January 14, 2026 • 39 mins
In Part 2 of her conversation with Questlove, Samara Joy unpacks why Carmen McRae is such a powerful influence on her singing. The Bronx native talks about recording at Rudy Van Gelder’s famed studio, and why those hallowed jazz halls are a perfect match for her voice. Joy also opens up about her musical family, the months she spent adding lyrics to compositions by Charles Mingus and Sun Ra for her latest Grammy-nominated album, and much more.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Quest Love Show is a production of iHeart Radio people.
What's Up? This is Quest Love And last week we
brought you part one of my in studio conversation with
Samara Joy. At the top of the month, she'll be
competing for two Grammy Awards, all right, including Best Vocal
(00:22):
Jazz Album for a Late Selpe Portrait. If you haven't
heard already, to make sure you spend time with that album.
And with part one of this interview, this is where
I really got to learn her story and dig into
her craft. So part two we're gonna have a little
more fun. We talked about her time in the studio,
her ensemble, and yes, where she gives her Grammy Awards.
She's already one, all right, enjoy What was your first
(00:47):
job ever?
Speaker 2 (00:49):
I was a cashier at shopwrite part time?
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Okay? What album have you committed to Memory from start
to finish? No Skips, perfect album.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
The Audience with Betty Carter. That's live with John Hicks
on piano, Curtis Lundy on bass, in Kenny Washington on drums.
And he was actually my professor, but he was eighteen
years old.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Kenny Washington. It's nothing like I Got Gods with me.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
I mean, he was an incredible professor but also an
amazing musician. I've gotten to play with him. But that
album Betty Carter, she does things, the arrangements, the songs,
the compositions.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
I love it, Okay, So it's kind of mad libby.
The singer to whom everyone compares you to is.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Saravon.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
However, the singer that you really pattern in your style after.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Is Oh my gosh, Carmen McCrae.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
I'd love you say that if you can ever find
there's a rendition she does of a song called The
Mystery of Man. Got to look it up. It's devastating
to hear, like just the way that she emotes in
her voice. But what is it about Carmen mc Honestly?
Speaker 2 (02:01):
I think it's that, like she she's not necessarily mos
acrobatic of singers. She comes from the school of Billie Holliday,
as she says so herself, like that's one of her
main inspirations, and so I think she just kind of
gets right to the heart of a song, you know,
And that's something I feel like I need to learn.
It's like, as I'm learning the possibilities of what you
can do with your voice. There's also something to be
(02:22):
said about having taste and knowing when to withhold and
knowing you knows more. Yeah, so I just in some cases.
And so I feel like I listened to her over
and over again, and I find something new every time,
even if it's the simplest, you know, idea or riff
or And she was also pianist too, So I admire
that because I feel like she could pick out the
(02:43):
pretty notes to improvise on on a melody that still
go along with the chords without you know, maybe disrupting.
But her rhythm was insane too, So yeah, I think
her the way that she improvises on a melody, the
way that her feel is like rhythmically interacting with the bank.
And that's what I love.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
What other instruments do you play?
Speaker 2 (03:03):
I used to play bass electric.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Used to, I mean like you forget after I used to.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
I used to because my dad he got me a
Fender jazz bas for Christmas, along with our brothers Johnson
Record and a couple more so, I was like learning
their songs. Actually, host Johnson is like my I love
his playing to the point where I was I looked
up like an educational video that he did from the eighties. Yes,
and I started off with I was like, Okay, I
(03:29):
think that's time for me to put it out. Actually,
but I play piano now, but I used to play bass.
I miss it.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Okay. Uh, name me an artist that we would be shocked.
Is an influence on you or that we didn't see coming?
Speaker 2 (03:48):
I don't know if I'm non jazz predictable.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
You know, how's your Metallica history? How's your I.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Feel like I'm so predictable. I don't know. My My
origins are pretty clear. Hmmm. As far as lyricists, do
you know of a lady named Margo Gierian. No, she
only released one album to her name, but she's from
Long Island and she is She was a vocalist. I
(04:19):
can't remember what the name of the album is. I
think it's like sing a song or something like that.
But she's a really dope lyricist. And I've been learning
how to write lyrics to jazz compositions and she did
that a lot.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
So yeah, I was going to ask you about your
vocal least game because I'm realizing that y're like.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
She wrote lyrics to an ornate Coleman composition called Lonely Woman.
It's unbelievable. So she's one that I that I look
up to that might be unexpected.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Okay, I'm skipping now because since she brought it up. Okay,
So in portrait of course, you know, every jazz artist
does the American Songbook, you know, and they'll choose the
safe ones. They'll choose autumn leaves or whatever. But you're
like the you lay the gauntlet down, like you're choosing
like Mingus' craziest period, even with sun Rot, so with
(05:07):
Mingus alone. And I have an obsession and a love
for jazz vocalise and you know, name it King Pleasure,
Eddie Jefferson, Lambert Lambert Hendricks and Ross like all of
the for our listeners. Vocalist is where I guess the
rule is basically, you add lyrics to an existing jazz
(05:32):
song and do you have to follow the pattern of
what the solo is.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
You can, And I started off doing that, like writing
lyrics only to the well writing lyrics to the melody
and the solo. But now I just kind of write
lyrics to the melody because the solo can be a
little hard, a challenging when people doing triplets and sixteenth
notes and stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
So have you ever heard the grand Royal of all
jazz vocalist posse cuts? Have you heard Freddy Freeloader by
Yes Farren?
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (06:03):
Yeah, all right. So during the pandemic, that was one
of my favorite exercises. I would DJ like five hours
online and I think one night I read the comments
where someone was telling me that there's a story of
how Hendrix like literally micromanaged Bob McFerrin, George Benson and
Algio to follow the Coltrane Miles solos on the original
(06:26):
Freddy Freeloader, And I was like no, and I stopped
the record and I put both albums up and played
them and realize, oh god, they're literally they left no
stone unturned. So with vocalists, gee, and you started on
the highest mountain, you started only Mount Fiji. How did
(06:49):
you even decide for that particular song? Like because Mingus
is frightening to conquer?
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Yeah, I mean, it's a blessing to have memusicians around
you who put you on, for lack of a better word,
like musicians they like I didn't listen to Sun Raw
or Mingus before the band that I currently work with
and so they're you know, listening to songs on their
own time. They're listening to Mendelssohn and Revel and all
this kind of stuff, and I'm just listening and absorbing.
(07:18):
And so when I heard Reincarnation of Lovebird by Mingus,
I realized that even though the melody is complex, it's
still melodic, it's still lyrical, and I had the crazy
idea to put words to it. And you know, standards
one of I guess, or the bedrock of jazz music.
You hear so many musicians, Max Roach, Bennigolsen, Miles playing
(07:40):
standards and adding their own flair while also writing their
own composition. So there's merit to doing it. But I
guess they all learned form, they learn harmony, they learned
ways to make the songs their own, and then wrote
their own composition. So I guess that's how I tried
to do it, as learned standards, learn you know.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
That's literally the best way to learn jazz is vocal wise,
Like walk me through the process of I listened to
the original and even as far as your lyric phrasing
and whatnot, Like how long did it take.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
You to Oh, it took me like to learn the song.
It took me at least six months because there were
certain parts of it that I just couldn't I had
to like slow it down because I couldn't hear like
the exact pitches, and I need it in order to
be able to think of words. Yeah, I have to
like internalize the song and be able to sing it
(08:34):
without the recording. And of course the arranger at the
time had the idea for me to sing it completely
acapella before all the music.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
That's what I say, and like, what the hell, you know?
Speaker 2 (08:45):
And it took me. It took me another couple of
months to write the words to it because it's such
a deep song. I wanted the words to kind of
reflect that and be a compelling story that doesn't take
away from the melody and take away from the story
the melody is already telling. So yeah, it was a process,
but I love singing it and now I feel like
I've added another layer, you know, And I'm able to
(09:06):
sing complex melodies that might not be written for voice,
but you know, I can if it's in a certain
key and in a certain range, I can make it happen.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
So will you try to conquer old Faris Sanders or
Don Cherry or like, when you get into free.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Jazz, maybe there's a vocalist, the one who sung Lonely
Woman by Ornat Coleman, Jean Lee. She does she's like more.
I guess she's classified as avant garde or free and
she played with this pianist called Ran Blake, and so
listening to her music and the stuff that she does
with Anthony Braxton and stuff, I'm like, there's there's something here.
