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Another Sound
Another Sound from KJazz Radio explores jazz without limits, uniting rising artists and legendary innovators through conversation and performance to reveal the genre’s creative spirit and boundless future.
Another Sound
Get The Groove Going
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Groove takes center stage in Episode 3 of Another Sound from KKJZ Los Angeles. Producer, pianist, and songwriter Sam Barsh joins the podcast to discuss Straight 08, his electrifying new beat-driven project featuring trumpeter Keyon Harrold and drummer Mark Guiliana. A celebrated jazz pianist whose production and songwriting credits include collaborations with Doja Cat, Anderson .Paak, and Kendrick Lamar, Barsh shares how his diverse musical journey informs this bold new release and why rhythm remains at the heart of his creative process.
We also meet acclaimed drummer Jonathan Pinson, whose résumé includes performances alongside Mark Turner, Wayne Shorter, and Herbie Hancock. Pinson introduces his dynamic new band, Boom Clap, exploring its forward-looking sound, the inspiration behind the project, and how he's blending jazz tradition with fresh energy and modern grooves.
Welcome back to another sound from K Jazz Los Angeles. I'm the Watchman, Greg Bryant. How's your summer going so far? Here in Southern California, yeah, the temperatures have been fairly moderate, although I understand that's going to change soon to match most of the country. Wherever you're listening from, we're glad to have you. Make sure before we get started, though, to hit that subscribe button. And if you like what you're hearing, you want to show your support, leave a kind comment and a great rating on your podcast provider of choice. Thank you so much for that. Lastly, if you want to support us in a tangible way, we've always got room for you here in the K Jazz family. Become a K Jazz sustaining member. Give securely at jazzandblues.org. That's jazzandblues.org. We've got two very special musicians on the show today. A bit later on, we'll hear from drummer Jonathan Penson, and maybe you've heard him, with saxophonist Mark Turner's quartet. Or a few years back touring with Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter. You may have even heard Jonathan's band Boom Clap. No worries if you haven't. We're going to get you real familiar today, as the band will close the show with an exclusive performance here on another sound, one of their new tunes, Better Than Yesterday. We'll hear it together. That's going to be a good time. You can also catch Jonathan live Friday, July 10th, at LACMA, here in Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, or later this fall at Sam First Bar in November, also here in Los Angeles. Find more information on Jonathan's schedule and his most recent recorded releases at JonathanPenson.com. With us first today is pianist and producer Sam Barsch. You can catch him most Tuesday nights at Shushu Baby here in residency in Los Angeles. Sam has amassed some great credits with Anderson Pac, Doja Cat, Kendrick Lamar, and so many others. He's stepping forward though with a brand new electroacoustic album called Straight O Eight, with two of his earliest and most cherished collaborators, and trumpeter Keon Harold and drummer Mark Juliana. These three met over twenty years ago playing in different permutations on the East Coast while they were still in school. And the reunion on this album is lined with spectacular grooves. As Sam describes it, the seeds for this new recording were planted a few years ago.
SPEAKER_00Through the years, you know, Keon, Mark, and I, Mark and I toured with Avi Shaikoan for three years together, but then weren't working together as much. Keon was doing his thing, I was doing my thing. But whenever I would see Keon, a lot of the times he'd be like, Man, we need to do another corrugation gig. That was hot. Fast forward to all of us were living in LA. I think Keon may have officially moved here like three-ish years ago or so. And I was like, you know what? I have a Tuesday night residency. Why don't we just do a gig? And um the guys were down. We threw up a flyer like four or five days before it. Um, it was jammed. I mean, you it was beyond full, and we got together just at the gig, like ten minutes before we started. It was like, hey, so let's come up with like a couple tunes that we all know, and then we'll just probably like jam out from there. And it was just from note one, it was like, okay, this is the vibe. And so then um, shout out to Jam Card. They were really excited that we you know did this show, and they had involved all of us had involvement with them. So they got us a gig like a few weeks later was New Year's, and they hired us to do a New Year's gig at the Soho House. And uh my wife was just about to give birth. It was like her last show she went to before we had our baby, and um, and so then that was also awesome. That was much more jazz-oriented, like we called more standards. Um but so Keon, to his credit, was like, hey man, we need to record this. And those guys are very busy doing their own thing as band leaders. I've definitely my career has taken much more of the behind the scenes songwriting, producing, and working, you know, helping enhance other people's stuff. Um, so I'm much more in town and I I've curated it that way because I like to be home, I like to be with the fam. And but I was like, you know what? Cool, I'll take the reins and try to organize it. So my boy Sean Balthazor, who has Skylight Studios in Long Beach, uh, he also went to William Patterson. We've all been friends for years. And I was living in Long Beach at the time, so it was like, hey Sean, can we do this? He's like, that would be great. The first take was just jamming no song, and that ended up going for a while, and that ended up becoming three different songs in the album.
