's something that I really try not to take for granted.
You know, it's getting to be a part of kind
of the lineage of entertainment in American history, really world history.
And when I think about the show any that's one
of the things that makes me the saddest.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
You know.
Speaker 3 (18:26):
It's like, you know, obviously it's going to be sad
to not do the show with Steven and this incredible
band as an incredible team. But it's like thinking about
that theater being empty is just very surreal when you
think about all of the things that have happened there.
So I think I'm just very grateful to have spent
the amount of time creating in that theater. And yeah,
(18:52):
it's also really weird that a place like that becomes familiar,
you know, you know, I like kind of like just
we rehearse there every other day. It's like I'm just
hanging out. Sometimes you got to be like, no, man,
this isn't normal. Like this is like the Ed Sullivan
Theater named after Ed Sullivan, who like your parents and
your grandparents like grew up on and you've gotten to
(19:12):
hang out in here for the last ten years. So
it's again, I just I've tried really hard not to
take that for granted, and especially in these last couple
of months that we're there, it's like every day, I
just every day before I go down stage, I try
to like touch the wall and it's just a reminder
that it's like, yeah, man, like you are in here
and this is real, and like, do not take that
(19:33):
for granted.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
And the Ed Sullivan story, which I didn't know to
the depth that I did from watching the recent documentary
on how he was such a champion of you know,
just endless array of artists, yes, you know, black artists,
and just really he broke the mold really when it
(19:56):
comes down to it, which a lot of people don't
think of Ed Sullivan that way, right.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
I Mean it's funny because you know, the technically when
you watched the Emmys, the technical term for a lot
of these shows is like a variety show. And when
you think about the Ed Sullivan Show, it was like
actually a variety show. You know, there were bands, but
there were dancers, there were actors that would do all
different sorts of things. And you know, imagine if you're
(20:24):
if you're you know, you get home, you're tuning in
to the Ed Sollivan.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Show, you knew to it.
Speaker 3 (20:30):
You came to expect something that would blow your mind
and you'd learn something new. And I think that that's
a really wonderful tradition. And again I give a lot
of credit to Steven, who is you know, taken on
that mantle and in his own way, really explored a
wide array of topics across comedy but also across you know,
(20:53):
interviewing the various guests and featuring different types of artists
on the show. But yeah, Ed Slivan truly was aoneer
in that way.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
So since we do call this podcast taking a walk.
In closing, John Lampley, is there someone that you would
like to take a walk with if you could just
suspend belief, living or dead, Who would you take a
walk with him? Where would you take that walk with him?
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (21:17):
Wow, what a wonderful question. I feel like we could
do a whole separate podcast.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
On that alone.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
Right, If I could take a walk with somebody, I
would take a walk with Lewis Armstrong, who I believe
is the greatest not just trumpet player. I think he
is the greatest entertainer of all time. And obviously I'm
a trumpet player, so I'm biased, but I would take
(21:45):
a walk with him around Prospect Park, which, for those
who don't know, is kind of the Brooklyn version of
Central Park, if you will. And being a Brooklyn night
the entire time that I've been in New York, it's
kind of because I'm a place that's very comforting to me,
and i'd love to walk with Pops around that park
and just you know, ask him for advice, not just
(22:09):
on trumpet, but on you know, being an artist, but
also I think I just asked him story. I'd love
to hear him tell stories, you know, just over an
incredibly prolific and wide ranging career. I would love to
just kind of hear him talk about what he experienced
and you know, in that voice that we have all
(22:30):
come to love. So I think that would be the
person I would love to take a walk with on
you know, a nice sunny day in Brooklyn, New York.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
That'd be pretty amazing. And I'm gonna throw a plug
in for the Lewis Armstrong Museum and the house there,
which is an incredible take, especially with all the great
audio as you walk through there, but you feel like
Pops is actually there, but I'd love to be a
fly on the wall with that. John Lampley, congrats on
(23:03):
Notes to Self. You have an open invite to come
back anytime on the Taking a Walk Podcast. Thank you
for all the joy that you continue to give us,
and thanks for being on Taking a Walk.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
Buzz Thank you so much for having me. I really
appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
I'm Buzznight, and thanks for listening to the Taking a
Walk Podcast. Now, please check out our companion podcasts produced
by Buzznight Media Productions with your host Lynn Hoffman. Music
Save Me showcasing the healing power of music, and comedy
Save Me shining a light on how laughter is the
best medicine. All shows are available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify
(23:45):
and are part of the iHeart podcast network.
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