ONE OF THE FIRST RULES AN ARTIST LEARNS IS TO CREATE WHAT YOU KNOW ABOUT. A WRITER CAN DO A BOOK ABOUT HIS ENVIRONMENT, BUT WHAT ABOUT A MUSICIAN? SOME, LIKE SINATRA SING MATERIAL FROM THEIR YOUTH, WHILE OTHERS CREATE ARTISTIC ABSTRACTIONS FOR ITS OWN SAKE. TODAY’S YOUNGER MUSICIANS SEEM TO WALK A TIGHTROPE BETWEEN THE JAZZ “TRADITION” AND THE MODERN SOUNDS OF POPULAR MUSIC. DRUMMER OTIS BROWN III GOES ONE STEP FURTHER. FOR HIS BLUE NOTE DEBUT ALBUM, THE DRUMMER WHO MADE HIS NAME WITH JOE LOVANO’S “US FIVE” BAND INCORPORATED ALL OF THE INFLUENCES OF HIS LIFE, FROM FAMILY TO CHURCH TO THE MUSIC OF HIS YOUTH TO CREATE A WHOLISTIC AND SONIC AUTOBIOGRAPHY. THE FASCINATING ALBUM “THE THOUGHT OF YOU” IS GETTING GOOD FEEDBACK. WE HAD A CHANCE TO CATCH UP WITH THE DRUMMER, JUST AS HE WAS BEGINNING TO TOUR WITH VOCALIST SOMI.
WHAT INITIALLY GOT YOU INTERESTED IN MUSIC?
It was my parents. Both my parents are musicians who both ended up in education. My mother was a piano teacher and they were both instructors who ended up as high school principals. There was a lot of music in my house when I was growing up.
YOU ALSO GREW UP IN THE CHURCH. WHAT INFLUENCE DID THAT HAVE?
It had a big influence. That’s where I first started playing drums. My father played in our church and my mom directed the choir and played piano, so we spent a lot of time on Sundays and at choir rehearsals during the week. It was a big part of my childhood.
YOUR DAD PLAYED WITH AL GREEN AND JAMES BROWN. DID HE EVER TELL YOU ANY GOOD STORIES?
He’d tell me a story about James Brown and how you could be playing during a show, and you might hear something, and James Brown would just turn around and flash fingers. That would mean you were going to get a five dollar fine for messing up during the show! It would become a joke where they’d tell each other, “You better get five dollars ready for that one!”
I also went to AL Green ‘s church (in Memphis Tennessee) one time. A friend of mine went right after Al’s mom passed away, and he said it was pretty amazing. It’s something else.
WHAT FIRST CLICKED WITH YOU TO GET INTERESTED IN JAZZ?
Actually, I came in pretty late to jazz. It wasn’t until I was in high school going to college that I came in, and it was through the backwards way. First there was funk, and then I really got into the fusion stuff. I then started doing some research of where all the fusion stuff came from and then got into Elvin (Jones) and Max Roach and that’s how it really took off.
YOU ALSO MET FAMED TRUMPETER DONALD BYRD
I first met him at the time in college when I was starting to really get into jazz. It so happened that he was going to be producing records near my school at the same time. He turned me on to some more modern music and he pushed me into going to New York for more learning. He really directed my life.
I had heard some of his music before we met, but not like I did afterwards. It was one of those things where I knew how important he was on a cursory level, but I then later learned to understand more the significance of who he was . I knew the magnitude of who he was, but I didn’t understand why. I later did that and felt, “Wow.This guy is great, and I get to talk to him all of the time.” It was great to have him right there and bounce ideas off him all the time.
WHAT WAS THE BEST ADVICE THAT HE GAVE?
When I was about to finish undergrad, he suggested that I actually try and do this for a living. At the time I had no idea how to even take steps to do that. He then got it into my head, saying “You should go and try New York and see what happens.” So, I did!
HOW DID YOU GET YOUR FIRST GIGS WITH JOE LOVANO AND US FIVE?
I was at the New School, and I went to a jazz camp that the Thelonious Monk Institute was running. Joe was there as a clinician and he was doing a couple of concerts with a band. It was with Herbie Hancock, John Patitucci and Lewis Nash. It was crazy! He was there for a couple of days and I was working with different ensembles. He heard me play there and before we left he told me that we should definitely link up when we get back to New York. I was already a fan of his; he had a record out at the time called Trio Fascination with Elvin Jones and Dave Holland. It’s one of my all time favorite albums, and here he is telling me that we should get together when we get to New York,and here I was at the New School. So, I got back in NY and I thought he’d hit me up and we started doing some rehearsals together back in 2000.