SPEAKER_01Um local residency. And I know a lot of musicians, you know, who listen who are trying to figure out how to do their thing. They want to be on the road, they want to travel, maybe they want to be in the studios. You've been privileged to do both. But why is it important for you, Sam, even at this stage of your career, to be able to post up somewhere regularly in the city that you're in?
SPEAKER_00Well, shout to Shoo Shoo Baby, which is the place I've been doing the residency at for four years. Love them and they've just let me do my thing. What I think is important is for a couple reasons. One, it's important for the scene to have places that people can go. We don't charge a cover. And um, it's a way for cats to play together. I've made so many connections from just calling people for that gig. I treat that gig uh sometimes I use it to develop things I'm really planning, but a lot of times I just use it to really improvise and feel out people where they're at, not give too much of a of a rubric for what we're gonna do. And that keeps the music really fresh for the venue. Um, because a lot of people have a steady gig, they call the same people every week, they play the same tunes. I really didn't want to do that. Um, but also like for again for getting to know cats and to have people have a place to play, because you know, LA's scene has expanded so much, but we could always use more venues, and in terms of yes, developing music, um, I've gotten to try new projects there for the first time. Also, if I have a more like higher profile show or ticketed show, I can do Shushu Baby earlier that week and try some stuff out or kind of use it as a rehearsal. Now I'll say use it as a rehearsal. I never half-ass a performance, so I'm not like starting and stopping on the stage. But like, oh, let's try, let's do these songs. It'll always sound really good to the audience, but it'll be like, okay, I like the way this one worked, or I want to tweak this, or you know, maybe do something, and if we want to do it again, we can do it in the third set when it's a different crowd. So I really think um that's important. And when I first moved to New York, where I lived for 12 years, a lot of the gigs I went to as somebody with you know a student's level of money was like free or inexpensive residencies like that, where really great players who are well known would do like a low-key thing, and you can see them in their element, and it's um kind of with the guard down. So I do feel like I'm blessed and really grateful to have had that residency and um, you know, help be the impetus of those bands.
SPEAKER_01When I watch you play primarily the Nord Electro, man, your whole body is involved in that situation. Was it natural early on to be that free, or is that something that you've had to learn to allow your music to flow over the years?
SPEAKER_00So that's a great question. I actually in high school, I used to be kind of like Keith Jarrett, what I where I would always sing along that I was playing. And then I had a teacher kind of try to tell me to be more conservative on stage. So I kind of lost a little bit of that, but really my natural state is to get into it. I'm not thinking about it. Um and standing, which unless I'm playing acoustic piano, I stand, that really came from comfort. I could never quite get the bench with my keyboard stand to get me the height that I wanted. And for people that may not know, even an inch up or down can really affect the technique that we play with on the piano and the comfort level. I'm real big on ergonomics. And also standing helped me keep my back looser. So just moving around became natural. And there's a couple brands of keyboard stands I have that I know just like this height works. And um, it's funny, around the time I really started doing that, I played uh the Tanglewood Jazz Festival with Cassandra Wilson. It was 03. Uh we were a last-minute edition because Shirley Horne was on it, but she had gotten ill. And Nora Jones was the co-headliner, and that was when Nora had exploded. I've since become like friendly with her because uh like her right hand is one of my best friends at the time. I didn't know her, and we were kind of commiserating about piano bench height, and she was like using like phone books or something to put on because she couldn't get it exactly right either, and I was like, you know, it's frustrating. But um, so yeah, it's totally natural, and actually, a lot of times I'll be moving not to the beat, like I'll be keeping great rhythm, but my dancing will be all over the place. And I was doing some gigs with the brand new heavies years ago, nice, and they asked me to stop dancing just because I was dancing off the beat and throwing them off. Like they were cool, they were like, if you could dance on beat, cool. But I was like, you know what? I'm not even in control of it, I'm just um wailing all over the place. Each player has to do what's comfortable for sure for them natural human what seems and is, you know, legitimately who you are, that translates. You know, I don't believe in trying to be somebody I'm not. That also comes with age. You know, you realize that you need, you know, being who you are is really the best way to live and also to express your art. And I think in the tech age and AI age, and where even just social media where you can just kind of pretend you are, you know, whatever you want to be, authenticity not only is what I believe in, like kind of spiritually and just overall like what I connect better to, but it's better for your art. If you're trying to sell your art where art intersects commerce, audiences can smell when you're fugazi, you know.