I don't know quite yet. I'm still digging, but who knows.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
God damn, I never thought I'd mean someone who outschools
me my own podcast. I want to know more sitting.
You were born in Castle Hill? Yeah, right, all right,
So that's not exactly the South. When I hear the Bronx,
of course, I think of like, oh, well, hip hop
started the Bronx projects. Isn't exactly the South Bronx. So
what are your earliest memories or your fondest memories of
(10:06):
growing up in Castle Hill?
Speaker 2 (10:08):
Well, it was my grandma's house. She bought it. She
was from Virginia. She moved to Philly and then she
bought that house. I want to say, in the sixties
maybe late fifties, early sixties, because she wanted a family
house and she wanted to be able to host people
and have family and just have a place where we
all could kind of settle. And so I grew up
in that house. I grew up with her, and I
(10:30):
grew up, you know, being friendly with the neighbors and
my brother. You know, they're playing basketball outside my grandma,
you know, making food, salmon croquettes and all that kind
of stuff.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
So you're saying that, technically you should be a Philadelphian.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
I know, there's so many connections leading towards that. I'm
that's adjacent, that's home.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
And then there was just a migration to the Bronx.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Yeah, I don't know how it happened.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Got it? Okay? Do you still have family in Philly? Like?
Speaker 2 (10:58):
Yes, yeah, all spread out. God, my grandfather still lives
in West Philly.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
All right, So what TV show would best describe your childhood? Great? Now,
I feel another like.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
No, I actually did watch Saturday like cartoons and stuff.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
Okay, so cartoons still existed when you in your memory back,
So what TV show best describes your childhood?
Speaker 2 (11:24):
This is not a cartoon, but that's a Raven. I
guess maybe that's still new school.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
No, that's old school now, Okay, Raven's forty.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
My uncle used to also burn CDs of like Looney
Tunes and The Jackson's Variety Show and stuff, So I
used to watch that too.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Man, it's so dope. All right, who's your first celebrity crush?
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Oh my gosh. It was probably from some Disney Channel movie,
maybe like zac Efron or something. Probably gotcha, which means
it was ultimately Corby and Blue as well. So I'll
say those two.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
I'm gonna pretend I know what those are.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
What's the.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
The style of cooking?
Speaker 1 (12:03):
I know, did posters adorn your childhood bedroom? And if so,
who was there?
Speaker 2 (12:22):
I had a mix of posters. See, we would go
to Blockbuster. I went to Blockbuster. I did rent DVDs
You were.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
You was so born in.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
And so they would have like I think it was
like Tiger Beat, like teen magazines, and my mom had
a standing subscription with Jet in essence, and so it
was a combination of like teen magazines and you know,
black magazines that were on my walls.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Got it, Okay, So I'm kind of placing a position
as a musician where I'm judged by pop rules and
hip hop, so everything's circular, looped and whatnot. And often
I'm told, like, just keep the song as simple as possible.
What is your process for writing original composition? Like what
(13:14):
ritual do you have? Do you need to be in
a space alone with your thoughts or is it you
and someone else riffing and figuring out what it is.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
I don't write as much original material as I should.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
Eventually, you will say.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
I would say the one that I have that's on
the album Peace of Mind was written and inspired by
an Abby Lincoln record called straight Ahead. And there's a
song on the album called in the Red and the
composer and trumpeter Booker Little he wrote it to and
he like, there's no defined time on the song. It's
all like conducted, but it's like kind of slow and suspenseful,
(13:50):
and he wrote it because he wanted to mimic or
mirror the suspense that people feel when they're broke and
when they're in the red. And I just thought about
that tool, like that musical tool of like, oh so
I didn't I didn't realize you could do that and
express that kind of feeling through music. And if I did.
I just didn't know it consciously.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
I'm totally channelling you out right now.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
And so with my first song, there's no defined time
because it kind of came after the Grammys and I
was feeling a little bit uncertain. There were people kind
of projecting what they felt I should do. You have
this attention, you can do anything, you can sing anything, yeah,
or make the same record that you did that you know,
and so I was just like, I don't want to
do that, which is not a new feeling. Every artist
(14:33):
has had to make that decision at one point or another,
and so I was feeling that, and that uncertainty matched
the suspense that I heard on that song, and so
I wanted to write something that was dissonant that eventually
had a constant resolution, which is Dreams Come True by
Son Raw. But that feeling of being uncertain, of wondering
what decision to make, of feeling like I'm trying to
(14:53):
stay grounded by my life is just changing so much,
and so I wanted to present that in the song,
and so that was my inspiration for songwriting. At the time.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
I guess, uh, do you have siblings? Are you the
only child?
Speaker 2 (15:05):
I have four siblings.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Where do you fall in the.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
Second to last? I have three older siblings and one younger.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
And are they also artistically inclined?
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Yeah. My eldest brother, he was like in the early
two thousands, he was like writing for Genuine and work
with doctor Dre and all these different people. Is Antonio Okay,
Antonio McLendon. My sister not so much. She sings when
she's like around us, but she's more of a she's
more of a business woman. My second oldest brother, Daniel,
(15:38):
he was the one who put me onto Voodoo and
you know he was he was listening to Kanye like
he was listening. Sorry, I don't want to mention all
these names out here, but but he was listening to
a lot of stuff that I just hadn't seen or
hadn't really been exposed to, Like Ryan Leslie. I had
never listened to Diamond Girl and was like, I was like,
(15:58):
what this is crazy? On ye sure, it was like,
oh iTunes. I never I don't have my own laptop,
so I don't know what that is. And my younger
brother's into it too. But I think I think we're
all musically inclined to one way or another. But they
all influenced me in.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
An I gotta know what is it like recording at
Van Gelder's studio. And I have to say, of the
ten albums of Note that I know that we're recorded
there in the last five years, yours is the only
record that I feel really takes advantage of why that
(16:40):
studio is so important.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Thank you, because thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
Yeah, because the thing was I listened to it and
when I got to the fourth song, I stopped it,
and then I went to my boys record and I'm like, wait,
this sounds like this smooth jazz, like this is me.
And I was just under the impression I always wanted
to go there to record, but after nine or ten
(17:05):
records where I'm like, well, wait a minute, besides the
physical space like different is it like? And I was
just so that I've been recording all my joins in Brooklyn,
where the dap Kings are and whatever where it feels,
and when I heard your record, I was like, wait
a minute, it's possible, So what gives.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
I wanted to match the chemistry that my band shout
out to my septeent, that my band had built on
stage and the setting that we have where it's me,
then the horns, and then the rhythm section. I wanted
we've built this chemistry of playing together and matching each
other's dynamics and stuff on stage. I didn't want that
to go away and have to hear everybody through headphones.
(17:44):
So I had the drums in the room. Rudy van
Guelder is perfect. Shout out Maureen and Don Sickler. It
was an incredible, incredible and Brie Lynch it is an
incredible room. It is an incredible room and it's perfect
for acoustic music. Drums in the room, horns in the room, piano,
I think the only thing no base was in the
room as well. I was the only one who was
isolated because I make mistakes and I want to fix them.
(18:05):
But other than that, I wanted to capture the same
acoustic sound and that feeling that we get when we
play together. And so everything was like two to three takes, Max.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
What you talked? You serious? Yeah, Well how long did
pre production take?
Speaker 2 (18:19):
I mean pre production was touring, so we were on
the road for two years. We went into the.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Studio, but even when you're in a room together, they
have to place things perfectly.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Once we got adjusted, though, two to three takes eighteen
songs three days.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Are you ever going to return to that studio?
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Absolutely, Okay, we're friends now. Before I give them my business,
I just want to witness this happening, because I refuse
to believe that I was just on the impression that
it'll never sound nothing will sound as good as any
of the blue note stuff that he did, or any.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Of the and they have so many great Mike's too.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Yes, amazing, That's what I'm saying. How did you figure
out the code that no one else figured out?
Speaker 2 (19:08):
The thing is Maureen, she's the only one. She's the
only protege of Rudy van Gelder, and so she knows everything,
the radar system that they use, all the buttons and stuff.
They're all named in sort of an unorthodox way, and
she's the only one. Like, nobody's allowed.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Behind Yeah, are they preset or they're not?
