A sonic exploration and tonal analysis of contemporary creative music in a myriad of improvisational/composed settings, textures, and expressions.
Welcome to Sound Projections
I'm your host Kofi Natambu. This online magazine features the very best in contemporary creative music in this creative timezone NOW (the one we're living in) as well as that of the historical past. The purpose is to openly explore, examine, investigate, reflect on, studiously critique, and take opulent pleasure in the sonic and aural dimensions of human experience known and identified to us as MUSIC. I'm also interested in critically examining the wide range of ideas and opinions that govern our commodified notions of the production, consumption, marketing, and commercial exchange of organized sound(s) which largely define and thereby (over)determine our present relationships to music in the general political economy and culture.
Thus this magazine will strive to critically question and go beyond the conventional imposed notions
and categories of what constitutes the generic and stylistic definitions of ‘Jazz’, ‘classical music’, ‘Blues.’
'Rhythm and Blues’, ‘Rock and Roll’, ‘Pop’, ‘Funk’, ‘Hip Hop’, etc. in order to search for what individual
artists and ensembles do cretively to challenge and transform our ingrained ideas and attitudes of what
music is and could be.
So please join me in this ongoing visceral, investigative, and cerebral quest to explore, enjoy, and pay
homage to the endlessly creative and uniquely magisterial dimensions of MUSIC in all of its guises and expressive identities.
Saturday, August 8, 2020
Sullivan Fortner (b. December 29, 1986): Outstanding, versatile, and innovative musician, composer, arranger, ensemble leader, producer, and teacher
New Orleans pianist Sullivan Fortner is an adept, award-winning jazz musician and composer with a bent toward sophisticated post-bop. Born in New Orleans in 1986, Fortner
first began playing piano around age four. He was playing in church
groups by the time he was nine, and at 13 he enrolled in the famed New
Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA). As a teenager Fortner
excelled at piano, earning scholarships to both the Vail Jazz Institute
and Skidmore Jazz Studies summer programs. Having graduated from both
NOCCA and his regular high school (where he was Valedictorian), he
perfected his craft by earning a bachelor's degree from the Oberlin
Conservatory of Music and, later, a master's degree from the Manhattan
School of Music. Fortner has built an impressive list of credits, performing and recording with such luminaries as vibraphonist Stefon Harris, trumpeter Theo Croker, saxophonist Donald Harrison, trumpeter Roy Hargrove, and others. In 2015, Fortner won the American Pianists Association Cole Porter Fellowship in Jazz. Also in 2015, he released his debut album as leader, Aria, on Impulse!
“Jazz is a paradox. It’s inclusive and noninclusive at the same time. It’s ugly and it’s beautiful. It’s raw and it’s refined.”
– SULLIVAN FORTNER
For
the past decade, Sullivan Fortner has been stretching deep-rooted
talents as a pianist, composer, band leader and uncompromising
individualist. The GRAMMY Award-winning artist received international
praise as both key player and producer for his collaborative work on The Window (Mack
Avenue, 2018), alongside multi-GRAMMY winner, vocalist-composer Cecile
McLorin Salvant. As a solo leader, he has released Moments Preserved (Decca, 2018) and Aria (Impulse!, 2015) to critical acclaim, and he’s only getting started. This past year, Fortner earned recognition in multiple DownBeat Critics Poll categories, winning first place in Rising Star Piano and Rising Star Jazz Artist.
In
addition to associations with such diverse voices as Wynton Marsalis,
Paul Simon, Diane Reeves, Etienne Charles and John Scofield, Fortner’s
frequent and longtime collaborators have included Ambrose Akinmusire,
Dee Dee Bridgewater, Stefon Harris, Kassa Overall, Tivon Pennicott,
Peter Bernstein, Nicholas Payton, Billy Hart, Gary Bartz, Christian
Scott aTunde Adjuah, Fred Hersch and the recently departed Roy Hargrove.
The highly-sought improviser has performed across the country and
throughout the world at such cultural institutions as Jazz at Lincoln
Center, Jazz Standard, Smalls Jazz Club and New Orleans clubs??? as well
as celebrated festivals, including at Newport, Monterey, Discover,
Tri-C and Gillmore Keyboard, among others. In 2019, he brought his band
to the historic Village Vanguard for a week-long engagement as a leader.
Fortner’s notable studio contributions include work on Etienne
Charles’s Kaiso (Culture Shock, 2011), Donald Harrison’s Quantum Leap (FOMP, 2010), and Theo Croker’s The Fundementals (Left Sided Music, 2007).
Playing
solo or leading an orchestra, Fortner engages harmony and rhythmic
ideas through curiosity and clarity. Within phrases, he finds universes,
and listeners often hear how he’s moved by each note he explores.
Coming up in New Orleans, Fortner began playing piano at age 7,
following a storied lineage of improvisers, masters of time and every
iteration of the blues. He earned his Bachelor of Music from Oberlin
Conservatory and Master of Music in Jazz Performance from Manhattan
School of Music (MSM). A champion of mentorship, Fortner has offered
masterclasses at MSM, New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA),
Purdue University, Lafayette Summer Music Workshop, Belmont University
and Oberlin Conservatory where he held a faculty position.
Pulling
distinct elements from different eras, Fortner’s artistry preserves the
tradition and evolves the sound. He seeks connections among different
musical styles that are at once deeply soulful and wildly inventive.
Both his works and his insights have been featured in culturally iconic
publications, from The New York Times toThe Root.
Accolades include 2015 winner of the Cole Porter Fellowship by the
American Pianists Association, Leonore Annenberg Arts Fellowship and the
2016 Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists.
So, what, exactly, is jazz? We know
it’s black music, we know that many of the artists of the genre are
political. But how does one define an art form so heavily based on
improvisation and live instrumentation? Better question: Is jazz dead?
The Root asked three fresh... read more
How did you get started in music? Well,
I started in music when I was about 4 years old. My mom was watching a
Jeopardy! show, and when I was about three years old, I was climbing on
top of the television banging out rhythms of the songs I heard, and she
was tired of... read more
Ever since the earliest days of jazz
music, the pairing of piano and voice has frequently attained a deeply
personal level of communication. It's evident in the distinct chemistry
between two rising stars of their instruments: pianist Sullivan Fortner
and singer...
There’s an oddly familiar glow to
“Aria,” the auspicious debut album by the pianist Sullivan Fortner. If
your memory of brightly swinging major-label jazz recordings extends
back at least 20 years (honestly, the last time there was infrastructure
for such a thing),... read more
SULLIVAN FORTNER
2015 Cole Porter Fellow in Jazz of the American Pianist Association
So, what, exactly, is jazz? We know
it’s black music, we know that many of the artists of the genre are
political. But how does one define an art form so heavily based on
improvisation and live instrumentation? Better question: Is jazz dead?