SPEAKER_01And I think about uh the credits that you've amassed over these past 15 years or so, you know, um people can look online, but I'll just say it, you know, Kendrick Lamar, you know, Doja Cat, um, Anderson Pack, and being yourself, you know, some people may reach out for a musician because of their function, what they play, and what they're able to interpret. But how are you able, if there's some, again, um budding musician or even veterans listening to us right now, thinking about how to approach someone else's session with the best integrity that they want to give of themselves, how have you negotiated getting the call and still putting Sam Barsch in where you can?
SPEAKER_00Well, that's a great question, and I can even use those three artists as an example. So, in the case of Kendrick, I made, you know, my studio and songwriting cred uh connections largely from being someone from the jazz world that knew people knew, oh, you also do production. And that also came from years of me doing production where it didn't go anywhere, but at least I had some stuff to show. So the Kendrick came about because I played with a guy named Ryan Roberts who played in church with a guy named Rocky, who is a producer, who played drums in church. He's like, Oh, you guys should meet because Sam does like key stuff and also writes. And then we did a few sessions when I first moved to town. A year and a half later, we had reconnected, he was working on Kendrick and needed somebody with that flavor. And um, we did one song, just the two of us, that ended up being on the album, which is institutionalized. And then for I, he needed Katz to come into the studio to do the stuff from scratch. And actually, I wasn't the first call. There was somebody he had been using that lived in Virginia, but there was an issue that wasn't happy with the hotel accommodations or was something. So, side note, it's another lesson. Be ready to step in, don't have an ego about not being the first call. Um, so that was from kind of honing skills in production and songwriting and knowing how to do it stylistically, but also having the jazz harmony background. In the case of Anderson, that came from my longtime collaboration with DJ Khalil, who also I was introduced um to through Daniel Seif, who I knew from the jazz world. And when I met him again when I moved to LA, he was like, Oh, why did you move here? He only knew me as a jazz guy. And I was like, Well, at the time LA's jazz scene wasn't really much at all, at least to the outside, you know. And I was like, Well, I'm into writing and production too. He's like, Oh shoot, I know a producer who's looking for someone with both skill sets that can edit down their jazz to work in the songwriting uh context. And so then Khalil and I linked, and then he opened a studio and he asked me to be around. And one of the first sessions we did there was Allo Black's The Man, which was a number one single. And then from there we got a lot of sessions, and Anderson was one of those, one of the many. And then Doja uh actually uh was uh produced uh produced it with Jay Versace, who found me from playing uh a video of me playing institutionalized the Kendrick song with my jazz trio at Sam First, and he posted it in like a carousel of things that were inspiring him. He was a big Vine star and had a huge following on IG too, but I didn't know who he was at the time. But my friend Etai tagged me, he's like, Sam Barsh, is this you? And so then Jay hit me, we we connected on the side, and he was like, Man, I just love, I would love your like improv stuff, just piano, so I can chop it up. So again, it was like the jazz background and having had something to show from a production element or videos, and then you know, knowing how to deal with melody and have it fit into you know a pop or hip hop context.