Speaker 2 (19:25):
I think she sets them, but nobody's allowed behind her
and behind the board. You can't be behind the board.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
So okay, one of those studios. Yeah, what is these
significance behind the dear Beverly name for your imprint? What's
the story behind that?
Speaker 2 (19:43):
My late aunt Beverly was a pianist and a vocalist,
and the only time I met her was when I
was just born. I was born on November eleventh, and
a couple and a couple of weeks later was Thanksgiving
and she was sick, and so she was kind of
she was a little bit weak physically, and she got
(20:05):
the chance to hold me a couple weeks after I
was born, and that was the only time I ever
met her. And since then, everybody says that I sound
like her, and I even look like her sometimes.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
The genetics, Yeah, that's where it comes in.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
And so I wanted to name the imprint in honor
of her.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
How did you choose the ensemble that worked with you
on these and even with their producers? I know, Brian Lynch, like,
how do you go about choosing this album?
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Was our first time meeting and working together. He's arranged
and he's played with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers,
but he also arranges and composes in his own right.
And because this band disorted my first my first time
playing with a larger ensemble with horns, how many pieces
seven four horns, trumpet, alto, sacks, tenor sax and trombone,
(20:51):
in rhythm section. I wanted to have somebody who had
an ear for that music, but who also didn't try
to come in and assume themselves as higher us, because
we were the ones who I mean, the writers in
the band are the horn players and the pianists, so
they're the ones who are writing and we're the ones
who are shaping it. And so I think he came
in with an attitude, in a mindset of helping us
(21:12):
and supporting us and not necessarily overtaking or anything like that.
So I don't know, it just kind of came about.
The band came about through multiple connections. I met the
trombonist and tenor saxophonists in college, and the tenor saxophonist,
Kendrick McAllister went to He has friends who went to
Frost School of Music, University of Miami, and he also
(21:34):
went to high school with them, and so that's how
I met the alto saxophonists and trumpet Jason and David,
and the rhythm section I kind of just met on
the scene on the New York scene, jam sessions and whatnot.
So it was multiple connections.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
You said my band a few times, like do you
plan on keeping this unit or because oftentimes with jazz
musicians it's almost like you meet who got called for
the gig. Sometimes that's a weird I don't know if
I could live that life. Like I love the fact
that I played with the same people because we know
each other, we know where we're going.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
And I plan on keeping this ensemble because we've grown
so much in the years that we've played together already,
and now recently we got the chance. They got the
chance to write for orchestra for the first time, and
so now we have stuff on the books with Atlanta Symphony,
Chicago Symphony, New Yorkville, and I just feel like we've
grown and we've developed and we've learned each other. But
(22:29):
there's so much more to learn. But now it seems
like they can write and not necessarily think of something
for piano or something for trumpet, but it's for the
person and for the range that they can handle, in
the style and the attitude they can write for people.
So yeah, we've learned each other to a point where
I think it can grow even more.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Is there a desire to ever record sound? Weird? Saying
a modern sound modern for what you know period, a
modern sounding LPI to pull in algio to do a
soul album or whatever, like something outside of jazz. Do
(23:09):
you have space for that yet or you're still just
one step at a time.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
I think one step at a time. But a way
that I try to explore and express that side is
with my family. And so I recorded the full Holy
Night with them right with my grandfather and you know,
with my cousins and my dad and uncle. And it
was such a great recording with Sullivan Fortner on the organ.
Incredible that hopefully we get the chance to do an
EP because my dad has like he has an arrangement
(23:37):
of Mary did you know in Silent Night that we
did on the last tour. That's really cool. We wrote
an original song together.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
Nice.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
So yeah, maybe a holiday EP at some point. We can,
you know, make it a little more fusion.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
I guess I feel incorrect in saying this since you
are of the Elmo generation. Wow, actually you're younger than
tip me Almo. Do you know this thing called tip
me Elma? They came out there. Wait seriously, no, wait,
I was kind of joking, but now he just stabbed
Explain it.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
Explain it? Maybe I do.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
I'm just remembering, you know, Elmo was a character on
Sesame Street, yes, which I was leading to. Was it
like being on Sesame Street? Oh?
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Sorry, it was in the recesses of.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
My But I also realized that Tickle Me Elmo came
out in ninety six, and that was that was okay great.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
I was not born back get it?
Speaker 1 (24:28):
Okay, okay, you get it.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
You were in first grade when songs in the Key
of Life came out. That is I'm still on that.
But anyway, Sayesmey Street was amazing. Sayesmey Street was so dope.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
Did you find yourself talk? Okay? So my one of
my former co hosts of this podcast, Unpaid Bill, he's
probably the person that brought you on the show. I
did the show once and during breaks, I actually found
myself engaging in real conversations with the muppets, and maybe
seven minutes into the conversation, I was like, wait a minute,
I'm not crazy, You're the one that's crazy. I'm still
(25:00):
like talking to me. But they told me the role
that they're not allowed to put the muppets down in
front of kids or whatever, so they had to stay
in character.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
So it was wild. I was still looking at the
people while the cameras were rolling, and so one of
my friends like, fixed your face to stop looking at
the people on the ground. You need to be talking
to the bumpets. And so I was like, you're right,
let me smile and talk for the kids at home.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
So it was.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
Enjoyable, nice, It was so much fun.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
What's the three best concerts you ever been to?
Speaker 2 (25:29):
My first one was Aretha Franklin at NJ Pack. I
was like eleven years old and I was right next
to the spotlight.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
That's how I was eleven years old.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Those bleeds.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
So this is twenty ten. Yeah, oh god, is this
where she did Touch My Body by Mariah Carey.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
I don't remember that I did that really?
Speaker 1 (25:45):
Oh hell yeah, Oh my god. Arena, Oh one night
she like seduced Maxwell was like she was wild. Yeah,
she's wild, all.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
Right in peace. I think the second is more recent.
I saw the reuniontor at the Barclay Center in Brooklyn
with Kirk Franklin and the Clark sisters and Belanda Adams
and Marvin Sapp and all these people. And the third one,
I actually just went to the Vanguard. I've been to
the Vanguard a couple of times, but McBride was there
(26:16):
for his two week residency. I've seen Chris Potter there
like it's always amazing.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
Yeah, I went last week to see him and told
him I think next year I'll do one with him.
Chris and I have a very unhealthy relationship to worshiping
James Brown and the worships so deep that James Brown,
I believe, is the only figure that is incapable of
(26:41):
knowing what mediocrity is. And I'm saying that you usually,
when we dismissed our artists or like whatever, it's never
because it's bad songs. It's because it's just mediocre. It's like,
all right, we heard that before. It's nothing special. James
Brown will either change your life by redefining music or
(27:07):
it's just so laughably humorous that to me it's even
more genius. And so Chris and I kind of secretly,
even though we're the number one and number two disciples
of James Brown, behind closed doors, we only love his
(27:27):
horrible work. It's an obsession. But you know, like something
so bad it's great, That's what I'm saying. Like everything
James Brown does is classic, including when he fails. He
fails spectacularly, like horrible songs. So we want to do
kind of a tribute band to only his bad period.
(27:49):
The way to make that distinction is if he has
a mustache with Yeah, the mustache period of James Brown
is that means the music's.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
Not that good in loud and saying nothing, it's one
of my favorite songs.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
Well, that's that's the good size a. He's right along, right,
but for goodness sakes, take a look at those cakes.
Is the mustache period of James Brown? So yeah, the
titles alone, right, the titles alone, he cannot fail. Even
when he's failing. It's it's life change. I assume you
(28:22):
sort of gloss the earth a couple of times and
touring what is the most beautiful city you've ever performed in?
What's your what's the city that you love performing in
the most?
Speaker 2 (28:33):
I think it's a tie between Paris and Bologna.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
Really, what is it about in Italy?
Speaker 2 (28:43):
I don't know. Paris is obviously so charming, and I've
been there so many times and it still feels new,
and it still feels like there's more to discover. Same
with Italy. I haven't gone as as often as I
want to, but it's so charming, that people are amazing.
