Chapter 5: Collaboration = Community
With Dexter Story, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson and Kamau Daaood on tour in Europe (L to R); Performing an improv set with Miguel Atwood-Ferguson at LACMA, Los Angeles (2012)
“I’ve felt privileged in that I’ve been able to fit in and find “my people” wherever I go in the world. I believe this has as much to do with my creative offering through music as it does with my own racial roots and personality. Music, and the bonds it has led me to, has made me ‘one of us’ in situations where, without music, I may have been perceived as an outsider.
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Collaboration has been the backbone of my career - even before I realized it. In London it solidified properly and taught me the strength and potential of creating with others. In LA, a whole new level of collaboration became possible, largely thanks to my reconnecting with the acoustic piano. As well as producing, remixing and performing electronic music I was able to return to just playing piano with artists including Dwight Trible and Kamau Daaood, as well as integrating my love of electronics and club music in collaborations where I didn’t expect it to be as welcomed as it was. I’ve been fortunate to play with elders I grew up idolizing, peers whose work I’ve known for years from a distance, and next generation musicians and artists with so much amazing talent.
LINER NOTES
With Kaidi Tatham, Jazzy Jeff, James Poyser and Daniel Crawford at Playlist Retreat; backstage before performing alongside Bernie Worrell on one of his final appearances (2016)
Joe’s Pub NYC on stage with Burniss Travis, Nate Smith and Jaleel Shaw for the launch of ‘Live at the Blue Whale’ (2017)
Performing a celebration of the music of Pharoah Sanders at the Blue Whale, Los Angeles along with Corbin Jones, Carlos Nino, Teodross Avery, Tommaso Cappellato and Dwight Trible (2018)
On stage at the Blue Note Tokyo with drummer Harvey Mason’s group (2019)
Live collaboration with Omar in Oakland (2019)
On stage with Melanie Charles and Shigeto in Italy (2019)
The Dance Floor
“Between the jazz club and the dance floor, I could never choose one over the other. To me they’re two sides of the same coin, and blurring the lines between them has become my modus operandi.”
The dance floor has always been as special to me as the jazz club - live remix sets in San Francisco, Taiwan, Switzerland and LA (2017)
Live remixing John Coltrane’s Bahia in Shanghai (2016)