SPEAKER_01Oh. And I know that's a part of so many uh keyboardists' arsenals these days because of you know a lot of factors and functions. Man, what about that instrument specifically speaks to you and allows you to be able to carry the weight of a project like this on Straight 08?
SPEAKER_00I would say three factors. A, their versions of the electromechanical sounds, which would be Fender Rhodes, Wurlitzer, Clavinet, and B3 organ, are second to none. And they have been for like 20 years since I got the first one. Since then, they've really upped their piano game. So I love the piano sounds as well, especially the upright piano sounds. Um, secondly, the onboard effects are basically like having a pedal board, both because the effects are great and right there, and because it's very it's not super digital. The screen is tiny, you're not dealing with like eight menus to edit stuff. Other keyboards I have are great, but you have to go and it's really kind of non-organic to edit the sounds. You can edit in real time, you can tap the delay in real time, you can change the all the parameters of the chorus and phaser and the ring modulator. There's a uh, you know, there's like um, I forget exactly what it's called, but there's like a kind of vibrato thing that makes it have a lo-fi uh record warp. Yeah. Um, and the third thing is the sampling section. So you it comes with sampled sounds, a lot of synth sounds. Um it's not a synthesizer engine for those who you know understand that vibe, but it's sampled sounds. So a lot of Melotron stuff, but you can sample in your own sounds. So that's how I sampled in the 808 sounds for straight 08, and then you can edit them on board too. So I have a way of doing it where the specific way I sample the sound, of course, the way I choose the sound, and then the way I EQ and affect it inside the Nord is what gives it that tone. I could achieve that by like bringing my laptop on gigs, but really like I don't like doing that. I like to have it as low tech, high quality as possible. And Nord has just nailed that. They are the market for that. There's nobody else doing what they're doing, and that's why I have two Nord Electros, a Nord stage, and I kind of want the new Nord Electro too. For sure, for sure.
SPEAKER_01I think about you and trumpeter Keon Harold, and of course the great drummer Mark Juliana all coming together and the pedigree that each of you um has, and you kind of um hit on it a little bit earlier, but you guys can, you know, swing with the best of them. Um if there's some math involved, you can go there, you can play funk, you can play soul, you can do that hip-hop lilt in your thing. Coming up when you did, though, you know, in the early 2000s, you know, as the years have rolled on, what has encouraged you about the openness of the listener? Because a lot of times we think about the New York scene where you guys emerged from, very segmented in some ways. Guys were known for doing this or girls were known for doing that. But you guys have kind of been, you know, musical hybrids for quite a long time now, and I feel like maybe the audience is catching up with your skill set. Why or why not is that the case?
SPEAKER_00Well, this is an amazing question, and this speaks not just to us learning the different genres and weaving into them, but the change in you know uh what the jazz community will accept as valid music, you know. Um when I was coming up, I um went to William Patterson, and as you just described, things were very divided. There was kind of the nerdier, downtown scene, interested, mostly white crowd. There and it it sucks that it there was racial divisions, but a lot of it, you know, that's just how that's how Chicago was very much so uptown scene, downtown scene. There was people that crossed over, but just to paint a picture of where things were at at that time. Um, and then there was some people that were more from the city that had come up playing different types of music, uh, including um Jonathan Blake and Chris Scholar and Josh David, um, great players who ended up becoming Q-tip's band for his album Kamal the Abstract. Now, those guys were also incredible jazz players, especially Blake. You know, he's gone on to be like one of the premier jazz drummers. Hasn't done as much in the hip-hop world, more that world. But um Chris Scholar was already he had already recorded with um it was either it was Lenny White, I think, or so he he like they had jazz bona fides, but were like immediately on Q tip's new project. And it was because Q Tip was a fan of uh the Mingus band and Jonathan Blake played with them. So that was early on, even though most of the scene didn't mix and like I I was a jazz head only. Like I didn't listen to any other styles of music. A lot of people's opinion was that anything commercial was lame and sell out. But at least I got that exposure to like great musicians doing hip hop stuff. And then a couple years after I was in William Patterson, I started listening to other styles of music. I don't want to make this too long-winded, but so it was rare for the worlds to collide when this is like 99-2000. Keon went to the new school, he was there with Robert Glasper and a few other people that ended up Bilal was there at that time. So a few of those cats were on Bilal's album, and that was like, oh, it's like you know, commercial, it's like a major label like