I feel like I can get around and learn the
language a little little bit right and get myself, you know,
at least a cup of tea or something. Maybe not
(29:05):
a whole conversation.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
But if I could have a life redo. My relationship
to Europe is just a little bit different because the
first four years of The Roots life, like we ran
away from home, stole our budget and got a flat
in London and lived in Europe. We're soon going to
do a scripted series based on our Fish out of
(29:29):
Water experience and living in Europe. Wow. So like my
experiences in Paris is like, it's not Paris unless someone's
pulling a knife out on you and chasing you through
the streets. And really, oh we're staying in like two
star prostitute motels. I mean we're broke. You know. You
get the pillow, you get the comforter, you get the blanket,
(29:50):
this dinner tonight, bread and cheese, like we were. There's
nothing like being a broke musician living in Europe. Like
I know jazz musician that would tell me they would
book you know, like the summers where you right half
those cats tell me that, oh we don't even book
(30:11):
like hotels. It's like at the end of the night
they got to find somebody hook up with so that
they can stay at our house or literally had Oh
I'm serious, that's how That's how bad the Brokers is.
So I love the fact that that, yeah, that you
like appreciate, Like you talk about Italy, I'm like, oh, man,
the time they thought we were the Nigerian drug cartel,
(30:34):
like arresting us in them in the laundry mat Oh,
yeah it was. We We have a lot of crazy stories,
but I'm glad that those are your experiences. What city
would you like to retire and if you don't retire
in your native New York, what city would you ever consider,
(30:54):
Like when all said and done, this is where this
is my final stop, or you're in New York to
the bone, I.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
Think I want to stay in New York, or at
least near it. With all the beautiful places that we've
had the opportunity to go, I still can't imagine, Like
New York just feels like my home base. I will
eventually probably want grass at some point, and not just
be because I live in Harlem now, So that's true,
just a little.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
I got a farm.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
State, Like, there's what about those taxes?
Speaker 1 (31:24):
Yeah, well, dude, I mean, what look what we do
for a living. I know, I know, I get it.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
I mean I used to visit my cousin in Poughkeepsie
all the time, and it's beautiful up there, so it's possible.
And I love since you're Subway people, Metro North, Amtrak.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
You're young, you're in the twenties, trust me when you
get up there.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Huh on a farm.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
I panic purchased during the pandemic a farm. Yeah. No,
it was great. It was and it was the only
time normally should have been that for me to purchase.
I'll just say this much. It just happened to be.
If you remember in twenty twenty, the week that George
(32:09):
Floyd happened during the pandemic, that is when all of
upper echelon New York was like, oh, they're going to
decend the right and literally I guess this couple that
they were in their eighties, like if you live in
this part, that's your third house, you know, like people
like oh, I have a house up state and da
(32:30):
da da dah. That's not their main house. That's like
you know, they stay there a month or two. Literally,
like their kids are calling from the Swiss house, like
we gotta get mom and dad all before they destroyed
New York, you know, so thanks to the fear of
Black Lives matter. Literally in two days, they moved their
parents out of the United States and sold me that
place dirt cheap. It's still being worked on, so there's
(32:52):
a lot of work had to be done, but it's
I never thought that I would embrace trees and quiet
and as and like I wanted to live in the
city and the chaos and all that stuff. But I'd
learned the power of silence. Ideas come to you song,
ideas come to you when it's dead silent.
Speaker 2 (33:12):
And now you can just play the drums whenever you want,
no disturbing of any neighbor. I guess you'd do that anyway.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
I'm pass that drum. I'm talking about movies and writing
books in the world leadership, oh drumming whatever, I'll drum for.
Speaker 3 (33:26):
You when things get stressful.
Speaker 1 (33:42):
What is your have you allowed yourself as self care routine?
Speaker 2 (33:47):
I'm working on it now. See the thing, when you're
on tour, you don't I don't really have one, or
it just changes by the day. But now, at least
for the next two months, I've like deleted all social
media and if I allow log onto it to my laptop,
it's only to check messages. I check out and make
a list of all the books that I've bought and
haven't read throughout the year, and and start. I just
(34:09):
finished Warmth of other Sons by Isabelle workers In on
the Great Migration is beautiful. I put a face mask
in because I bought when we went to Korea. I
bought so much skincare stuff I haven't used yet, and
so I'm like, oh, this serum, okay, in this face mask.
I put it in the in the fridge for a
couple of minutes.
Speaker 1 (34:27):
How I snuck them back to the States, I don't
know how, but literally, when I came from a.
Speaker 2 (34:32):
Full suitcase of all the same care products I could have.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
I had to kipling bags of just broke road masks
because they never think about the beer true, so oh
my god, yeah they got road masks.
Speaker 2 (34:44):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
I'm fighting to stay.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
I cook, at least I try to. I like learn
recipes nice and bake like I love making sweet potato pie.
And I don't like asking my aunt to like make
them all the time, Like I have to make them
for myself at this point. So I'm learning how to
make the podcast and all that kind of stuff. Yeah,
I just sort of tap into stuff I don't get
the chance to do. You got to go all right?
Speaker 1 (35:07):
As we wrap up, all right, what is the emoji
that you overuse?
Speaker 2 (35:12):
The crying one? But I use it as a way
of life, A laughter. I was going to say all
the time?
Speaker 1 (35:17):
All right, gotcha. So most people will do a jazz
album as a departure album. If you were to do
a departure album, what genre are you picking? Drill rock or.
Speaker 2 (35:35):
Such an old head? I probably want to do something
like in the style of Donny Hathaway, Donny Hathaway than you.
How does that one? But I have nothing. It's like
one of my favorite Donny Hathaway ROBERTA. Flack duets, as
well as of course like where's the Love?
Speaker 1 (35:54):
And you have you ever met Leila?
Speaker 2 (35:57):
Yes? Yes I have. She's so dope.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
Yeah, she's incredible. So my last question to you, what
is the one thing you hope that we say about
you when all is said and done, when you have
a full cannon under your belt? And you're in the
sunset of it all. What's the thing that you want
(36:22):
us to say about you.
Speaker 2 (36:24):
I hope that people say she's true to her music,
but she was also a very genuine person. Like I
never like to leave anybody, any single person, whether it's
an uber driver or you know, security guard or whoever,
with a bad impression. And I always tell everybody good morning.
So I hope they realized that I was authentic in
my music. I never strayed for the sake of relevance
(36:47):
or popularity. I wanted it to be something of substance
no matter what, whether people listened or not. And I
was genuine.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
From the bottom of my heart. I thank you. I
you know, I don't even want to do the hyperbolic
like now I believe in music again, like it's all
writing on your shoulders and your shoulders only. But yeah,
I really absolutely just baffled by your talent and the
potential of what you have to offer and where you
(37:18):
put your Grammys.
Speaker 2 (37:20):
I keep it with my parents, but they moved.
Speaker 1 (37:22):
Okay, Well that's that's that's good. Usually artists do the
thing I used to keep them in the bathroom. Oh,
just as a I don't care Raphaels used to make
his like a doorstopper. Oh my god, John Legend broke his. Yeah,
but then I can't.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
Look at it. If I look at it, and I'll
be like, I gotta practice today, you know, I can
take a day.
Speaker 1 (37:44):
Well. The thing is, I used to be dismissive of it,
and then I started dating someone and she was like,
you're a little too self deprecating, Like these are coming
out the bathroom, yeah, and we are putting them. Yeah,
We're letting you celebrate yourself.
Speaker 2 (38:01):
So that's uh, one day when I'm actually done. But
it's not done yet.
Speaker 1 (38:07):
It's never done. If I want to thank you for
doing the Quest Love Show and you're one of my favorites,
thank you.
Speaker 2 (38:13):
Likewise, thank you.
Speaker 1 (38:18):
Quest Loft Show is hosted by me Amir quest Love Thompson.
The executive producers are Sean g Brian Calhoun and Me.
Produced by Britney Benjamin and Jacob Payne. Produced for iHeart
by Noel Brown, Edited by Alex Conroy. iHeart video support
(38:40):
by Mark Canton, Logos Graphics and animation by Nick Plowe.
Additional support by Lance Coleman. Special thanks to Kathy Brown.
Special thanks to Sugar Steve Mandel. Please subscribe, rate, review,
and share the Quest Love Show wherever you stream your podcast,
(39:02):
make sure you follow us on socials that's at q LS.
Check out hundreds and hundreds of QLs episodes, including the
Quest of Supreme shows and our podcast archives. Quest Love
Show is a production of iHeartRadio.
Quest Love Show is a production of iHeart Radio people.
What's Up? This is Quest Love And last week we
brought you part one of my in studio conversation with
Samara Joy. At the top of the month, she'll be
competing for two Grammy Awards, all right, including Best Vocal
(00:22):
Jazz Album for a Late Selpe Portrait. If you haven't
heard already, to make sure you spend time with that album.