The Root asked three fresh...
How did you get started in music? Well,
I started in music when I was about 4 years old. My mom was watching a
Jeopardy! show, and when I was about three years old, I was climbing on
top of the television banging out rhythms of the songs I heard, and she
was tired of...
Sullivan Fortner draws on the history of pianism—from Chopin to Tatum and beyond—while still retaining his own unique voice. (Photo: Courtesy of the Artist)
In the waning days of June 2017, Sullivan Fortner found
himself holed up in Sear Sound, the Manhattan studio, facing down Earth,
Wind & Fire’s 1978 hit “Fantasy.” The occasion was a recording session for Moments Preserved,
the pianist’s sophomore album on Impulse!, and, as the engineer was
adjusting the microphones for the take—a solo turn—he was trying out a
rendition that mirrored the rhythmic punch of the original. But he was getting nowhere—until Ameen Saleem, his bass player and a
kindred soul, piped up. “He said, ‘That ain’t it—for this, you need to
completely be Sullivan,’” Fortner recalled over breakfast at his
Manhattan home in April. Saleem, for his part, remembered the moment with clarity: “I told him, ‘Play it like an orchestra. Make it epic and dark.’” And that’s what Fortner did. Inspired by the connotations of lost
love in the lyrics—“Every man has a place, in his heart there’s a
space”—Fortner transformed the piece from an ode to late-’70s funk into a
moody fantasia with lush chords and lithe lines that draw on the
history of pianism, from Chopin to Tatum and beyond, even as it retains
the spirit of the groove-laden original. Along the way, he conjured a
narrative that provided catharsis for his own romantic woes. “I just made up a storyline and played,” Fortner said. For all his smarts (he was high school valedictorian, holds a
bachelor’s from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and a master’s from
the Manhattan School of Music); for all the praise heaped on him (he
topped the categories Rising Star–Jazz Artist and Rising Star–Piano in
this year’s Critics Poll and won the 2015 American Pianists
Association’s Cole Porter Jazz Fellowship); and for all the experience
gained in close associations with jazz luminaries (prime among them,
singer Cécile McLorin Salvant), Fortner, 32, still needs a song to speak
to him before he can fully realize its potential. “For me, it kind of has to, otherwise, it won’t digest well,” he explained. Moments Preserved is thus populated by tunes that speak to
Fortner, starting with the opening track, “Changing Keys.” An animated
take on the theme from the TV game show Wheel of Fortune, the
piece links directly to Fortner’s childhood memories at home in the New
Orleans suburbs, where, at age 4, he picked out themes from daytime TV
on his toy piano. Before “Changing Keys,” he had included a theme from Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, “You Are Special,” on his previous album, 2015’s Aria (Impulse!). Both tunes pay homage to his mother, who first recognized his musical gift. On his latest album, the pianist honors a high school teacher in
the poignant “Elegy For Clyde Kerr Jr.,” a New Orleans trumpeter,
mentor, friend and, ultimately, bandmate who, Fortner said, taught him
to “play with your ears to the audience” and hear the “grand picture,”
rather than “what you think another musician would want you to play.”
For that, he added, “Mr. Kerr had a very deep impact on me.” The album also nods to a more recent teacher, pianist Barry Harris,
who, in group classes, imparted ideas about harmonic movement,
structure and storytelling. In “Pep Talk,” a boppish original based on
“Rhythm” changes, Fortner’s elegant turns of phrase evoke, without
imitating, Harris. “It’s probably not something he would write,” Fortner
said of the tune, “but something he would appreciate.” Other pianists’ voices echo on the album, too: Thelonious Monk
is represented in an exquisitely restrained medley of “Monk’s Mood” and
“Ask Me Now,” and Duke Ellington is summoned in a version of “In A
Sentimental Mood” featuring fleeting licks filtered through Fortner’s
21st-century sensibility. Fortner’s ability to simultaneously project his own voice and reflect those of others reveals an empathy displayed throughout Moments Preserved
in the agile interplay with both his trio—Saleem and drummer Jeremy
“Bean” Clemons join him on most tracks—and trumpeter Roy Hargrove
(1969–2018), who appears on three cuts, including the Monk tune. But Fortner’s empathy might be most clearly expressed elsewhere in his musical life, most vividly in his relationship with Salvant. The level of communication between the two—amply documented in the duo collaboration The Window (Mack Avenue)—has been so deep that, on at least one occasion, it brought the singer to tears. “It felt like he was almost saying the words with me and making them ring or sparkle,” Salvant recalled. “It felt wonderful.” DB
The pianist finds meaning and solace in the “isms” of jazz past and present as the world convulses
by Ashley KahnJuly 22, 2020JazzTimes Sullivan FortnerThe weeks that preceded this online Before & After were sheer
worldwide overload—murders and marches, more deaths and outrage,
widening protests, all during a continuing pandemic. Finally, as people
kept speaking out, there was a degree of hope; the shared sense of
history in the making was everywhere. In the music community, against
this backdrop, there arose questions of increasing complexity: What
should music be doing in this moment? What activities should musicians
be focusing on? When the economic future of the music scene—jazz
especially—is so precarious, already limited to online interaction and
transaction, how much business should be business as usual? A day-long
blackout initiated by the recording industry, intending to draw
attention to social rather than commercial priorities, generated as much
controversy as support. Many jazz musicians and enterprises strenuously
resisted any degree of silencing, calling it an affront to the message
of the moment. The decision, less than a week after that early-June blackout, to
hold a public, Zoom-delivered Before & After with New Orleans-born
pianist Sullivan Fortner (his first) was motivated by the desire to keep
the jazz wheels turning, with a greater awareness of the current social
and political climate. Jazz has always been reflective and porous,
absorbing and mirroring what happens in the present tense; so was this
interactive event, with more than 50 fans logging on. A few posed
questions, including one asking who defines the time in a band.
Fortner—just back in New York after two-and-a-half months quarantined in
Miami—noted how it was everyone’s responsibility to “guard” the time,
and that this had a deeper spiritual significance as well. “In Roy [Hargrove]’s band,” he said, “if something happened in the
rhythm section Roy would get mad at me, and I never understood why,
because I always thought that it falls to the bass player [to maintain
the time]—he’s the only one playing quarter notes and roots the whole
time. But he got mad at me, and I think that was his way of saying, ‘You’re not protecting it, you’re riding on top of the time too much.’ It’s about protecting.