RB thing, but it's super musically interesting. And then Mark had always been into other styles of music. Like when we went to college, he wasn't even as dug into the jazz world at that time. He was really into rock, he did deep dives into Bob Marley, and um he was really into he was into Radiohead, and um so you know, the pedigree was there that wasn't in the super straight-ahead jazz world. You know, fast forward as the 2000s, the aughts went on, um the production that was popular, like the Neptunes were really hot, and Rich Harrison and Justin Timberlake's first album, they all incorporated a lot of interesting harmonies. So like that really influenced me. And but I will say that when I started doing the RB and pop thing, I was starting from ground zero. There was no credibility, like nothing really transferred into that world. I had been working with like really high-level jazz people, and it was they were very bifurcated. I actually still say I have a bifurcated career. Um, but you know, fast forward through a lot of people that went to jazz school ending up going in the direction of not playing straight ahead jazz, but bringing that sensibility, that really affected the musical landscape and then access to technology, where it was like easy to be, you know, not if you're a great musician, you could like learn a computer program and be making beats. And so now it was funny to fast forward to now, a couple years ago, I was doing my residency and I had uh hired Miles Martin, great drummer, and Nicole McCabe, great saxophone player, both of whom are from the new generation of cats. I think Miles is in his like mid-20s, Nicole maybe is 30. Um, and they were talking about who won the Kendrick Drake battle. Now that was before Kendrick obviously won. It was like while they were trading songs, and I was just like, this is hilarious because when I was in college, like nobody would have even been aware of that or cared or would have like judged you for even being, you know, on you know, in a pop culture situation. So that, you know, I think through the years of us just being active, working with different artists, taking different influences, it's all led up to this kind of jambalaya, very organic mix of styles that we do.
SPEAKER_01And I want to remind everybody who's listening to this record recording, uh, the bass all comes from your left hand.
SPEAKER_00Correct.
SPEAKER_01Um, how did you go about strengthening and building vocabulary? Um, I know the Hammond organ tradition is huge and luminous, but now we're seeing uh keyboardists like yourself um take the chance and leave the bass player at home and kind of make that band go with just that left appendage. How have you strengthened your left hand over the years and maybe what are some of the things that you listen to that influence it? That's a great question.
SPEAKER_00So I always loved when I fell in love with straight-ahead jazz, I really did fall in love with the walking bass. And I remember years ago, um, the Duke Ellington Orchestra, it was either Duke Ellington or Count Basie orchestra, and pardon me for not remembering, it was like my freshman year of high school. I think it was Cleveland Eaton, the bass player. He was like, Man, like one of the best things in life is just walking, walking bass. And I remember loving that and I always loved messing with like the upright bass sounds on my keyboards. So I was like always interested in the bass, but I was like, I don't know if I'm gonna take on learning a full other instrument. But I so I got into organ my freshman year of college, and actually I was there with another keyboardist, Jared Gold, who's now gone on to be a very um prolific organist. And he got in or we both got into organ at the same time. He had an organ, it was at school, he let me play it sometimes. So then all of a sudden, there's like two organ players, and um then I was doing gigs that summer with my close friends Ned Ferman and Ryan Blotnick. They'd invited me, they were both from Maine, and they invited me to come live up there in Ned's basement because on Bar Harbor, this vacation town, there was all these summer gigs, and it was super low tech. They would just kind of call people that were around, so it ended up being my summer job for two summers, but we didn't have a bassist, so I was doing the bass and it was sacked, guitar, and keys. And then I just really fell in love with that. I fell in love with playing bass. Now, one of the big things is that I studied bassists, I studied how real bass is played. I didn't want to play like a key bass player where there's all this extra stuff going on. I always was very attracted to in the in the pocket bass playing. So I studied Ron Carter, you know, I transcribed bass, um, bassists. I'm trying to think of the other bassists I transcribed. I definitely transcribed organists, uh bass lines, and just really tuned in to that. And so when I do key bass, a lot of times people don't know that it's not a bassist. The 808 stuff is different because you know that's played by a controller at least. But I've done a lot of records where people thought it was bass, and um I'm proud of that, and I also it's made me pretty picky about bassists, but I've been um the first two major jazz artists I work with were two incredible bassists, Lonnie Plaxico and Avi Shai Cohen. So I've always connected well to bassists, too.