And with part one of this interview, this is where
I really got to learn her story and dig into
her craft. So part two we're gonna have a little
more fun. We talked about her time in the studio,
her ensemble, and yes, where she gives her Grammy Awards.
She's already one, all right, enjoy What was your first
(00:47):
job ever?
Speaker 2 (00:49):
I was a cashier at shopwrite part time?
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Okay? What album have you committed to Memory from start
to finish? No Skips, perfect album.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
The Audience with Betty Carter. That's live with John Hicks
on piano, Curtis Lundy on bass, in Kenny Washington on drums.
And he was actually my professor, but he was eighteen
years old.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Kenny Washington. It's nothing like I Got Gods with me.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
I mean, he was an incredible professor but also an
amazing musician. I've gotten to play with him. But that
album Betty Carter, she does things, the arrangements, the songs,
the compositions.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
I love it, Okay, So it's kind of mad libby.
The singer to whom everyone compares you to is.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Saravon.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
However, the singer that you really pattern in your style after.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Is Oh my gosh, Carmen McCrae.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
I'd love you say that if you can ever find
there's a rendition she does of a song called The
Mystery of Man. Got to look it up. It's devastating
to hear, like just the way that she emotes in
her voice. But what is it about Carmen mc Honestly?
Speaker 2 (02:01):
I think it's that, like she she's not necessarily mos
acrobatic of singers. She comes from the school of Billie Holliday,
as she says so herself, like that's one of her
main inspirations, and so I think she just kind of
gets right to the heart of a song, you know,
And that's something I feel like I need to learn.
It's like, as I'm learning the possibilities of what you
can do with your voice. There's also something to be
(02:22):
said about having taste and knowing when to withhold and
knowing you knows more. Yeah, so I just in some cases.
And so I feel like I listened to her over
and over again, and I find something new every time,
even if it's the simplest, you know, idea or riff
or And she was also pianist too, So I admire
that because I feel like she could pick out the
(02:43):
pretty notes to improvise on on a melody that still
go along with the chords without you know, maybe disrupting.
But her rhythm was insane too, So yeah, I think
her the way that she improvises on a melody, the
way that her feel is like rhythmically interacting with the bank.
And that's what I love.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
What other instruments do you play?
Speaker 2 (03:03):
I used to play bass electric.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Used to, I mean like you forget after I used to.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
I used to because my dad he got me a
Fender jazz bas for Christmas, along with our brothers Johnson
Record and a couple more so, I was like learning
their songs. Actually, host Johnson is like my I love
his playing to the point where I was I looked
up like an educational video that he did from the eighties. Yes,
and I started off with I was like, Okay, I
(03:29):
think that's time for me to put it out. Actually,
but I play piano now, but I used to play bass.
I miss it.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Okay. Uh, name me an artist that we would be shocked.
Is an influence on you or that we didn't see coming?
Speaker 2 (03:48):
I don't know if I'm non jazz predictable.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
You know, how's your Metallica history? How's your I.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Feel like I'm so predictable. I don't know. My My
origins are pretty clear. Hmmm. As far as lyricists, do
you know of a lady named Margo Gierian. No, she
only released one album to her name, but she's from
Long Island and she is She was a vocalist. I
(04:19):
can't remember what the name of the album is. I
think it's like sing a song or something like that.
But she's a really dope lyricist. And I've been learning
how to write lyrics to jazz compositions and she did
that a lot.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
So yeah, I was going to ask you about your
vocal least game because I'm realizing that y're like.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
She wrote lyrics to an ornate Coleman composition called Lonely Woman.
It's unbelievable. So she's one that I that I look
up to that might be unexpected.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Okay, I'm skipping now because since she brought it up. Okay,
So in portrait of course, you know, every jazz artist
does the American Songbook, you know, and they'll choose the
safe ones. They'll choose autumn leaves or whatever. But you're
like the you lay the gauntlet down, like you're choosing
like Mingus' craziest period, even with sun Rot, so with
(05:07):
Mingus alone. And I have an obsession and a love
for jazz vocalise and you know, name it King Pleasure,
Eddie Jefferson, Lambert Lambert Hendricks and Ross like all of
the for our listeners. Vocalist is where I guess the
rule is basically, you add lyrics to an existing jazz
(05:32):
song and do you have to follow the pattern of
what the solo is.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
You can, And I started off doing that, like writing
lyrics only to the well writing lyrics to the melody
and the solo. But now I just kind of write
lyrics to the melody because the solo can be a
little hard, a challenging when people doing triplets and sixteenth
notes and stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
So have you ever heard the grand Royal of all
jazz vocalist posse cuts? Have you heard Freddy Freeloader by
Yes Farren?
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (06:03):
Yeah, all right. So during the pandemic, that was one
of my favorite exercises. I would DJ like five hours
online and I think one night I read the comments
where someone was telling me that there's a story of
how Hendrix like literally micromanaged Bob McFerrin, George Benson and
Algio to follow the Coltrane Miles solos on the original
(06:26):
Freddy Freeloader, And I was like no, and I stopped
the record and I put both albums up and played
them and realize, oh god, they're literally they left no
stone unturned. So with vocalists, gee, and you started on
the highest mountain, you started only Mount Fiji. How did
(06:49):
you even decide for that particular song? Like because Mingus
is frightening to conquer?
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Yeah, I mean, it's a blessing to have memusicians around
you who put you on, for lack of a better word,
like musicians they like I didn't listen to Sun Raw
or Mingus before the band that I currently work with
and so they're you know, listening to songs on their
own time. They're listening to Mendelssohn and Revel and all
this kind of stuff, and I'm just listening and absorbing.
(07:18):
And so when I heard Reincarnation of Lovebird by Mingus,
I realized that even though the melody is complex, it's
still melodic, it's still lyrical, and I had the crazy
idea to put words to it. And you know, standards
one of I guess, or the bedrock of jazz music.
You hear so many musicians, Max Roach, Bennigolsen, Miles playing
(07:40):
standards and adding their own flair while also writing their
own composition. So there's merit to doing it. But I
guess they all learned form, they learn harmony, they learned
ways to make the songs their own, and then wrote
their own composition. So I guess that's how I tried
to do it, as learned standards, learn you know.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
That's literally the best way to learn jazz is vocal wise,
Like walk me through the process of I listened to
the original and even as far as your lyric phrasing
and whatnot, Like how long did it take.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
You to Oh, it took me like to learn the song.
It took me at least six months because there were
certain parts of it that I just couldn't I had
to like slow it down because I couldn't hear like
the exact pitches, and I need it in order to
be able to think of words. Yeah, I have to
like internalize the song and be able to sing it
(08:34):
without the recording. And of course the arranger at the
time had the idea for me to sing it completely
acapella before all the music.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
That's what I say, and like, what the hell, you know?
Speaker 2 (08:45):
And it took me. It took me another couple of
months to write the words to it because it's such
a deep song. I wanted the words to kind of
reflect that and be a compelling story that doesn't take
away from the melody and take away from the story
the melody is already telling. So yeah, it was a process,
but I love singing it and now I feel like
I've added another layer, you know, And I'm able to
(09:06):
sing complex melodies that might not be written for voice,
but you know, I can if it's in a certain
key and in a certain range, I can make it happen.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
So will you try to conquer old Faris Sanders or
Don Cherry or like, when you get into free.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Jazz, maybe there's a vocalist, the one who sung Lonely
Woman by Ornat Coleman, Jean Lee. She does she's like more.
I guess she's classified as avant garde or free and
she played with this pianist called Ran Blake, and so
listening to her music and the stuff that she does
with Anthony Braxton and stuff, I'm like, there's there's something here.
I don't know quite yet. I'm still digging, but who knows.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
God damn, I never thought I'd mean someone who outschools
me my own podcast. I want to know more sitting.
You were born in Castle Hill? Yeah, right, all right,
So that's not exactly the South. When I hear the Bronx,
of course, I think of like, oh, well, hip hop
started the Bronx projects. Isn't exactly the South Bronx. So
what are your earliest memories or your fondest memories of
(10:06):
growing up in Castle Hill?