Lovano has so many things going on, I’ve been fortunate to have been able to play in a lot of them. When I started, it was with the nonette. Then we did some trio stuff before we finally ended up with the US Five band that we’re currently in. Joe is amazing; he’s like a chameleon; he’s always thinking of new ideas and writing stuff. He’s just inspiring to be around. Whatever profession I may be in, being around somebody like that is inspiring.
HAS HE GIVEN YOU ANY CAREER OR MUSIC ADVICE?
Joe and I are good friends. He’s like a mentor to me. Our birthdays are on the same day. Even when we aren’t working together we’re talking to each other. I bounce almost everything off of Joe, whether it be how to work with a promoter, how a record deal should come about, or how he feels about a certain song. There are just so many things I go to Joe for advice. It’s just been amazing having somebody of that stature as a mentor and friend to be able to get advice from.
WHAT WAS THE GIG WITH OLIVER LAKE ALL ABOUT?
That was simply incredible. One of my first jobs was with Lake being the drummer for him on an album and then I played with him for something like six years. It was like nothing else: everything from soulful to open to free…he is just an amazing person and musician, so I treasured my time working with him an just being around him.
YOU’VE PLAYED WITH ESPERANZA SPALDING, AND HAVE STARTED AROUND THE SAME TIME. HAVE YOU COMPARED PATHS WHEN YOU MEET?
I’m a little older than her, and she’s also an amazing person, but when Esperanza came up I had already been on the scene for awhile. More than anything, we talk about music where we’d turn each other on to our favorite music. It was like that with everybody in her band; we’d all share what we were listening to.
WHAT WAS THE IMPETUS BEHIND YOUR ALBUM FOR BLUE NOTE?
I had just gotten to a point where I felt like I had been thinking of doing a record for awhile. It got to the point where I felt like I had enough material, I had a concept together, so I was ready to do it. It just lined up with everything from the musicians that I wanted being available to the deal with Blue Note. It all fell into place, so there’s a confirmation that I did it at the right time.
IN YOUR NOTES, YOU MENTION THAT FOR YOU,THE ALBUM REFLECTS YOUR PRIOITIES OF “FAMILY FIRST.” HOW DOES THE ALBUM DO THAT?
A lot of the underlying inspiration of the album is my faith and my family. There are two songs that I dedicated to my wife, as without her I really don’t have “my” immediate family anyway. So, I wanted to honor that and show how important that was for me. There was a song that didn’t make the record, “My Little Boy’s Love” and I kind of want to put it out as a bonus track later on. My wife was the one that has told me to go ahead and do this album, kind of giving me the push that I needed to get the process rolling.
DO YOU STILL GO TO CHURCH REGULARLY?
Yes, I still play at the church that I first played at. Whenever I’m home I play there every Sunday. It’s New Hope Baptist in Hackensack New Jersey. We always pray together and talk about things. I don’t know if it’s set aside for a certain time, but it’s often. We talk about situation with our boy and we pray with him a lot for everything.
HOW DOES YOUR FAITH INFLUENCE YOU AS FAR AS YOUR CAREER?
It’s my biggest influence. For me, it’s how I learned how to play music. It was a part of my worship experience. I’ve always felt that my playing was a gift from God and that I’d try to honor that. So, no matter what situation I’m in, that goes with me. I try to keep focused on that at a gig that I’m able to play music that is going to touch people’s lives. You never know how it’s going to touch them either, so God’s a huge influence. My faith is in everything, but especially with music .
DO YOU EVER SHARE YOUR FAITH WITH OTHER MUSICIANS?
I do. I’m not one to get into people’s faces. I don’t have that gift to evangelize people. I don’t hide it and I definitely talk to people about it.
LIKE ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI SAID, “PREACH THE GOSPER EVERYWHERE. USE WORDS IF NECESSARY”
That’s exactly right!
SO YOU WERE TRYING TO PROJECT THE INFLUENCE OF YOUR FAMILY AND FAITH INTO THIS ALBUM?