SPEAKER_01The album version of this tune with Keon Harold and Mark Giuliana. It's available on Straight Oh 8. Head to the K Jazz YouTube page to watch Sam perform the version you just enjoy. If you or someone you know might be interested in underwriting another sound or podcast from K-Jazz, feel free to get in touch by email gbryant at mountwilsoninc.com. That's gbryant M-O-U-N-T W-I-L-S-O-N-I-N-C.com. And wherever you listen from, please subscribe. Give us a stellar rating for the podcast. Thank you so much for your support. As promised, here's our chat with drummer Jonathan Henson. Simultaneously, he's one of the most sensitive and explosive drummers on the scene today. After our chat, he'll move over to the drum kit to perform better than yesterday with his band, Boom Clap. Jonathan happens to be a native Angelino. Of course, he's logged some significant years on the East Coast as well. But he's back in SoCal now, and I asked him about his first entry onto the Los Angeles creative music scene.
SPEAKER_02One of the teachers I have was Billy Higgins in Lamer Park, the role stage, um, was really thriving with all different types of musicians that I've always looked up to. You know, I met um Bradford Marcellus over there, um, I believe Stevie Wonder was over there at one point, you know, um, and just being around Billy Higgins too, and of course, the people who were like my big brothers there, um, who I got to meet for for the first time there, Kamasi Washington, uh, the whole West Coast Grid Down and Terrace Martin. Um, and yeah, it was a very interesting time to be a musician or a person trying to aspire to be a musician because you know, people like I just mentioned, Kamasi was still doing his thing, Terrace and him, they were all doing their their thing, but it wasn't really put into notice at the time as growing up on it until now. I feel like um there's been kind of a renaissance that happened during the pandemic. Um a lot of people coming from New York uh migrated here into Los Angeles, um and they brought in a lot of really influential like um experiences from being over there to over here. So now LA's kind of getting this I guess East Coast edge, if you will, being applied to it. Um but also just like the gumble pot that LA also brings with the musicians, where you kind of have to be fluent in different genres of music. That's always been something that's been happening since I was a kid. So I feel like we're entering a very exciting time being a person living in Los Angeles and being from Los Angeles right now. So, you know, I did my undergrad in Boston first, so that was my first time being on the East Coast. But after I did the the Thelonius Monk Institute program, I moved to New York. And it was always in the back of my head, that was actually one of the reasons why I went to Boston, it was because I wanted to be close to New York and I wanted to get a feel for it. And when I decided to finally move, I just wanted to see um honestly um the high level of craftsmanship there, and I think that's something that I really grasp that New York has to offer is like a lot of people there, the natives there, you know, there's a respect for craftsmanship in whatever you're doing. So, you know, that's why you don't really have people um being like pizzazz is really not something that is not the most important. They just want to see if your your quality of your craft is really at a high level, and they respect that. And that's something that I really appreciated just being in New York is like there are a lot of brilliant people and they respect whatever they're doing in their profession, and that's something that they they take into a high level and they have a pride into that. Um so you know I consider myself some somebody who is a craftsman in music and I take it very seriously, and you know, to be around an environment where people kind of respect that, it was really cool to be a part of move one of an elite few uh who've gotten a chance to actually work with, you know, Wayne and Herbie.