Speaker 2 (10:08):
Well, it was my grandma's house. She bought it. She
was from Virginia. She moved to Philly and then she
bought that house. I want to say, in the sixties
maybe late fifties, early sixties, because she wanted a family
house and she wanted to be able to host people
and have family and just have a place where we
all could kind of settle. And so I grew up
in that house. I grew up with her, and I
(10:30):
grew up, you know, being friendly with the neighbors and
my brother. You know, they're playing basketball outside my grandma,
you know, making food, salmon croquettes and all that kind
of stuff.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
So you're saying that, technically you should be a Philadelphian.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
I know, there's so many connections leading towards that. I'm
that's adjacent, that's home.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
And then there was just a migration to the Bronx.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Yeah, I don't know how it happened.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Got it? Okay? Do you still have family in Philly? Like?
Speaker 2 (10:58):
Yes, yeah, all spread out. God, my grandfather still lives
in West Philly.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
All right, So what TV show would best describe your childhood? Great? Now,
I feel another like.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
No, I actually did watch Saturday like cartoons and stuff.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
Okay, so cartoons still existed when you in your memory back,
So what TV show best describes your childhood?
Speaker 2 (11:24):
This is not a cartoon, but that's a Raven. I
guess maybe that's still new school.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
No, that's old school now, Okay, Raven's forty.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
My uncle used to also burn CDs of like Looney
Tunes and The Jackson's Variety Show and stuff, So I
used to watch that too.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Man, it's so dope. All right, who's your first celebrity crush?
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Oh my gosh. It was probably from some Disney Channel movie,
maybe like zac Efron or something. Probably gotcha, which means
it was ultimately Corby and Blue as well. So I'll
say those two.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
I'm gonna pretend I know what those are.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
What's the.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
The style of cooking?
Speaker 1 (12:03):
I know, did posters adorn your childhood bedroom? And if so,
who was there?
Speaker 2 (12:22):
I had a mix of posters. See, we would go
to Blockbuster. I went to Blockbuster. I did rent DVDs
You were.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
You was so born in.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
And so they would have like I think it was
like Tiger Beat, like teen magazines, and my mom had
a standing subscription with Jet in essence, and so it
was a combination of like teen magazines and you know,
black magazines that were on my walls.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Got it, Okay, So I'm kind of placing a position
as a musician where I'm judged by pop rules and
hip hop, so everything's circular, looped and whatnot. And often
I'm told, like, just keep the song as simple as possible.
What is your process for writing original composition? Like what
(13:14):
ritual do you have? Do you need to be in
a space alone with your thoughts or is it you
and someone else riffing and figuring out what it is.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
I don't write as much original material as I should.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
Eventually, you will say.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
I would say the one that I have that's on
the album Peace of Mind was written and inspired by
an Abby Lincoln record called straight Ahead. And there's a
song on the album called in the Red and the
composer and trumpeter Booker Little he wrote it to and
he like, there's no defined time on the song. It's
all like conducted, but it's like kind of slow and suspenseful,
(13:50):
and he wrote it because he wanted to mimic or
mirror the suspense that people feel when they're broke and
when they're in the red. And I just thought about
that tool, like that musical tool of like, oh so
I didn't I didn't realize you could do that and
express that kind of feeling through music. And if I did.
I just didn't know it consciously.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
I'm totally channelling you out right now.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
And so with my first song, there's no defined time
because it kind of came after the Grammys and I
was feeling a little bit uncertain. There were people kind
of projecting what they felt I should do. You have
this attention, you can do anything, you can sing anything, yeah,
or make the same record that you did that you know,
and so I was just like, I don't want to
do that, which is not a new feeling. Every artist
(14:33):
has had to make that decision at one point or another,
and so I was feeling that, and that uncertainty matched
the suspense that I heard on that song, and so
I wanted to write something that was dissonant that eventually
had a constant resolution, which is Dreams Come True by
Son Raw. But that feeling of being uncertain, of wondering
what decision to make, of feeling like I'm trying to
(14:53):
stay grounded by my life is just changing so much,
and so I wanted to present that in the song,
and so that was my inspiration for songwriting. At the time.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
I guess, uh, do you have siblings? Are you the
only child?
Speaker 2 (15:05):
I have four siblings.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Where do you fall in the.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
Second to last? I have three older siblings and one younger.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
And are they also artistically inclined?
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Yeah. My eldest brother, he was like in the early
two thousands, he was like writing for Genuine and work
with doctor Dre and all these different people. Is Antonio Okay,
Antonio McLendon. My sister not so much. She sings when
she's like around us, but she's more of a she's
more of a business woman. My second oldest brother, Daniel,
(15:38):
he was the one who put me onto Voodoo and
you know he was he was listening to Kanye like
he was listening. Sorry, I don't want to mention all
these names out here, but but he was listening to
a lot of stuff that I just hadn't seen or
hadn't really been exposed to, Like Ryan Leslie. I had
never listened to Diamond Girl and was like, I was like,
(15:58):
what this is crazy? On ye sure, it was like,
oh iTunes. I never I don't have my own laptop,
so I don't know what that is. And my younger
brother's into it too. But I think I think we're
all musically inclined to one way or another. But they
all influenced me in.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
An I gotta know what is it like recording at
Van Gelder's studio. And I have to say, of the
ten albums of Note that I know that we're recorded
there in the last five years, yours is the only
record that I feel really takes advantage of why that
(16:40):
studio is so important.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Thank you, because thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
Yeah, because the thing was I listened to it and
when I got to the fourth song, I stopped it,
and then I went to my boys record and I'm like, wait,
this sounds like this smooth jazz, like this is me.
And I was just under the impression I always wanted
to go there to record, but after nine or ten
(17:05):
records where I'm like, well, wait a minute, besides the
physical space like different is it like? And I was
just so that I've been recording all my joins in Brooklyn,
where the dap Kings are and whatever where it feels,
and when I heard your record, I was like, wait
a minute, it's possible, So what gives.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
I wanted to match the chemistry that my band shout
out to my septeent, that my band had built on
stage and the setting that we have where it's me,
then the horns, and then the rhythm section. I wanted
we've built this chemistry of playing together and matching each
other's dynamics and stuff on stage. I didn't want that
to go away and have to hear everybody through headphones.
(17:44):
So I had the drums in the room. Rudy van
Guelder is perfect. Shout out Maureen and Don Sickler. It
was an incredible, incredible and Brie Lynch it is an
incredible room. It is an incredible room and it's perfect
for acoustic music. Drums in the room, horns in the room, piano,
I think the only thing no base was in the
room as well. I was the only one who was
isolated because I make mistakes and I want to fix them.
(18:05):
But other than that, I wanted to capture the same
acoustic sound and that feeling that we get when we
play together. And so everything was like two to three takes, Max.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
What you talked? You serious? Yeah, Well how long did
pre production take?
Speaker 2 (18:19):
I mean pre production was touring, so we were on
the road for two years. We went into the.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Studio, but even when you're in a room together, they
have to place things perfectly.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Once we got adjusted, though, two to three takes eighteen
songs three days.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Are you ever going to return to that studio?
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Absolutely, Okay, we're friends now. Before I give them my business,
I just want to witness this happening, because I refuse
to believe that I was just on the impression that
it'll never sound nothing will sound as good as any
of the blue note stuff that he did, or any.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Of the and they have so many great Mike's too.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Yes, amazing, That's what I'm saying. How did you figure
out the code that no one else figured out?
Speaker 2 (19:08):
The thing is Maureen, she's the only one. She's the
only protege of Rudy van Gelder, and so she knows everything,
the radar system that they use, all the buttons and stuff.
They're all named in sort of an unorthodox way, and
she's the only one. Like, nobody's allowed.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Behind Yeah, are they preset or they're not?
Speaker 2 (19:25):
I think she sets them, but nobody's allowed behind her
and behind the board. You can't be behind the board.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
So okay, one of those studios. Yeah, what is these
significance behind the dear Beverly name for your imprint? What's
the story behind that?
Speaker 2 (19:43):
My late aunt Beverly was a pianist and a vocalist,
and the only time I met her was when I
was just born. I was born on November eleventh, and
a couple and a couple of weeks later was Thanksgiving
and she was sick, and so she was kind of
she was a little bit weak physically, and she got
(20:05):
the chance to hold me a couple weeks after I
was born, and that was the only time I ever
met her. And since then, everybody says that I sound
like her, and I even look like her sometimes.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
The genetics, Yeah, that's where it comes in.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
And so I wanted to name the imprint in honor
of her.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
How did you choose the ensemble that worked with you
on these and even with their producers? I know, Brian Lynch, like,
how do you go about choosing this album?