When I’m playing with people, I protect them, I protect the tune that
they’re playing, the time, the melody, the changes. I try to protect
them as much as I can.” Listen to a Spotify playlist featuring most of the songs in this Before & After listening session:
1. Barry Harris
“Indiana” (Chasin’ the Bird, Riverside). Harris, piano; Bob Cranshaw, bass; Clifford Jarvis, drums. Recorded in 1962.
BEFORE: That’s Barry. [Music fades] Let me hear how he ends it. [Listens]
Who was the rhythm section? It’s really amazing to me how he takes
Bud’s language and doesn’t recite it verbatim. He puts a different view
on it. Bud was more dirty. Barry is prettier to me. Bud is like Monk in
that regard—very hoomph when he plays. Barry took that hoomph
and presented it in such a beautiful, poetic way. There’s something
about Detroit piano players, the way the rhythm feels, a little more
flowing, like water, whereas Bud is solid, you know what I mean? Another thing about Detroit piano players: They never get my name right [laughs].
I’ve called Barry a few times and said, “Hey Barry, it’s Sullivan!”
He’s like, “Who?” “Sullivan.” “I don’t know no Sullivan.” Then I say,
“Solomon.” “Oh, Solomon!” Johnny O’Neal calls me Solomon Fortune [laughs]. But it’s all endearment. It’s all love. Barry has such a fluidity. Nobody has that type of time, and I feel
like now it’s even more flowing than before. He talks about these
[older] recordings and he’ll say, “I’m playing too fingery” or “I should
be playing more with the hand,” but I could tell it’s Barry by the way
the time feels. There’s certain “isms” that Barry has. Every great piano
player has isms—Kenny Barron has isms, Cedar Walton has isms. While
Barry isn’t one of those guys, there’s something about his sound and the
way he phrases and certain cadences that he uses that I could tell it’s
him. He’s definitely not a copycat. I’ve been going to Barry’s [weekly
improvisation] class [in New York] off and on for the last seven, eight
years.
Barry had a health challenge recently when he was in Italy
and some crowdfunding helped him return home. Have you talked to him
since? Oh yeah, he’s fine. He’s doing his classes on Zoom now from his house
every Saturday at 1:30. I spoke with him on the phone once or twice and
he thought I was a bill collector. Then I said it was Solomon and he
said, “Oh, hey!”
2. Samora Pinderhughes
“Momentum, Pt. 2” (The Transformations Suite, Gray Area).
Pinderhughes, piano; Riley Mulherkar, trumpet; Lucas Pino, tenor
saxophone; Tony Lustig, baritone saxophone; Alex Jenkins, bass; Jimmy
MacBride, drums; Dima Dimitrova, Kellen McDaniel, Charles Yang,
Stephanie Yu, violins; Matthew Lipman, Charlotte Steiner, violas;
Genevieve Guimond, Annie Hart, Mitch Lyon, cellos; Jehbreal Muhammad
Jackson, vocals; Jeremie Harris, spoken word; Saul Williams, Tupac
Shakur, lyrics. Recorded in 2016.
BEFORE: Was that Samora? Who’s singing with him? All
right. Jehbreal went to Juilliard and when I met him he was doing
dance, but he would also show up and sing. Who else?
AFTER: Samora is very proactive. A lot of his music
in the last few years has been centered on equality and race—classism,
sexism, all those things. He’s a really good dude and good piano player
and I like his writing. We’re in such a strange time right now, man, but
I think that it’s a beautiful time too, because the blindfolds are
being taken off and people are actually starting to see and be aware of
the life of the African American. How important we are to this country,
how important we are in the music, in the arts, and in the way the world
works. People are starting to see us as people, and to be respected as
people. Jazz is primarily an instrumental music, but when there’s a
need for it to carry a message—like now, in a big way—many artists bring
in singers and MCs. How about you?
I’ve had a back-and-forth with that, because on one side I’m saying,
“Yeah, our music should be about evoking change.” It shines a light on
somebody like a Samora Pinderhughes, for him to find a way to say what
he needs to say. The other side of me is saying that it’s not enough for
you to just play. I feel like a lot of musicians—myself included—have
kind of hidden behind our instruments and haven’t really voiced what we
want to say, because the instrument is our only voice. But we have to
speak for ourselves. I was listening to an interview with Dick Gregory and he was saying
an athlete isn’t doing anything unless he uses his platform to speak. He
said, with this microphone, you can do more than just being an
entertainer. Look at somebody like Muhammad Ali, who got on the
microphone and got a whole culture of people to change their diet, you
know what I mean? We can no longer afford as musicians to hide behind
our music. We have to use our music to speak, and not just music but all
art. We have to use it as a platform to be active in the community and
actually be the change we want to see.
That’s the reason why I like working with singers, like Candice
Hoyes. I’m giving her a shout-out because we’re getting ready to release
an album that is all of her original music, but it’s based on poems by
Zora Neale Hurston, Maya Angelou, and Toni Morrison. Also Langston
Hughes. He has one poem [“Tired”] that says, “I am so tired of waiting.
Aren’t you, for the world to become good and beautiful and kind? Let us
take a knife and cut the world in two—and see what worms are eating at
the rind.”
I think about that song with all the protests and everything that
happened with George Floyd. I saw the funeral on YouTube. It was just
heartbreaking. But it is also very, very hopeful because the knife is
cutting and we’re actually beginning to see what’s in the center of it
all. Once that’s exposed, then there can really be some changes made. It
doesn’t stop with George Floyd, it goes through African-American
health, education, and awareness—so many issues beyond just a black guy
that got murdered by police officers. I really do believe that America
is getting ready to experience a new birth, so to speak.
3. Allen Toussaint
“Danza, Op. 33” (American Tunes, Nonesuch). Toussaint, piano; Cameron Stone, cello; Amy Shulman, harp; Van Dyke Parks, arrangement. Recorded in 2015.
BEFORE: There’s absolutely nothing like a New Orleans piano player to me. [Listens] Allen! [Listens more]
That’s Allen. You know, New Orleans is at the top of the Caribbean.
It’s definitely not America. You want America, you go next door to
Metairie, and even that is still a little far removed. You really hear
all the Caribbean and Spanish influence in this type of playing, man. I
appreciate it. It definitely put a smile on my face. I don’t think it’s
an original, though, is it?
AFTER: From Cuba. [Louis Moreau] Gottschalk. That’s
why he played it in that way, I think. Allen Toussaint, one of our
pianistic and musical kings. He really carried on the traditions of
people like Professor Longhair. You can hear James Booker’s influence.
You hear such a long lineage in his playing but there’s something about
Allen, he made it real pretty for everybody. Something about his playing
was very regal, as opposed to somebody like Dr. John, who was down and
dirty with it. To me Allen was like [in elegant tone], “Yes,
hello, young man. How are you?” It was very, very proper and it was in
his personality, and his dressing style, and how he spoke to people. I
never met him. I was supposed to do a double deal with him in London
with Theo Croker but he died a few weeks before the show happened, so
they decided to cancel the show.
4. Alice Coltrane
“Walk with Me” (Translinear Light, Impulse!). Coltrane, piano; Charlie Haden, bass; Jack DeJohnette, drums. Recorded in 2004.
BEFORE: “Walk with Me.” It’s a hymn. [Listens]
That’s not Mary Lou [Williams] and that’s not something Mary Lou would
do, the way the left hand moves. The way they’re using the whole
instrument, it doesn’t sound like a … [Listens more] It’s very
harp-like. A lot of rumbling and a lot of … interesting. It reminds me
of Alice Coltrane or Mary Lou or somebody. I have a friend from New
Orleans and this reminds me of her style—Courtney Bryan. She has this
type of sound in the spirituals that she plays. It’s very chant-like, very reverent-sounding. It’s not power jazz—not
burning and blazing like you would hear traditional jazz piano players
play. It’s a certain sound that I really can’t describe, but I see it.
AFTER: I thought it was Alice. You could tell that
she’s a harp player by how she’s approaching it. One of the things that
I like to do I got hip to from a friend of mine, I think it was Marcus
Gilmore. He’ll listen to Alice Coltrane and watch [the BBC documentary
series] Planet Earth and turn the sound off. I guarantee you, it flows absolutely seamlessly together! You came up playing organ in the church and studying jazz piano, like Alice. What can I say about the church upbringing? It’s so closely related
to jazz. It’s sides of the same tree. How I learned jazz was similar to
how I learned gospel. Just like we have the American songbook in jazz,
in gospel we have the hymn book. There are certain aesthetics that are
similar. The call-and-response, a certain signifying thing, how you
train your ear, how you understand the lyric of the song and how you
accompany the lyric and the soloist. How to hear harmony. In the church I
grew up in, there was just piano and organ for a good portion of the
time, so you had to learn how to be your own timekeeper. You learn all
that.
Ashley Kahn (top) and Sullivan Fortner during their Zoom session (photo courtesy of Ashley Kahn)5. Yes! Trio
“Muhammad’s Market” (Groove du Jour, jazz&people). Aaron Goldberg, piano; Omer Avital, bass; Ali Jackson, drums. Recorded in 2019. BEFORE: I’m definitely hearing a younger piano
player. I don’t think it’s anybody over 40. I feel like an older person
would have probably left a little more space. It wouldn’t have been one
idea flowing to the other. There would have been a bit more attention to
phrases. And the Michael Jackson quote in the beginning [from the
Jacksons’ “Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)”]. There’s just
something about it that doesn’t ring out like Eric Reed or Benny Green
or Cyrus [Chestnut] or people like that. I could tell the rhythm section
is … maybe not younger, but with that younger mindset. The trio playing
is very interactive, almost to a point where I would’ve liked to have
heard the piano a bit more in certain spots. The piano doesn’t seem as
seasoned as they are. I’m probably going to get shot for saying that. I
could tell it was a blues with an extended form—a few bars extra. AFTER: Ooooohhhh! I am getting an F. I am getting a
straight-up zero. Forgive me, Aaron Goldberg! This is a recent recording
too. I know him pretty well. The last time I saw him was on a tour—me
and Cécile [McLorin Salvant] were playing opposite him with [Joshua]
Redman’s quartet. Ali [Jackson] really threw me for a loop because you don’t hear him
play like this with Wynton [Marsalis]. First of all, it’s a different
set of cymbals, and it’s also a completely different approach. He really
sounds like Elvin with Trane. That’s why I wouldn’t think it was
anybody younger, like in my generation. I was thinking like a
30-year-old, or 32, or 38. Also, you hear Aaron in so many different
contexts. I don’t think I’ve heard him with this kind of playing behind
him. Maybe I should go back and listen to more Aaron. The language of jazz piano trios has changed so much that now
anything goes, you know what I mean? It’s still at the heart of the
music. You can trace how the music evolved just by tracing the piano.
6. Oscar Peterson Trio
“Hymn to Freedom” (Live in Denmark, YouTube video). Peterson, piano; Ray Brown, bass; Ed Thigpen, drums. Recorded in 1964.
This is the video track, so … Sullivan, do you have a blindfold?
BEFORE: I can’t see without my glasses, so we’re good. I hope I don’t put my foot in my mouth this time! [Closes eyes; track opens with audience clapping in a steady, enthusiastic beat] Definitely Europe. [Music begins; immediately] This is Oscar—“Hymn to Freedom.” [Opens eyes]
Some people you can tell by the first note they play. [Watches video]
Look how close they are together. It’s almost like, if Oscar leans
back, he’s right on the hi-hat! All of Oscar’s cues are coming from his
[left] hand. I subbed a couple years ago with the Clayton Brothers
Quintet and that’s how they set up—with the rhythm [section] behind the
piano player—and then I started messing around with that with my trio.
It’s amazing how much you can hear [in that configuration].
A lot of folks have opinions about Oscar Peterson. There are a few
things about him that are undeniable to me. First, there’s nobody that
looks more built for the piano than he does. Some people just look like
they’re supposed to play a certain instrument. You look at Sam Jones and
it’s like, “Okay, you’re supposed to play the bass.” If he picked up a
trombone, he would look really awkward. For me, Oscar Peterson looks
like he was made to play the piano.
Then, the type of energy he was able to get from the bass player and
the drummer and the audience was one of those rarities. He knew how to
put on a show. There’s a lot of folks that play really well but they
don’t know how to carry an audience, or the musicians that they’re
playing with. Oscar, and Earl Hines and Erroll Garner, were able to
carry their band just with the piano sound. He was truly a conductor,
and the audience just ate it up. Some people like to say it’s a little
cookie-cutter or it’s cheese pizza, you know what I mean? But no matter
how cookie-cutter it is, it’s almost impossible to maintain that energy.
Oscar was able to maintain that every time he played. He never
short-changed you—there never was an off night. One of our guests mentioned this was Oscar’s protest song supporting the civil rights movement. Sixty years later and we’re doing the same stuff. It’s amazing how
little things have changed. There was such a striking difference
listening to how Oscar played with his trio from the other tracks. Not
that the other selections you played weren’t interesting, but those
two—Oscar and Barry’s tracks—seemed to me a little stronger, almost
garlicky, oniony. That type of strength. You know what I mean? 7. Cory Henry, M.D.
“What a Friend” (Gotcha Now Doc, self-released). Henry, organ; Brad Williams, electric guitar; Nat Townsley, drums. Recorded in 2011. BEFORE: That was Cory Henry. It’s not a New Orleans
person on drums but somebody who likes New Orleans. Okay, I’m going to
destroy something. You can always tell a drummer or musician that’s from
New Orleans playing a second-line [rhythm] as opposed to somebody who’s
not. It’s like somebody who knows how to cook gumbo from New Orleans,
as opposed to somebody who’s not from New Orleans. It’s a certain
dirtiness in there, a grunginess. The second-line beat is street music,
and unless somebody has experienced that culture it won’t never really
capture. It’s like R&B musicians trying to bebop. I love Cory Henry. He’s an amazing organist, and musician overall. I
got to hang out with him on the Blue Note jazz cruise. He talked a lot
of trash about basketball, but we’re not going to go into that. 8. Gerald Clayton
“Celia” (Happening: Live at the Village Vanguard, Blue Note). Clayton, piano; Joe Sanders, bass; Marcus Gilmore, drums. Recorded in 2019.
BEFORE: That’s somebody under 40. Reminds me of Gerald almost. That kind of [sings phrase] “de-de-duh.” But it’s not Gerald. [Listens] It threw me for a second—now my whole aspect has changed. Hang on. That’s “Celia”—Bud Powell. [Listens more]
Sounds like the Vanguard—just the way the claps sound in that room.
Something reminded me of Gerald again. Something about it also reminded
me of Aaron Parks. Am I in that right range? That sounds like Marcus
[Gilmore] too.
AFTER: There were a few jams at the bottom of the
piano that was Gerald—certain isms he has. Little turns and certain
little bends, almost sounds like guitar. The way he plays at the bottom
of the instrument and yet he never gets in the way of the bass player.
Gerald went to Manhattan School of Music for a split second, and then he
joined Roy Hargrove’s band. His playing has definitely shifted from
those days into what it is now, and it will only grow more. Me and Gerald went to Vail Jazz Institute together. Marcus too—we
were actually roommates. There was something about it that said this was
Joe Sanders. Joe is not going to walk all the way through—there’ll be
some moments when Joe will just drop and not play anything. I’ve always
liked Joe and Marcus together for some reason.
This album will be released July 10. I have a question that
in part comes out of the Blackout Tuesday idea from last week: Is this
the right time to release new music, considering what’s been happening
on the streets in the past two weeks?
I feel artists should be constantly writing and releasing things.
Part of artistry is in releasing content. It doesn’t need to be like, “I
got this big thing but there’s something happening in the world and
maybe I shouldn’t.” No matter who listens to it, the mission is to keep
music happening and to keep the creative … [snaps fingers at a steady beat]
and putting out things, if not for anybody, for yourself. With any
releasing of music, you always want to ask yourself what your motive is.
But sometimes you don’t really have a motive. Sometimes you’re like,
“I’m just hearing this, I’m going to put it out there.” I don’t see a
big thing about it. Why not?
9. Erroll Garner
“Caravan” (Ready Take One, Columbia). Garner, piano; Ernest McCarty, Jr., bass; Jimmie Smith, Drums; Jose Mangual, congas. Recorded in 1971. BEFORE: [Laughs] That’s the kind of stuff
that gives him away. Just pull [the cover] up so everybody can see. One
of my favorites, if he’s not my favorite. [Listens] I think he is my favorite. Definitely in my top three. You know, I didn’t like jazz in high school. I hated it. I thought
that it was too dissonant. Too much soloing. Too long. As a matter of
fact, me and Cécile argue about it. I really hate jazz and I hate jazz
musicians [laughs]. It’s funny. I did a recording session with this pop artist and he
told me, “You know why I hate jazz?” I was like, oh God, here we go.
“Why do you hate jazz?” “Jazz musicians are like politicians. When they
play it’s like they’re saying [in a rousing voice], ‘We’re
going to do this and we’re going to do this! Yay!’ Then five minutes
later, same thing: ‘We’re going to do this and that. Yay!’ But you never
really leave the speech with anything tangible you can take away.
That’s how jazz musicians are. They don’t come to a peak, there’s no
real defining moment.” Erroll Garner is one of the exceptions. Only the masters were able to
do it. Sonny Rollins. Louis Armstrong. And Erroll. Even if you hate
jazz, you have to love him. I think that’s what drew me to Erroll
Garner, because he made me think, “If I hate this music, why do I love
this? Wait, that’s jazz. What?” So it really made me want to dig deeper
and figure out what the hell this all was. He was one of the most naturally gifted pianists to walk the planet.
His playing had so much joy in it. I go to jazz shows and leave
sometimes just depressed. I’m dying over here, half asleep. I’m playing
this music and I’m supposed to love it, man, but I walk away from shows
feeling like, “Damn, something is wrong with me.” I’m probably going to
get shot for saying that too. But you cannot fall asleep
listening to Erroll Garner because you never know what he’s going to do.
There’s always an element of surprise there, always love and joy and
happiness in every single freakin’ note he plays. Him and Art Tatum. Geri Allen was, and now Christian Sands is, keeping his flame
burning. But Erroll and some of the piano masters from the ’50s and
’60s who used to be so popular, like Oscar and George Shearing, aren’t
discussed as much anymore. Isn’t that weird? All the happy piano players getting lost in the wash.
10. Brad Mehldau
“Still Crazy After All These Years” (Anything Goes, Nonesuch). Mehldau, piano; Larry Grenadier, bass; Jorge Rossy, drums. Recorded in 2002.
BEFORE: Sounds like Brad. There’s a certain way he
articulates notes—that’s a Brad-ism, along with different rhythms that
he goes to with the left hand. Almost like a staggering, creepy-crawly
kind of thing. Oh, “Still Crazy,” Paul Simon. I do feel the whole point
of the music was to take songs that were popular in the time and turn it
into jazz. You think of the American songbooks, those are the pop tunes
of the time. The American songbook didn’t die when Richard Rodgers or
Jerome Kern died. Stevie Wonder, Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon—they’re pop
musicians still writing great music. At the end of the day it’s just
music, and how you interpret it with the language you know. Gospel music
is like that. It was formed in church but you hear it outside of
worship too. Or the other way around: As early as Bach, they would take
secular pieces, change the words and make it religious. A good song is a
good song.
11. Jimmy Cobb
“Johnny One Note” (Marsalis Music Honors Series: Jimmy Cobb, Marsalis Music). Ellis Marsalis, piano; Orlando le Fleming, bass; Jimmy Cobb, drums. Recorded in 2005.
BEFORE: This reminds me of Ellis. [Listens] The way he ended that [chorus]—that’s Ellis. [Drum solo begins]
Well … no, no, no, no, no. That’s Jimmy Cobb. I thought it was Ellis
because the way the eighth notes felt reminded me of him. Then it was
throwing me for a loop because that really sounds like Jimmy Cobb on the
drums, so it cannot be Ellis. I don’t know if Ellis recorded with
Jimmy. Did he?
AFTER: I didn’t know that they recorded together. I
know [Ellis’] eighth note so well. His feel is very relaxed. It reminds
me of New Orleans music, just the way they swing down there. It doesn’t
really get much faster than that. That’s considered an uptempo tune in
New Orleans! [Laughs] I definitely spent more time studying the
straight-ahead sound [like Marsalis] more than the traditional New
Orleans sound, like Fess and Allen. I’m more familiar with this style of
playing than the other one, to be honest. How can I put it? Ellis was definitely a staple, but I only had one or two lessons with him. I wasn’t a student-student of his. I went to his house once, and his wife Dolores—Wynton’s mom—opened the door, and she was like [brusquely],
“What you want?” I say, “I’m here to study with …”—and I’m
stuttering—“… with Mr. Marsalis.” “Well, go up there!” Uhh, okay. So I
walk in and say, “How are you doing, Mr. Marsalis?” He was the same way.
“Uh-huh, so what you want?” “I’m here to take a lesson with you.”
“Okay, you bothered me after the gig. You got my email. You emailed me.
You called me. You here. So play something!” This was my third time being with him one-on-one. The first two times
I hung with him, he made me cry. So this is my first real lesson with
him. I made a mistake and played “Lush Life” for him. Midway through the
verse, he walks up to this cabinet, gets the sheet music for it and
throws it at me, BAM! I catch it and he says, “Read that!” I’m
reading it slow and he’s like, “Uh-huh, see? You didn’t know that’s how
it’s supposed to go. Lesson number one—don’t ever play a song unless you
know it, and you know the lyrics too.” He was harsh but he was honest, and I felt like somewhere deep inside
he cared for you. He treated you like he was your grandfather, and it
was all about music. If he didn’t like something, he would let you know.
He had these sayings: “Hey man, clowns belong in the circus.” Or “Corn
feeds the world,” just to say that your playing is corny. We need more
educators like that, who ain’t going to sugarcoat it for you. You know
it’s coming from a sincere place of love. It was a huge, huge blow to
lose him this year. Huge blow. Of course, Jimmy. It was so special to play with him, almost magical.
I did that twice at the Vanguard, and a few times with Roy Hargrove and
Roberta Gambarini. There’s some people you play with and it’s almost
uncomfortable how easy it feels, you know what I mean? [Laughs]
You don’t have to work at all. You know how bass players are always
complaining about how they’re in pain, how their back hurts, how their
hands have blisters, and all this stuff? I noticed every time they
played with Jimmy, they walked off smiling. He was just one of those
drummers that made everything easy and clear.
12. Jeanne Lee with Ran Blake
“Summertime” (The Newest Sound Around, RCA). Blake, piano; Lee, vocals. Recorded in 1962. BEFORE: Is this that duo album that everybody is
telling me about? Ran Blake and the singer? There have been a few people
that have said that The Window, the duo album I recorded with
Cécile, reminds them of this album. I haven’t checked it out entirely. I
have two albums of Ran Blake but I’m not that familiar with this one.
He’s definitely coming out of late 19th-, early 20th-century classical
composers, and in how he accompanies too.
AFTER: I’m going to check it out—Jeanne Lee. You
know, when I work with Cécile it’s completely improvised on my part, to
be honest. There’s some tunes that we’ve jacked the arrangements from
her quartet and I just condensed it to the piano, but for the most part
she leaves everything up to me and just sings on top of it. We’ve never
had a rehearsal. The most would be like, “Let’s play this, do you know
it?” “No.” “Go listen to it.” Then I’ll come back in five minutes, and
she’ll be like, “Wait, you weren’t supposed to learn it that quick, so
now I got to learn it!” So she goes and listens to it, and we’ll just try it out in front of people.
Even if it’s Shania Twain?
[Laughs] Yeah, for sure. Or Sting, or Stevie Wonder, or
Aretha Franklin, or whatever. It’s already arranged, or I make it up and
she sings on top of it. Some of her favorite singers are musical
theater people and she’s really into words and lyrics with a weird twist
in the end. She loves irony, she loves plays on words. When she brought
me “Pirate Jenny” [from Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht’s The Threepenny Opera]
I was like, “I’m not playing that song. What am I supposed to do with
this?” She says, “Oh, just play it, the lyrics are great!” And it turns
out to be the song everybody wants to hear.
The moral of the story is, trust the singer.
I guess. So far she hasn’t led me wrong.
ABOUT THE INTERVIEWER: Ashley Kahnis a Grammy-winningAmericanmusic historian,journalist,
producer, and professor. He teaches at New York University’s Clive
Davis Institute for Recorded Music, and has written books on two
legendary recordings—Kind of BluebyMiles DavisandA Love SupremebyJohn Coltrane—as well as one book on a legendary record label: The House That Trane Built: The Story of Impulse Records. He also co-authored the Carlos Santana autobiography The Universal Tone, and edited Rolling Stone: The Seventies, a 70-essay overview of that pivotal decade.
When pianist Sullivan Fortner takes the
stage at the Albright-Knox auditorium this Saturday, Nov. 17th to
kick-off the 2018-19 Art of Jazz Series, he’ll be capping off what has
been a monumental year for one of the ascendant stars in the jazz world.Fortner not only released his second album for the legendary Impulse! – Moments Preserved – but recorded and toured the world in a duo with vocal sensation Cecile McClorin Salvant (The Window) and collaborated in the studio with Paul Simon on his recent album In The Blue Light. JazzBuffalo had the opportunity to speak with Fortner in advance of his upcoming appearance. The interview was conducted by JazzBuffalo contributor and Producer of the Art of Jazz Series, Bruce Eaton.
(Tickets are going fast!To avoid disappointment, get your tickets early. Go here soon: Sullivan Fortner Tickets)
JazzBuffalo: You spent
eight years in Roy Hargrove’s band [note: the brilliant trumpeter passed
away on November 2, 2019]. That’s a long time for a jazz musician to
stay in a band.What was it about Roy as a bandleader that encouraged you to stay on as your career developed.
Fortner: Roy didn’t have a dictator mentality about how he wanted you to sound and how he wanted you to play it.He
always put people on the spot. You’d learn the melody, he’d call the
song, and he’d leave the bandstand for you to figure it out. His band
was all about ear training, using your ears to be able to remember
songs.
JazzBuffalo: That obviously played a big part in your development as an artist growing into being a leader yourself.
Fortner:It wasn’t necessarily about how much you know and how much you could play.It was about making music.Understanding
the role of each member of the band, being able to understand your role
as a member of the band and everybody’s sound and then writing music
for particular people and their style.That’s what Roy’s band was all about and that’s what he taught me.
JazzBuffalo: Going back, you were brought up in the church and were a church organist at a young age.What drew you to jazz?
Fortner: There was a guy who came to the church whose name was Ronald Markham.He would have me check out different stuff.We’d play jazz and classical and different genres.He told me I needed to go to the New Orleans School for the Creative Arts.That was my gateway to other styles of music.
JazzBuffalo: What was the jazz record that really turned the light on for you with jazz?
Fortner: The first album I got was a Duke Ellington compilation.I
didn’t really like it at all. [Note: Fortner’s opinion of the Duke has
changed radically since that first youthful encounter.] Then a teacher
gave me a record and told me that if I didn’t like it, then maybe I
shouldn’t play jazz.That was Errol Garner’s Concert By The Sea.That album did it.
JazzBuffalo: After studying music at Oberlin College, what was your transition into the New York jazz scene?
Fortner:I went to the Manhattan
School of Music to get my masters degree in music. I got a call in April
of 2009 to do a European tour with Stefon Harris. I said, “Okay if you
can work it out with the school.” Stefon said, “I’m a teacher at the
school” and I was able to do the tour.Later I got a call from Roy [Hargrove] and things really started growing.
JazzBuffalo: Paul Simon could pretty much hire any piano player in the world.How did your recording with him come about?
Fortner: I was
recommended to him by Jamey Haddad [longtime touring percussionist with
Simon and professor at Oberlin]. Paul saw a clip of me with Diane Reeves
and then we had a conversation.
JazzBuffalo: Paul Simon is an interesting guy.What was he like to work with?
Fortner: Paul is very direct with his comments.He’s not a mean guy at all. If he likes something he will tell you.If he doesn’t like it he will tell you.I know that some people take it the wrong way.But
he will sit with you and be very patient and work with you. When you
get it exactly the way he wants it, he’s the happiest person in the
world.
JazzBuffalo: How did your recent recording and touring with Cecile McClorin Salvant?
Fortner: I was on a date with Jazzmeia Horn walking up and down Harlem and we bumped into Cecile randomly.We were introduced to each other.A
year later Woman Child [Salvant’s Grammy-winning album] had been
released and I was at Dizzy’s [Club Coca-Cola] and was called up to do a
song with her and she was like “We’ve got to do this again.”I had a gig in December 2015 at Mezzrow where she joined and me and from the first note, it felt like we were born from the same root. We had the same ideas, the same mind about music.It just worked.[After another gig at Dizzy’s] she said, “I want to take this on the road” and sure enough she called me.We toured. We recorded. And it ended up being a good thing for both of us.
JazzBuffalo: I would think that being the only instrumentalist on stage with a vocalist has to be a real high-wire act.
Fortner: It is pretty much a whirlwind. Everything we do for the most part is improvised.I
make up the arrangements while we’re playing and Cecile finds her way
through it. We find each other and that’s what people like about it.
That’s jazz. It requires knowledge about the history, the capability of
the instruments, the rhythms, the sounds both under the jazz umbrella
and outside of the umbrella.We just have to be musicians.
JazzBuffalo:What are you listening to right now?
Fortner: Honestly, I’m listening to myself.And listening to Charlie Parker.I’m at this stage now where I’m listening to the same people I’ve been listening to the last three, four, five years.When
you talk about Parker, you’re talking about one of the greatest ever to
walk the planet. Once that stuff hits you, that’s it.
JazzBuffalo: Many thanks, Sullivan. We’re really looking forward to your concert on Saturday. Here is an excellent video to get to know Sullivan Fortner:
Winner of the American Pianists Association's prestigious Cole Porter Fellowship in Jazz, Sullivan Fortner is a remarkably lyrical and musical piano player. He takes the stage at Washington's Blues Alley to perform solo, and to join in a duet with "Beyond Category" host Eric Felten.
He was born in the birthplace of jazz, but New Orleans native Sullivan
Fortner grew up steeped in gospel music. He was turning heads playing
keyboards in churches at age seven, becoming a piano prodigy protégé by
the time he discovered jazz in high school.
After earning degrees in Jazz Studies from Oberlin Conservatory of
Music and Jazz Performance from Manhattan School of Music, Fortner won
three major music awards, including the 2016 Lincoln Center Award for
Emerging Artists.
Since moving to New York, he’s backed top singers Dianne Reeves,
Cecile McLorin Salvant and Dee Dee Bridgewater and played with Roy
Hargrove, Wynton Marsalis and John Scofield. Fortner, a fast-rising star
in the jazz world, will play two concerts with his trio on Friday, June
28, as well as two solo piano concerts on Saturday, June 29, at the CGI
Rochester International Jazz Festival.
When I caught up with him by phone he had just returned from a
European tour. The following is an edited version of our conversation.
CITY: How did growing up in New Orleans affect your musical life?
Sullivan Fortner: My upbringing was mostly in gospel music. I
didn’t get exposed to the jazz culture until high school, and New
Orleans music a little later. So people like Dr. John and Professor Long
Hair didn’t really seep into my playing until much later.
But New Orleans was important in my development: my first gigs with
Christian Scott, touring with Trombone Shorty and Jon Batiste. They were
all friends of mine back in high school.
I read that your dad played a lot of R&B records. Does that show up in your playing?
Absolutely. It shows up in song choices. On my last album, I did a solo arrangement of “Fantasy” by Earth, Wind & Fire.
Who are your major influences on piano?
The first jazz album I bought was a Duke Ellington compilation and I
thought, okay, this is great. Whatever. I wasn’t really into it. My
teacher said check out this Herbie Hancock album. Okay. Then they gave
me John Coltrane, “My Favorite Things,” and I didn’t like it at all. I
was 13, I didn’t know. I thought, I’m done with jazz; I don’t understand
it.
Then my teacher gave me Erroll Garner’s “Concert by the Sea” and said,
if you don’t like this, maybe jazz isn’t your destiny. I put it on, and
the second track, “Teach Me Tonight,” changed my life forever. From
then on I wanted to learn everything I could about the music.
Then he gave me an Art Tatum album and I thought, this is impossible.
And I still think it’s impossible. People like Art Tatum, Thelonious
Monk and Bud Powell — there’s nothing you can say. You just have to
live, eat, and breathe it to fully understand it.
I’ve read that you practice while you’re performing. How does that work?
In a school environment, I could block out six to eight hours in the
practice room. Now that I’m in New York, and barely here, the most time I
get to spend at the piano is a ten-minute sound check before the gig.
So, I’ll take one or two ideas and try to work on them during the gig.
I’m still performing, but I’m stretching an idea. What if I only play
short phrases? If I play chords long, long, short, how would that sound?
Things like that keep the brain working.
You’ve worked with many jazz artists. But how did you come to work with Paul Simon?
Mr. Simon had some songs that he wanted to rework with different
musicians on “In the Blue Light.” My teacher at Oberlin, Jamey Haddad,
had worked with him. He recommended me. I arranged two songs and played
on three. We brought in Wynton Marsalis, John Patitucci, Jack DeJohnette
and Nate Smith.
Did you ever see yourself working in the pop world?
When I was a kid, my dream gigs were to play with Chaka Khan, Whitney Houston, and Michael Jackson.
In the jazz scene today, there’s a division between the traditional and avant-garde. Where do you fit in?
People have approached me and asked, “Are you going to become a player
that’s a historic museum, or are you going to be an avant-garde
player?” The only answer I’ve come up with is I just love to play, and
any scenario that I’m in, I want to be studied enough to hang in it.
In the avant-garde there’s a tradition that a lot of people neglect.
There’s a cohesiveness and a thoroughness and a compositional way of
approaching that music. If you’re not careful, you can buy into the
mirage of it being completely free, and it’ll bite you in the butt.
When I studied with Jason Moran, he took us to hear Cecil Taylor at
the Village Vanguard. I went on stage and looked at Cecil Taylor’s sheet
music, and I saw how precise it was. I thought, Man, these guys aren’t
just playing whatever they want; there’s a whole language to this that’s
very interesting.
Sullivan Fortner Trio plays Friday, June 28, 6:15 p.m. and 10 p.m.
at Max of Eastman Place, 25 Gibbs Street. Sullivan Fortner plays solo on
Saturday, June 29, 5:45 p.m. and 7:45 p.m. at Eastman School of Music’s
Hatch Recital Hall, 433 East Main Street.
Sullivan Joseph Fortner (born December 29, 1986) is an American jazz pianist. He was the regular pianist in trumpeter Roy Hargrove's band from 2010 to 2017, and has released two albums on Impulse! Records.
Early life
Fortner was born and grew up in New Orleans.[1][2] He started playing the piano from the age of four.[1] He was inspired to play by seeing a woman playing the organ in a local church.[2] His mother was the choir director of a Baptist church; he began playing the organ there at the age of seven.[3] For a time, he relied on his perfect pitch to learn and play music; this had to change when he successfully auditioned for the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts.[3] Fortner went on to obtain a bachelor's degree from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and a master's degree from the Manhattan School of Music.[2][4]
Later life and career
In 2009, Fortner was part of vibraphonist Stefon Harris' band,[5] including for a tour of Europe.[3] Fortner was pianist in trumpeter Roy Hargrove's quintet from 2010 to 2017.[3][6] Fortner became strongly influenced by fellow pianist Barry Harris from 2011, when he realised that his knowledge of the music was too shallow.[3] Fortner recorded with the Hargrove band's saxophonist, Justin Robinson, in 2013.[7] In 2015, Fortner was the winner of the American Pianists Association Cole Porter Fellowship in Jazz, a prize that consists of "$50,000, the opportunity to record for Mack Avenue Records, and two years of professional career services and development".[8] In early 2015, Fortner's quartet contained saxophonist Tivon Pennicott, bassist Ameen Saleem and drummer Jeremy "Bean" Clemons.[6] Fortner's first release as leader was Aria from Impulse! Records, and received a four-star review from DownBeat magazine.[9] The next, Moments Preserved, was mainly a trio album, with Saleem and Clemons, but Hargrove also played on three of the tracks.[3] Fortner played on some of the tracks that formed Paul Simon's album In the Blue Light.[3][10]
"Rising Star Arranger". DownBeat. Vol. 87 no. 8. August 2020. p. 39.
THE MUSIC OF SULLIVAN FORTNER: AN EXTENSIVE VIDEO OVERVIEW, A CROSS SECTION OF RECORDINGS, MUSICAL ANALYSIS AND COMMENTARY, PLUS VARIOUS INTERVIEWS WITHSULLIVAN FORTNER:
Kofi Natambu, editor of and contributor to Sound Projections, is a writer, poet, cultural critic, and political journalist whose poetry, essays, criticism, reviews, and journalism have appeared in many literary magazines, journals, newspapers, and anthologies. He has written extensively about music as a critic and historian for many publications, including the Black Scholar, Downbeat, Solid Ground: A New World Journal, Detroit Metro Times, KONCH, the Panopticon Review,Black Renaissance Noire, the Village Voice, the City Sun (NYC), the Poetry Project Newsletter (NYC), and the African American Review. He is the author of a biography Malcolm X: His Life & Work (Alpha Books) and two books of poetry: The Melody Never Stops (Past Tents Press) and Intervals (Post Aesthetic Press). He was the founder and editor of Solid Ground: A New World Journal, a national quarterly magazine of the arts, culture, and politics and the editor of a literary anthology Nostalgia for the Present (Post Aesthetic Press). Natambu has read his work throughout the country and given many lectures and workshops at academic and arts institutions. He has taught American literature, literary theory and criticism, cultural history and criticism, film studies, political science, creative writing, philosophy, critical theory, and music history and criticism (Jazz, Blues, R&B, Hip Hop) at many universities and colleges. He was also a curator in the Education Department of Detroit’s Museum of African American History. Born in Detroit, Michigan, Natambu currently lives in Berkeley, California with his wife Chuleenan.
SULLIVAN FORTNER 