SPEAKER_01Tell me about that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I would say honestly, I am, you know, I was really grateful to get called to play in both of their bands at the time I was able to. You know, I was 23 years old, you know, um, and you know, like you said, like being called by Wayne Schroeder and Herbie to play in their bands, you know, it's it was a beautiful experience. But it was intense spiritually for me because, you know, these are the two people that I've looked up to since I discovered uh like jazz, you know, in my in my childhood. And you know, um being around those guys, you know, it was a very beautiful experience. Um definitely different in their own ways, like Wayne has this capability of encouraging you to be a creative in a way. He has you know, he he encourages you to spark your imagination with him and to be in a way childlike, okay which is really magnificent. And Herbie does that too, just in a different way. It was fascinating to see both of them work in a tour setting because what they both share in common is their love for ha music. Music was always exciting for them. Despite being tired, despite having like early morning shifts and all that stuff, it was just like seeing them like the moment we're getting to the act of playing music, they're in it all the time and they're excited about it all the time. And they're not letting any other life distractions get in the way of the moment of being a part of music. And that's something that, you know, I I try to take with me too, you know, um from being a part of that experience, but both of them is just trying to in my own way still hone into the love and the excitement of music. You know, it's it's a really beautiful thing to be able to do this as for a living and you know, um share with people that I care about too, which I also noticed that that was something that they also did, is that the people that they kept around them that they actually cared about um and stayed with for a long period of time? So I'm trying to just do that my own kind of way from that experience.
SPEAKER_01Well, man, I think you are, and I think your generation has really gotten the message of what it means to be boundless, like Herbie and Wayne, you know, across genre, across beliefs, being open and finding yourself in whatever situation you're in. What were some key uh influences and um recordings that helped to kind of shape what you think your conception of the drums is? And I know you're your own man, but everybody listens to a cornucopia of things, man. What's it been for you?
SPEAKER_02I I have no problem giving credit for the people that came before me and have in influenced me. Um I remember all of the like all the different genres and some sp specific moments that left an imprint on me for sure. Um obviously my mom took me uh into church and I listened to all different types of gospel drummers from there um just growing up from that. But in addition to that, my mom was the one that brought me into the world stage to meet Billy Higgins. Wow, and that was at age seven. Oh man. So, you know, I was naturally curious about Billy Higgins. Um, I still appreciate him to this day. And you know, from that training, I got into Art Blakey, and like you mentioned, and um my uncle, who was one of my coolest uncles, his name, Uncle Michael, he was a Jimi Hendrix head. So I and my other uncle, Uncle Derek, got me into Prince. And they were kind of simultaneously happening around the same time. This is I would say middle school to early high school is when I was like, who are these guys? You know? Um so and then as far going back to the drums too, you know, um understanding Art Blakey, I I went to this place called the Coburn School, and that's um my teacher there was Jerry Caleb, and he got me into John Coltrane, and he got me into Miles, and he got me into Billy Cobb and all those guys, and that's when everything else started to formulate. It's like, okay, there's all these different versions of jazz. There's Elvin Jones here, and there's Tony, but then there's Tony when he was with Miles, and there's Tony when he was with Lifetime, and then who's this Billy Cobb guy? What is this fusion thing? And you know, and then Dennis Chambers and all of those guys. And then finally, I would say, uh which was also thoroughly important, which was to make sure I paid attention to the future, was when I was checking out Kenny Garrett, because Kenny Garrett is still is to this day. He was really big. Um, you know, a lot of uh people a lot of my black family and and everybody there, um, friends, they were listening to Kenny Garrett, so they got me into Kenny. And then I remember actually vividly um he was playing at the Catalina jazz Bar and Grill and I was expecting to see Brian Blade. Um, but he wasn't there. But who was there was this amazing drummer Jameer Williams.
SPEAKER_01Incredible.
SPEAKER_02And you know, to this day I give so much love to Jameer, and then who sat in also was Ronald. And this was the first time I got a chance to see both of them. And the reason why that was important was because that was the first time I saw two black young musicians that played drums at an exceptional level. That was my first time seeing that, you know, because back then, you know, in high school, I never got a chance to see that. Um so the fact that I saw two guys that were in their early 20s playing the drums like that, it blew my mind. So I was like, okay, this is a this is uh a level that you can go. And I give them credit in terms of them helping me find my own way. Jemai, for sure, in terms of his own artistic vision. I I look up to him, I you know, um very brilliant guy, and you know, he's been an influence to my whole generation in terms of style, as in terms of clothes, approach, and music, you know, forward thinker, and you know, I try find my own way of doing that as well.
