"Am I just here because I'm Black or am I here because I'm talented? I tend to be the only black person in the room. I see that changing."
Happy New Year to everyone. Very soon we'll begin new interviews and highlights for 2022. But before we do, here is my list of the Top 10 of 2021:
#1: The Return of Live Performances
There isn't any one show...
"Working on it helped me process my unconscious. But I don't want them to be distracted by it, by me. I want my music to be a vehicle for them to access their own unconscious."
"To be performing such an extraordinary range of music is both a great joy and it's a challenge, but most of all it's a tremendous privilege."
"There has been a framing of jazz in a way for sometime where like it's not for young people. It's not cool. I always want to push back on that one."
"Whether you're a musician or a writer everything comes down to story and narrative. And that's why I like to call myself a storyteller more than a singer or a musician."
"There are four strings, two octaves and there's something about the sound when I hear it. It just it takes me back to the islands and it makes me feel young."
"The most amazing artistic moments of my life have happened in a live performance where you feel the silence, the absence of noise."
"All of the aspects of identity that he outlined, I also embody. So by being able to realize his words, I’m able to be very closely in conversatoin or community or connection with his aspirations."
"There might be certain spots in the performing in which it’s literally just me responding and vice-versa to what the dancers are doing. Utilizing the moment to really come up with a unique approach to it every night. I think that’s exciting to all of us to have that.”