Yes, the “You” part of The Thought of You is a lot of different things. It’s my family, it’s God, it’s my music…so I wanted to try to figure out a way to incorporate all of those things together. The title song “The Thought of You” keeps coming in and out and that’s the main thought. I kind of viewed it like when I go off on a tangent like music for awhile, and then I come back. Then I’ll go and start concentrating on my wife and my family before coming back to a main thought. Then I’ll go off and think about God and return to my main thought. So these three things are at the top of my list of influences with the order being God, my family and music, and I wanted to tie all of them in together in the album.
BESIDES MIXING TOGETHER FAMILY AND FAITH ON THE ALBUM, BUT YOU ALSO ARE MIXING STYLES. YOU HAVE SOME STRAIGHTAHEAD JAZZ ALONG WITH HIP HOP. HOW DO YOU LINK THESE DIVERGENT TYPES OF MUSIC AND MAKE A “JAZZ” ALBUM?
To me, I don’t really see them as separate. I see them all part of my experience, all tied together and coming from the same tree. I wanted to honor the way…I know (pianist Robert) Glasper, myself and a lot of other people on the record see the connection in all of the different things that we love playing.
I love jazz, and I’ve played a lot of it. I’ve studied it, I’ve played with the masters, and I’ve also played hip hop. I grew up in the era when hip hop was the popular music, so I’d be lying to myself if I didn’t have it as an influence in what I play. In the same way, I grew up listening to a lot of gospel, so a lot of it is in my music without trying to be forced in there. It’s just part of me; I’m just trying to tell my story on the album and kind of honor that.
IT’S INTERESTING THAT YOU AND OTHER ARTISTS YOUR AGE, LIKE AMBROSE AKINMUSIRE, SOMI, ESPERANZA SPALDING AND ROBERT GLASPER, ARE MIXING SO MANY TYPES OF MUSIC TOGETHER UNDER THE LABEL OF JAZZ. IS THIS A CONSCIOUS DECISION YOU ALL COLLECTIVELY MADE?
I don’t think that we’re consciously doing it; I think we’re just writing music and telling a story about ourselves that we want to tell at the time. How it comes out is how it comes out. If it’s leaning more towards the Miles 60s kind of stuff we go with that, and it goes towards the hip hop we go with that. I’m not one that aspires to the belief that everything has to be one way.
Like, the gospel song we did on the record kind of has a jazzy feel , but it’s still gospel. Some of the other songs in the album have heavy drums, but Robert (Glasper) is still playing some jazz chords in there with the village-inspired drums. I don’t think it’s as much doing it consciously as just how we grew up. Esperanza grew up listening to a lot of different music, and I know that Glasper did as well. I definitely did, so we’re just playing who we are.
RIGHT NOW, YOU’RE TOURING WITH SOMI TO PROMOTE HER NEW ALBUM.
Yes, we’re doing some touring for her album in November and a lot more next year. We’ve been touring in October with my band when my record came out, and then will do a little more next year also.
HOW IS IT BEING THE LEADER IN THE GROUP?
Man, I could go two ways with that one! (Laughs) A leader in the band is different from a leader on the record deal! Sometimes I feel like “Hey, let me just go back to playing drums!” Actually it’s been awesome to be able to do shows and present music that I created and came up with. The audience response has been real good so far. We played at Summer Stage and people loved it. It’s great having the feeling that people are accepting what you do and like what you are presenting. It’s great being able to go out and play something that you created and wanted to play. As a drummer, I also enjoy taking other people’s music and bringing it to life as well. I love trying to figure out what other people want in their music and playing it how they want, so I like both just playing and being a band leader.
WHETHER IT’S WITH HIS FAMILY, AT CHURCH, ON THE BANDSTAND AS A SIDEMAN OR LEADER, OR IN THE STUDIO, OTIS BROWN III PRACTICES HIS FAITH BY FOLLOWING THE TWO GREAT COMMANDS 1) LOVE GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART AND 2) LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF. AS SHOWN THROUGH HIS RECENT ALBUM, HE CAN COMMUNICATE MUCH WITHOUT SINGING, BUT JUST SIMPLY BY REFLECTING HIS INSPIRATIONS AND MOTIVATIONS. CHECK OUT THE ALBUM AND GET SOME INSIGHT ON A PILGRIM THAT’S FOLLOWING A WELL THOUGHT OUT PATH.
(photo by Deneka Peniston)