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Was our first time meeting and working together. He's arranged
and he's played with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers,
but he also arranges and composes in his own right.
And because this band disorted my first my first time
playing with a larger ensemble with horns, how many pieces
seven four horns, trumpet, alto, sacks, tenor sax and trombone,
(20:51):
in rhythm section. I wanted to have somebody who had
an ear for that music, but who also didn't try
to come in and assume themselves as higher us, because
we were the ones who I mean, the writers in
the band are the horn players and the pianists, so
they're the ones who are writing and we're the ones
who are shaping it. And so I think he came
in with an attitude, in a mindset of helping us
(21:12):
and supporting us and not necessarily overtaking or anything like that.
So I don't know, it just kind of came about.
The band came about through multiple connections. I met the
trombonist and tenor saxophonists in college, and the tenor saxophonist,
Kendrick McAllister went to He has friends who went to
Frost School of Music, University of Miami, and he also
(21:34):
went to high school with them, and so that's how
I met the alto saxophonists and trumpet Jason and David,
and the rhythm section I kind of just met on
the scene on the New York scene, jam sessions and whatnot.
So it was multiple connections.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
You said my band a few times, like do you
plan on keeping this unit or because oftentimes with jazz
musicians it's almost like you meet who got called for
the gig. Sometimes that's a weird I don't know if
I could live that life. Like I love the fact
that I played with the same people because we know
each other, we know where we're going.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
And I plan on keeping this ensemble because we've grown
so much in the years that we've played together already,
and now recently we got the chance. They got the
chance to write for orchestra for the first time, and
so now we have stuff on the books with Atlanta Symphony,
Chicago Symphony, New Yorkville, and I just feel like we've
grown and we've developed and we've learned each other. But
(22:29):
there's so much more to learn. But now it seems
like they can write and not necessarily think of something
for piano or something for trumpet, but it's for the
person and for the range that they can handle, in
the style and the attitude they can write for people.
So yeah, we've learned each other to a point where
I think it can grow even more.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Is there a desire to ever record sound? Weird? Saying
a modern sound modern for what you know period, a
modern sounding LPI to pull in algio to do a
soul album or whatever, like something outside of jazz. Do
(23:09):
you have space for that yet or you're still just
one step at a time.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
I think one step at a time. But a way
that I try to explore and express that side is
with my family. And so I recorded the full Holy
Night with them right with my grandfather and you know,
with my cousins and my dad and uncle. And it
was such a great recording with Sullivan Fortner on the organ.
Incredible that hopefully we get the chance to do an
EP because my dad has like he has an arrangement
(23:37):
of Mary did you know in Silent Night that we
did on the last tour. That's really cool. We wrote
an original song together.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
Nice.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
So yeah, maybe a holiday EP at some point. We can,
you know, make it a little more fusion.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
I guess I feel incorrect in saying this since you
are of the Elmo generation. Wow, actually you're younger than
tip me Almo. Do you know this thing called tip
me Elma? They came out there. Wait seriously, no, wait,
I was kind of joking, but now he just stabbed
Explain it.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
Explain it? Maybe I do.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
I'm just remembering, you know, Elmo was a character on
Sesame Street, yes, which I was leading to. Was it
like being on Sesame Street? Oh?
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Sorry, it was in the recesses of.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
My But I also realized that Tickle Me Elmo came
out in ninety six, and that was that was okay great.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
I was not born back get it?
Speaker 1 (24:28):
Okay, okay, you get it.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
You were in first grade when songs in the Key
of Life came out. That is I'm still on that.
But anyway, Sayesmey Street was amazing. Sayesmey Street was so dope.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
Did you find yourself talk? Okay? So my one of
my former co hosts of this podcast, Unpaid Bill, he's
probably the person that brought you on the show. I
did the show once and during breaks, I actually found
myself engaging in real conversations with the muppets, and maybe
seven minutes into the conversation, I was like, wait a minute,
I'm not crazy, You're the one that's crazy. I'm still
(25:00):
like talking to me. But they told me the role
that they're not allowed to put the muppets down in
front of kids or whatever, so they had to stay
in character.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
So it was wild. I was still looking at the
people while the cameras were rolling, and so one of
my friends like, fixed your face to stop looking at
the people on the ground. You need to be talking
to the bumpets. And so I was like, you're right,
let me smile and talk for the kids at home.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
So it was.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
Enjoyable, nice, It was so much fun.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
What's the three best concerts you ever been to?
Speaker 2 (25:29):
My first one was Aretha Franklin at NJ Pack. I
was like eleven years old and I was right next
to the spotlight.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
That's how I was eleven years old.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Those bleeds.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
So this is twenty ten. Yeah, oh god, is this
where she did Touch My Body by Mariah Carey.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
I don't remember that I did that really?
Speaker 1 (25:45):
Oh hell yeah, Oh my god. Arena, Oh one night
she like seduced Maxwell was like she was wild. Yeah,
she's wild, all.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
Right in peace. I think the second is more recent.
I saw the reuniontor at the Barclay Center in Brooklyn
with Kirk Franklin and the Clark sisters and Belanda Adams
and Marvin Sapp and all these people. And the third one,
I actually just went to the Vanguard. I've been to
the Vanguard a couple of times, but McBride was there
(26:16):
for his two week residency. I've seen Chris Potter there
like it's always amazing.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
Yeah, I went last week to see him and told
him I think next year I'll do one with him.
Chris and I have a very unhealthy relationship to worshiping
James Brown and the worships so deep that James Brown,
I believe, is the only figure that is incapable of
(26:41):
knowing what mediocrity is. And I'm saying that you usually,
when we dismissed our artists or like whatever, it's never
because it's bad songs. It's because it's just mediocre. It's like,
all right, we heard that before. It's nothing special. James
Brown will either change your life by redefining music or
(27:07):
it's just so laughably humorous that to me it's even
more genius. And so Chris and I kind of secretly,
even though we're the number one and number two disciples
of James Brown, behind closed doors, we only love his
(27:27):
horrible work. It's an obsession. But you know, like something
so bad it's great, That's what I'm saying. Like everything
James Brown does is classic, including when he fails. He
fails spectacularly, like horrible songs. So we want to do
kind of a tribute band to only his bad period.
(27:49):
The way to make that distinction is if he has
a mustache with Yeah, the mustache period of James Brown
is that means the music's.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
Not that good in loud and saying nothing, it's one
of my favorite songs.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
Well, that's that's the good size a. He's right along, right,
but for goodness sakes, take a look at those cakes.
Is the mustache period of James Brown? So yeah, the
titles alone, right, the titles alone, he cannot fail. Even
when he's failing. It's it's life change. I assume you
(28:22):
sort of gloss the earth a couple of times and
touring what is the most beautiful city you've ever performed in?
What's your what's the city that you love performing in
the most?
Speaker 2 (28:33):
I think it's a tie between Paris and Bologna.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
Really, what is it about in Italy?
Speaker 2 (28:43):
I don't know. Paris is obviously so charming, and I've
been there so many times and it still feels new,
and it still feels like there's more to discover. Same
with Italy. I haven't gone as as often as I
want to, but it's so charming, that people are amazing.
I feel like I can get around and learn the
language a little little bit right and get myself, you know,
at least a cup of tea or something. Maybe not
(29:05):
a whole conversation.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
But if I could have a life redo. My relationship
to Europe is just a little bit different because the
first four years of The Roots life, like we ran
away from home, stole our budget and got a flat
in London and lived in Europe. We're soon going to
do a scripted series based on our Fish out of
(29:29):
Water experience and living in Europe. Wow. So like my
experiences in Paris is like, it's not Paris unless someone's
pulling a knife out on you and chasing you through
the streets. And really, oh we're staying in like two
star prostitute motels. I mean we're broke. You know. You
get the pillow, you get the comforter, you get the blanket,
(29:50):
this dinner tonight, bread and cheese, like we were. There's
nothing like being a broke musician living in Europe. Like
I know jazz musician that would tell me they would
book you know, like the summers where you right half
those cats tell me that, oh we don't even book
(30:11):
like hotels. It's like at the end of the night
they got to find somebody hook up with so that
they can stay at our house or literally had Oh
I'm serious, that's how That's how bad the Brokers is.
So I love the fact that that, yeah, that you
like appreciate, Like you talk about Italy, I'm like, oh, man,
the time they thought we were the Nigerian drug cartel,
(30:34):
like arresting us in them in the laundry mat Oh,
yeah it was. We We have a lot of crazy stories,
but I'm glad that those are your experiences. What city
would you like to retire and if you don't retire
in your native New York, what city would you ever consider,
(30:54):
Like when all said and done, this is where this
is my final stop, or you're in New York to
the bone, I.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
Think I want to stay in New York, or at
least near it. With all the beautiful places that we've
had the opportunity to go, I still can't imagine, Like
New York just feels like my home base. I will
eventually probably want grass at some point, and not just
be because I live in Harlem now, So that's true,
just a little.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
I got a farm.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
State, Like, there's what about those taxes?
Speaker 1 (31:24):
Yeah, well, dude, I mean, what look what we do
for a living. I know, I know, I get it.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
I mean I used to visit my cousin in Poughkeepsie
all the time, and it's beautiful up there, so it's possible.
And I love since you're Subway people, Metro North, Amtrak.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
You're young, you're in the twenties, trust me when you
get up there.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Huh on a farm.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
I panic purchased during the pandemic a farm. Yeah. No,
it was great. It was and it was the only
time normally should have been that for me to purchase.
I'll just say this much. It just happened to be.
If you remember in twenty twenty, the week that George
(32:09):
Floyd happened during the pandemic, that is when all of
upper echelon New York was like, oh, they're going to
decend the right and literally I guess this couple that
they were in their eighties, like if you live in
this part, that's your third house, you know, like people
like oh, I have a house up state and da
(32:30):
da da dah. That's not their main house. That's like
you know, they stay there a month or two. Literally,
like their kids are calling from the Swiss house, like
we gotta get mom and dad all before they destroyed
New York, you know, so thanks to the fear of
Black Lives matter. Literally in two days, they moved their
parents out of the United States and sold me that
place dirt cheap. It's still being worked on, so there's
(32:52):
a lot of work had to be done, but it's
I never thought that I would embrace trees and quiet
and as and like I wanted to live in the
city and the chaos and all that stuff. But I'd
learned the power of silence. Ideas come to you song,
ideas come to you when it's dead silent.
Speaker 2 (33:12):
And now you can just play the drums whenever you want,
no disturbing of any neighbor. I guess you'd do that anyway.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
I'm pass that drum. I'm talking about movies and writing
books in the world leadership, oh drumming whatever, I'll drum for.
Speaker 3 (33:26):
You when things get stressful.
Speaker 1 (33:42):
What is your have you allowed yourself as self care routine?
Speaker 2 (33:47):
I'm working on it now. See the thing, when you're
on tour, you don't I don't really have one, or
it just changes by the day. But now, at least
for the next two months, I've like deleted all social
media and if I allow log onto it to my laptop,
it's only to check messages. I check out and make
a list of all the books that I've bought and
haven't read throughout the year, and and start. I just
(34:09):
finished Warmth of other Sons by Isabelle workers In on
the Great Migration is beautiful. I put a face mask
in because I bought when we went to Korea. I
bought so much skincare stuff I haven't used yet, and
so I'm like, oh, this serum, okay, in this face mask.
I put it in the in the fridge for a
couple of minutes.
Speaker 1 (34:27):
How I snuck them back to the States, I don't
know how, but literally, when I came from a.
Speaker 2 (34:32):
Full suitcase of all the same care products I could have.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
I had to kipling bags of just broke road masks
because they never think about the beer true, so oh
my god, yeah they got road masks.
Speaker 2 (34:44):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
I'm fighting to stay.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
I cook, at least I try to. I like learn
recipes nice and bake like I love making sweet potato pie.
And I don't like asking my aunt to like make
them all the time, Like I have to make them
for myself at this point. So I'm learning how to
make the podcast and all that kind of stuff. Yeah,
I just sort of tap into stuff I don't get
the chance to do. You got to go all right?
Speaker 1 (35:07):
As we wrap up, all right, what is the emoji
that you overuse?
Speaker 2 (35:12):
The crying one? But I use it as a way
of life, A laughter. I was going to say all
the time?
Speaker 1 (35:17):
All right, gotcha. So most people will do a jazz
album as a departure album. If you were to do
a departure album, what genre are you picking? Drill rock or.
Speaker 2 (35:35):
Such an old head? I probably want to do something
like in the style of Donny Hathaway, Donny Hathaway than you.
How does that one? But I have nothing. It's like
one of my favorite Donny Hathaway ROBERTA. Flack duets, as
well as of course like where's the Love?
Speaker 1 (35:54):
And you have you ever met Leila?
Speaker 2 (35:57):
Yes? Yes I have. She's so dope.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
Yeah, she's incredible. So my last question to you, what
is the one thing you hope that we say about
you when all is said and done, when you have
a full cannon under your belt? And you're in the
sunset of it all. What's the thing that you want
(36:22):
us to say about you.
Speaker 2 (36:24):
I hope that people say she's true to her music,
but she was also a very genuine person. Like I
never like to leave anybody, any single person, whether it's
an uber driver or you know, security guard or whoever,
with a bad impression. And I always tell everybody good morning.
So I hope they realized that I was authentic in
my music. I never strayed for the sake of relevance
(36:47):
or popularity. I wanted it to be something of substance
no matter what, whether people listened or not. And I
was genuine.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
From the bottom of my heart. I thank you. I
you know, I don't even want to do the hyperbolic
like now I believe in music again, like it's all
writing on your shoulders and your shoulders only. But yeah,
I really absolutely just baffled by your talent and the
potential of what you have to offer and where you
(37:18):
put your Grammys.
Speaker 2 (37:20):
I keep it with my parents, but they moved.
Speaker 1 (37:22):
Okay, Well that's that's that's good. Usually artists do the
thing I used to keep them in the bathroom. Oh,
just as a I don't care Raphaels used to make
his like a doorstopper. Oh my god, John Legend broke his. Yeah,
but then I can't.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
Look at it. If I look at it, and I'll
be like, I gotta practice today, you know, I can
take a day.
Speaker 1 (37:44):
Well. The thing is, I used to be dismissive of it,
and then I started dating someone and she was like,
you're a little too self deprecating, Like these are coming
out the bathroom, yeah, and we are putting them. Yeah,
We're letting you celebrate yourself.
Speaker 2 (38:01):
So that's uh, one day when I'm actually done. But
it's not done yet.
Speaker 1 (38:07):
It's never done. If I want to thank you for
doing the Quest Love Show and you're one of my favorites,
thank you.
Speaker 2 (38:13):
Likewise, thank you.
Speaker 1 (38:18):
Quest Loft Show is hosted by me Amir quest Love Thompson.
The executive producers are Sean g Brian Calhoun and Me.
Produced by Britney Benjamin and Jacob Payne. Produced for iHeart
by Noel Brown, Edited by Alex Conroy. iHeart video support
(38:40):
by Mark Canton, Logos Graphics and animation by Nick Plowe.
Additional support by Lance Coleman. Special thanks to Kathy Brown.
Special thanks to Sugar Steve Mandel. Please subscribe, rate, review,
and share the Quest Love Show wherever you stream your podcast,
(39:02):
make sure you follow us on socials that's at q LS.
Check out hundreds and hundreds of QLs episodes, including the
Quest of Supreme shows and our podcast archives. Quest Love
Show is a production of iHeartRadio.
Hosts And Creators
Laiya St. Clair
Questlove
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Saskia Inwood woke up one morning, knowing her life would never be the same. The night before, she learned the unimaginable – that the husband she knew in the light of day was a different person after dark. This season unpacks Saskia’s discovery of her husband’s secret life and her fight to bring him to justice. Along the way, we expose a crime that is just coming to light. This is also a story about the myth of the “perfect victim:” who gets believed, who gets doubted, and why. We follow Saskia as she works to reclaim her body, her voice, and her life. If you would like to reach out to the Betrayal Team, email us at betrayalpod@gmail.com. Follow us on Instagram @betrayalpod and @glasspodcasts. Please join our Substack for additional exclusive content, curated book recommendations, and community discussions. Sign up FREE by clicking this link Beyond Betrayal Substack. Join our community dedicated to truth, resilience, and healing. Your voice matters! Be a part of our Betrayal journey on Substack.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by Audiochuck Media Company.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.