SPEAKER_01What gave you the idea to do Boom Clap and when did you know it was the right time to launch out?
SPEAKER_02You know, I had one of my closest friends, Joshua Crumpley, who I've known since middle school, or um, and he's also from Los Angeles too. He lives in New York. Um, but we had this one talk together when we were living in New York. He was also the one that convinced me to move to New York too. And we had this one talk, we were coming from a gig together, and he was like, I think we need to just do our own thing, you know, and and he encouraged me. He's like, Um, Jonathan, I think you have a lot of music to give. Um, so I I really encourage you to do it. And I was feeling that way too, because you know, uh you know, being a side man, you have you have a job in terms of um uh basically enhancing the vision of the band leader. Um and then I found my I found myself in in a certain way where I was hearing all these different things from basically what we just talked about, all these different genres of music, and it was starting to make sense that I I I feel like I needed to cultivate that in my own kind of way. So from having that discussion, it kind of gave me the nod to actually try and see what that looks like. And I'm really glad I did it because, you know, um I found myself being around really brilliant people that are helping me grow as a person and as an of course as an artist too, and that's what kind of led to this journey of being a band leader. One of my biggest fun fears that I have is to write for film. Uh I've been into that since high school, and it didn't help that you know Wayne Schroeder was teaching us at the institute, and he was showcasing how film influences him. So, you know, I take a lot of inspiration from looking at movies and film and actually paying attention to how it emotionally affects me, and I try to write that kind of way where like the songs I'm writing, there's like an emotional depth to it for the listener. Um and luckily I I'm I'm really blessed to have a great singer-songwriter, to where, in addition to writing, she is such a brilliant writer in terms of the songs and has an amazing voice too to help enhance the vision that I'm trying to do as well. Um, so yeah, that's some of the places we also, now that we've come with a concept, the band writes together sometimes too, and they need to bring in tunes. Are we right actually together when we're all together in the room? So I've been experimenting with that, and that's been another source of um inspiration contributing to this project as well. I knew I wanted to do a live album in a place that was not the normal place that people was playing. Um, but I wanted to be a really cool vibe that represented us in terms of like like our whole approach to things. So that's why I chose the Sunrose. And we we knew we wanted we, you know, with my my team and the band, um I wanted to just go outside of the box in terms of that. And then when it came to the recording process of it, I kind of just wanted to sonically do something different, you know. Um really the concept of it too, in terms of like doing this vinyl for a live album, is like we really wanted it to be a vinyl experience. So but at the same time we didn't want it to sonically feel like the traditional live album. So we messed around with the mixing on certain things, um the concept, even how the drums sounded, like we even messed around with the snare, um just to fully give like a full-on experience in terms of the live album and what people can possibly do. So that was really the fun part of it all was just like trying things out, taking little gambles here and there, and I think we came up with a really cool project and a really cool concept with it.
SPEAKER_01Do you feel that the audience is ready and has caught up to a multi-genre, multi-faceted project like what you're presenting?
SPEAKER_02You know, time time will tell. Um, truthfully, I think, you know, all we can honestly do is be honest in terms of the process of what we're creating. Um continue to be vulnerable in regards to our artistic vision. And, you know, we you know, just because those two things align, someone will be able to understand and appreciate our relate to that experience. The Loneliest Monk, I feel like, you know, it took people some time to appreciate what he brought to the table now, and then you know, at one point there was a college named after him. So I just feel like that's just really kind of the role for me as an artist, is like you just have to be honest and truthful to your experience and bring that out and deliver that message to the people that are listening, and you just hope and pray that people are able to receive that.
SPEAKER_01Man, keep going forward, keep growing.
SPEAKER_02Thank you for sharing with us. Yeah, it's a pleasure. Thank you for having me. Truly a pleasure.
SPEAKER_01Remember Jonathan Henson and the band Boom Clamp. This is better than yesterday.
SPEAKER_03I feel like we've found for safe on the line As we lose our times. Oh we've living yesterday As the least has to be pray for peace and yearning all the things I'm learning.
SPEAKER_04Oh we living yesterday Cause I'm a living as a sound as a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit.