The Questlove Show - QLS Classic: Esperanza Spalding

Episode Date: April 1, 2024

Travel back to early 2020 when Esperanza Spalding stopped by the studio to talk about the evolution of her artistry, the charms of Portland, Oregon, and some deeper discussions about spirituality.   Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me. Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media.

Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifers Show. This is a place for raw, unfills of conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to The Clivert Show on the I-Hard Radio app,

Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network on TikTok. When a group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist, they take matters into their own hands. I vowed. I will be his last target. He is not going to get away with this. He's going to get what he deserves. We always say that trust your girlfriends.

Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, all. wherever you get your podcast. This week on the Sports Slice podcast, it's all about the NFL draft, and we've got a special guest. The director of the NFL's

East-West Shrine Bowl, Eric Galco, joins the Sports Slice podcast to break down what really matters when evaluating draft prospects. From hidden traits teams look for to the biggest mistakes franchises make, to the players flying under the radar.

This is the insight you won't hear anywhere else. If you want to understand the draft like an insider, you don't want to understand. miss this episode. Listen to the Sports Slice podcast on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow

Timbo Slice of Life 12 and TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Quest Love Supreme is a production of IHeart Radio. Hi, this is Sugar Steve from Questlove Supreme. It's April, which is Jazz Appreciation Month, so we are running some selections from the QLS

archives from artists who make some jazz music. This is a pre-pandemic 2020 conversation with Esperanza Spalding, who has become one of the new stars of jazz. In this interview, Esperanza talks about the real Portland, Oregon, learning how to play jazz at a high level, and the neurological benefits of certain rhythms. This is a deep and cosmic hour-long chat. Enjoy yo, yo, yo, yo, you're good at spontaneity and making shit up. Suprema, sub-suprema roll call. Suprema, sub-soprema, sub-soprima role call.

Suprema, Subra, Suprema, Role Car Suprema, Supraima, Role Call A prodigy, yeah Went to Berkeley Wow Grammy Jack J.B. I'm talking Emily.

Roll call. Suprima, Suprima, Subrama, Role Call. Suprema, Subima, Submina, Role Call. My name is Sugar. Yeah.

I have a question about jazz. Yeah. For double bass? Yeah. Do you need double hands? Roll call. Suprima, Suprima,

Role Car. Suprema, Suprema, Suprema, Role Call. I'm unpaid bill. Yeah. Don't give no fucks.

Yeah. Buy his book. Yeah. Mixed a potlux. Role call. What? Suprima. Suprima.

Suprima. Suprima, Suprima, Suprema, Suprema role call. What you need now? Yeah. First spell in your body.

Yeah. I can make it for you quick. Yeah. Or rum hot and toddy. Roll call. What? Suprema. Suprema.

I wasn't very for that. I'm the Suprema. Suprema. Suprema. Role call. Suprema. Suprema. Suprema.

Role call. Hey. Suprema. Wait. Can I? Break it down. Uh. Uh.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to a weird episode of Quest Love Supreme. It is raining outside. It is like bomb cyclone. All I can. say was that Laia, Bill, and I left from the same destination, but I decided to violate some traffic laws to get here

in time because our guest today has to be out with the quickness. So Steve insisted that we do the theme without Bill and Laia. Yeah. Yeah, he insisted why, because they got to learn, right? That's absolutely correct. Or they can overdub it later. No. We never

overdub the theme. That's not true. Anyway, ladies and gentlemen, this is Questlove Supreme. So we're joined by the exquisite, the remarkable, the ever expansive, the gifted. You already introduced me. Yeah, my fault. We already said, Sugar Steve. The original, the inspiring, one of the coolest prolific creatives and music today.

And most importantly, she's a native of one of my all-time favorite cities on Earth, Portland, Oregon. Yeah. We love you up. Ladies and gentlemen, please give it up for Esperanza Spalding. So how you doing, S? After all that, I'm good. Settling. Settling. You're settling?

Yeah, and I reflect back for you to you, everything you just said about me. Yeah, I'm grateful. I mean, you know this. I'm bad with I'm learning to accept compliments. Amen, accept it, yes. I'm in a new place in my life. I read the Gene Key's book.

I'm learning to accept for years. Yeah, I've been telling you to accept. It's hard to accept compliments. I agree. Are you good or bad with compliments? I just let them roll. and often bounce them back to be real. Also, because I figure you can't perceive it if you don't hold it, you know?

I want you to hold the compliments. Yes, you're all those things. Okay, I'm in. I'll take that. Can I sit closer to you? You sound pretty great based on his introduction. What's sitting closer going to do? Yeah, I don't know.

Yeah, exactly. HR. Like some osmosis? Is this going to, like, emanate off onto you? No, it could be that. Normally, like, I know my guest, like, the back of my hand when they come to the show. But I can't help but notice. that in your bio, in your wiki bio,

they had a factoid in there that kind of took me back. What's that? Which, for me, like, the idea of Portland, Oregon, in the words gang activity, never seemed to mix. That's because that's the Portland of now. You're trying to translate it. And also, if you come from, like, New York or Baltimore or L.A., I think gang activity in Portland is, like, a little paper cut.

that you get by the cooler at the office. It was like, Fisher Price. Yeah. Yeah. But the way they were trying to paint it was like, you know, music was your salvation. There was gang activity in the neighborhood. So am I to believe that there's no difference between Portland, Oregon, and Portland is just like Compton. I mean, if you're growing up and sleeping in the bathtub because there are guns outside and you've never been to another city, it feels imminent.

It feels dangerous. It feels scary. And that was the reality for a few years growing up in the Northeast where I was raised. But, you know, comparatively to some other cities, I think we had it mild. But people were whiling. They were whiling. Okay. But that's the thing.

The fact that you had it all shocks me because people are genuinely jaw dropped when I tell them that Portland, Oregon is hands down my favorite city on Earth. Why is it your favorite city? More than half my record collection comes from there. So, no, no, no. I'm just saying, like, I do love music. We love some music out there. Well, the thing is, your record.

dealers really don't know the value of certain things. So Portland is the place that like Japanese record dealers fly to. Whoa. To come and buy records. And then they sell them back to me for $1,000. Amen. Yep. Yeah.

We do that too with vintage clothing just for the record as well. No, I know. Yeah, they really do. Portlandia showed that a little bit. You know, in the way they drive. It's a trip. It's like everybody just figured it out. But that reality that you're talking about was like our secret because we were provincial.

I mean, it still kind of is... I always knew. You always knew, but Portlanders, like, didn't know that the world was really looking at Portland like that, you know? To, like, beatmakers and whatnot, I would lead them to Austin, which is my second favorite city, but I'd send them down south, far away from my do dame of Portland, Oregon. So what was your childhood like? Did you grow up in a musical family, or... No, I grew up with a single working mother and a big brother, and I grew up just in a funky, neighborhood. I didn't know

that it was grimy because that's all that I had but I know that we weren't allowed to go outside because it felt dangerous. You know, after the street lights came on, we had to stay in. And I remember I just remember wanted to always be at the piano and always wanted to compose. And when my mother

took the dogs for a walk, I would make her sing harmony with me. That's what I remember my childhood. Starting at what age? I'm like, that's crazy. All kinds of freaky harmony. Yes. Yes, anything I could hear. What age is that? Because I know you're a phenom in that way. Oh, bless. Yeah.

I mean, I don't know if I'm a phenom. I worked a lot at stuff when I was a kid. But yeah, very musical. I mean, it, honestly, I don't remember. Your mom didn't sing or your brother? They sang, yeah. She's from that generation where everybody could play piano, could play piano and read piano music, you know?

So for me, it was just like anything that I heard on the radio or on television or in end credits, I would go find at the piano, and that was the beginning of my compositional journey. Can you remember the first record that you purchased? Ooh, it was... You were born in 84. Don't you give me no like Stubinsky's rights of spring shit.

Actually, I don't know some new edition. Tell a little bit of love. It was probably, sorry to let you down, it was probably Rimski, Corsica, Cubs. Motherfrey, that's what I said, it was, though. And maybe some Chibomato. I was really into Chibomato when I was like, I probably bought an early Chippo Mato record, too. I went to, like, a freaky arts high school, so, you know, we were in time of this.

Oh, great. Wait, how old were you when you brought your first record? Mm, it would be 12. That was how I could afford music, because they would be in the bins for 50 cents, you know? So you go, you see the cool cover, and then you get to try it out and see if you want it. So 94, 95, this is when you brought your first? Like, 96, 90. Yeah, something like that.

Yikes. Okay. Yeah. What was your first record? My first record is actually nerdy. I did the one thing Please stay Shravinsky No it's the worst

But I have no shame in my game You know like when Especially 70s kids One my parents didn't believe in babysitters So much qualifying Okay yeah I love it when you No it's not

I'm not doing the preference I'm just saying that my parents didn't believe in babysitters I wasn't allowed to talk to strangers And you know I had an Afro that rivaled yours As a 5 year old So of course you know Like the whole

primitive exotic way. Old white women come up, oh, you're so cute. And buy me stuff. I wasn't allowed to ask for strangers for anything. And this woman comes up to me, her name is Ellie, and she's like, can I buy you something?

I say records. And then she got a napkin and a pin, and she took my order down. And then the next night came back with a Fisher Price record player. What? And she gave me my first three records, which was.

Wow. Which was. I have questions. about that. Right. Like just how that paints your expectation on the world. You just expect to ask

and some white lady's gonna show up and deliver it. But that's kind of beautiful. I love that. I love that. I love that. Interesting. Yeah.

That's how it could be. That's right. And should be. Buy me this white lady. Yes. Did you talk like that? White lady? It was very articulate as a child.

No contractions. I cannot do that white lady. Anyway, what was the record? She purchased me. That's not nice. I have a shame. I don't know why I liked. Nielsidaka's bad blood.

Wow. I don't hear that. Bad blood by Nilsadaka. One of these nights by the Eagles. A song that subsequently scared me. Rufus and Shaka Khan's dance with me. I think I got looking through the windows by the Jackson 5. This was a long list.

My God. This all explains quite a bit, actually. And my fifth record was the fifth dimension version of Love Hangover, which was out way before Diana Ross's version. What was the first one you physically bought? Not a white lady bought for you. I got a good report card

in the third grade, so my uncle gave me for five bucks you could buy the Jackson's Destiny A-track. And switches. Oh, you were right there with me, motherfucker. And Switch's debut album

Yeah, you could buy A-Tracks for like 2019 2019-19. Do you know what an A-track is, Esperant? I do. I have the Mad H-R-R-R-R-Trac for no reason, just sitting around. That's okay. Yeah.

I mean, Esperanza is an old soul. She is. Very young. But not an old person. Inside of a young person. So anyway. I have memories that predate my birth. I do.

I'm holding them. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media.

Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated.

One week, I'll take you by, behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment. And the next, we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be.

Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network, on TikTok. There's two golden rules that any man should live by. Rule one, never mess with a country girl. You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes. And rule two, never mess with her friends either. We always say that trust your girlfriends.

I'm Anna Sinfield, and in this new season of the girlfriends... Oh my God, this is the same man. A group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist. I felt like I got hit by a truck. I thought, how could this happen to me? The cops didn't seem to care. So they take matters into their own hands. I said, oh, hell no.

I vowed. I will be his last target. He's going to get what he deserves. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, everyone?

I'm Ego Wodom. My next guest, you know from Step Brothers Anchorman, Saturday Nightly. Live and the Big Money Players Network. It's Will Ferrell. Woo. Woo. Woo.

My dad gave me the best advice ever. I went and had lunch with them one day. And I was like, and Dad, I think I want to really give this a shot. I don't know what that means, but I just know the groundlings. I'm working my way up through. And I know it's a place that come look for up and coming talent. He said, if it was based solely on talent, I wouldn't worry about you. Which is really sweet.

Yeah. He goes, but there's so much luck involved. Mm. and he's like, just give it a shot. He goes, but if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat.

Just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck. Listen to Thanks Dad on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. Esperanza. Hi. I'm here.

How old were you? Here I am. This is this extent of this show. All right. So how did you actually discover instruments? And what is your instrument of choice? Because you do everything. You sing well.

You play bass well. You do piano. What is your... I'm starting to think that the instrument is my life. You know, those are the details. Yeah. No, I mean, it's true. I've been thinking a lot about just the potency of word and sense.

sound anywhere that we are and trying to hold my existence, like my interfacing with people as the instrumental exchange, because I know the power that sound has. And I've been so focused on this, like, I got a shit, I got to shut. I got to put the hours and be able to do the things. And recently, I'm like, damn, but there's already people who can do that, you know, there's already that masterful bass player that's already taking it to the limit. There's that massive a vocalist who's taking it all the way. Now I'm thinking about, like, what is the practice to make every sound that I make and interaction that I make, like a beautiful performance in conversations.

This actually reminds me of something I read in Maitei Garcia's book, Prince's ex-wife. She said that he told her to live every day like a work of art. And that's what that sounds like. I am really a fan of that, yeah, as a practice. Yeah, it sounds so free. I can't even comprehend.

Right now. Sounds so free. And I like to think I'm an okay musician. Well, you're probably doing that. just come into the consciousness of it. I think a lot of this Wayne Schroeder quote when he talks about the premise of this philosophy, this Buddhism that he practices and he said, you know, with it

you get to create value out of everything that's happening. And I think that's very much what we do as improvisers when we're in a musical space, like whatever the raw ingredients are in the studio or with the song sketch, you activate the creative powers to turn that into a thing. So he talks about applying that to everyday life

and he says, because if you're not practicing that, what's practicing you? And that's Kwestlove Supreme That's a lot. But that's what we've been practicing as artists, right? We've been practicing this creative capacity to take nothing or take fragments and make something. Like, that's the alchemy of making art. So these days, just you ask, that's what I'm focused on.

That's the instrument that I want to study, practice, and master. I got to say that, high five. When I first got to know you, I guess you could say we know each other at least over. over 10 years, right? Yeah, isn't that wild? Like 2007, 2008? 10 years ago. You're very much, yeah, a little over 10 years ago,

you're very much like the character, Bleak Gilliam in Mobert Blues. Because when I first- I don't remember who Bleak Gilliam. That's Denzel. That was Denzel's character in Spike Lee's Moved. I buy the same dress for both my girlfriend. Yay!

Yes, you remember that red dress department? Shut up. Shut out. Anyway, my point No, my point was We exchanged numbers. I called you and you were like, Hey, I'm rehearsing right now.

You know, hit me back on the... And then I called like, two hours later. You're like, yeah, now I'm rehearsing my... And by the seventh time, I was like, oh, she's like... The only person I knew that rehearsed longer than you was... Prince. No, no.

What's his name? Jacks has a phone player who David David Murray David Murray told me that he's on an average he practices 10 hours a day That's madness, yeah I don't

But just quickly to plug for an album With Terry Lynn Carrington, Jerry Allen and David Murray That's an amazing album For the record, no bass because Jerry Allen's playing on the bass, but anyway, back to us Yes Yes, the red dress.

But yeah, I love my dress, thank you. And I remember every time I would call you, you were on a treadmill. I don't know how that works. But literally, I'm like, y'all what are you doing? He's like, yeah, I'm on the treadmill right now. And he still wants to talk and he still breathing the whole way. So, yeah.

It's impressive. I respect that. I respect that. Morning times is when I can get it in. At nighttime, I'm doing 12 gigs. Okay. So gun to your head, what is your favorite instrument? What?

She's like, flowers to your head. In the jazz world, they don't ask questions like that. Flour to your head. No, really, it's my life, man. I'm telling you. Like, it's not about the instrument right now. I obviously love the bass. Obviously, I love the voice, but, like, truly, the practice right now to me is, like,

polishing the instrument of my humanity because everything emerges from there. So if there's a fire in your house right now, what do you say? I'm like, good an answer, damn it. At least the instrument. Yeah. Fire in your house, gun to your head. This is really intense. It's a really violent show.

Sorry about that. All of a sudden. Welcome to Quentin. Quest Love, Supreme. Let me. Can I just ask you a question about the way you grew up? Because I read something interesting about how you had to be homeschooled because of something that you went through physically as a kid.

And as you were talking about rehearsing, I was like, well, I wonder if some of your rehearsing, it comes from the fact that you were at home a lot and you had to practice a lot. I'm just curious. Can you explain? Yeah. I don't know if there's a connection. That feels very personal. Oh, my God.

I'm sorry. No, it's cool. So I watched you getting into you. Yeah, let's go. Let's go. No, she means like being home. Yeah. Was that more time to practice as opposed to?

No, I watched a lot of Jerry Springer. And I... Ah, yes. Thank you, finally. Where is the ratchet? Yes. That's it. Yeah, and, you know, that was before I understood what practice was.

That was before practice was, like, suffering or a thing you were supposed to do because you had to do it. So it would just be like, you remember, well, before there was any sort of, like, four-track recording device? You do that thing where you have two tape recorders. And you just keep, like, recording the thing over the thing and see the stacks that you want, right? So I did a lot of that, a lot of composing. You know? Like five-year-old boss.

So how? Yeah, exactly. That was a lot of my time. At what age or what year did you master your craft? No. No, she has. She's going to say it. Go ahead.

God, I'm sorry, but. No. I'm still learning. All right. But it's true. It's true. And also that word master is just problematic for me right now. Like.

In a plantation sense? I'm just saying like a master of what? Like master of what? Really? Okay. When did you get comfortable with your skills as a musician? Oh, well, I'm not comfortable with them, but that's not. That's not a problem.

Okay. It's not a problem. You know, this is like interviewing the Jackson's. I'm sorry. I've never seen someone. No, it's your truth. It's your truth. Go ahead.

But it's just the truth. You know what I mean? I get what you're coming from. I mean, so. Well. So do you still feel intimidated going on stage? Hell yes. Of course.

When's the last time? That's the joy. That's the joy. Like that is the practice too. Like if you know there's some shit that scares you and you're willing to like dive through and dive in, like that is the practice to me. I know there's juice in that. Do you need that fear? Maybe so.

I like to know that it might not work. You know what I mean? Like I like to know like, oh shit, how are we going to get out of this one? I like that shit. Yeah. Okay. I love it. I definitely am.

Okay. So this is weird to hear these answers. Okay. But yet most of your songs are like in 7-8 meter, like these odd times and these really dissident modulations. Yeah. I'm freaking. I mean, for those that don't understand, like, one in layman's talk or whatever, I mean, it's like the daredevil equivalent of a tightrope walking. Oh, yeah.

Empire State Building to another building. That's the same. I didn't do the sports ones. Thank you. Flowers to your head. hours to your head. So what I'm saying is that

I mean you're at least six, seven albums deep in walking the wild side. It doesn't feel I mean, that's... But all your records are different. All your records are different.

You know what it is? Like, it's not, like, maybe it's just not that deep. Like, I just do what I hear. If I hear some shit and I can comprehend it I have the whisper of the sound or the premonition of the sound, I just go to make that sound. You know what I mean? Okay, so as of this speaking tonight,

you're doing a collaborative project with Robert Glass. I'm fine with Robert, yes. Right. Is Crystal and drums? It's Justin Tyson. Oh, okay, Justin Tyson. Yeah. So with that particular situation,

are you nervous about what you're going to? Hell to the yes. Really? Yes. Robert is. Still? Oh, my God. Yes.

But that's a thing. It's not. What makes you nervous? Is it because of who he is or what he might do? Well, I feel very, what he might do. That's what I feel like in. That I can definitely understand. Robert's predictable.

He'll do comedy before he'll do anything else. Yes, yes. But also, like, I remember something that George Wien said once. He's like, you're young, you get into jazz and you're doing it intuitively. Like, you're studying and it's all cool and you think like, oh, I got this, I can do this. Then you get like 10, 15 years in and you realize how hard it actually is. And then all of a sudden you're like, God, damn. Like, thank God.

didn't understand how intense this was. Like, I'm at that place right now where I'm just like, holy shit. Like, there's so much more that I want to do and study and training. Have you met a composition that you've yet to Mward? M word? Yes. Meditate on. But, like, isn't that the gift?

Like, what the hell? It wouldn't be fun if you're out here like, I got this shit. Yes, done and done. I feel like you feel. like the second that you feel comfortable, like, okay. Yeah, time next. Then everything's over. That's right.

Wow. I'm out here. But you're like that too. Like, why are you at? I'm in a new place now. You're a little older. Did you just spit on me, motherfucker? Yes.

Excepting. Zend quest is the new Zen love supreme. You don't want to be challenged. I'm going to enjoy this. I'm going to reenter your life through the, through phone communication, which I know you hate. No, I actually... I'm going to buy your book and see if this changes you.

Over text. I do. I prefer talking on the phone. Again, for the sonic exchange, you know. I know. But right now, like, what I really would love to do, really, really, really in music, honestly, is to harness the best of practices for music therapy and neuroscience. Say what? Yes.

And, like, get that into, like, a playbook that other musicians can use. And it's not like you have to be explicit, like, we're yielding these tools. But just like, yo, okay, like these combinations of chords have this effect on the body. Like, these combinations of rhythms have a soothing effect. Oh, my God. I don't know. No. It's a study, though.

She's right. I'm going to take you to a sound bath. Okay. What's that? Done and done. I've done a lot of cosmic crazy shit in the last 40s. What the fuck is a catamab is amazing? You know what it is?

I read an interview with DJ Quicks like maybe about 10 years ago and he was talking about the way he approaches when he's making beats. It's like he keeps people's heartbeats and, you know, he's thinking about the pace of their heart when he's doing that. So it's kind of, I'm kind of getting that same vibe. What's all you two might need to hook up me? Milk for Graves. I don't know if y'all are familiar with him. There's a beautiful documentary called Full Mantis about his work.

He's been exploring this as a percussionist. And actually what he discovered ended up in forming like the medical field. He is the one who discovered the measurements for heart rate variables, you know? And this was coming from his question as a percussionist of like, how do I affect and heal the human heart from my rhythm? And I just like, I say this. because as artists, like I was saying before, we have been practicing something very unique. Like, we have a superpower.

Yes. And it's incredible. And we yield it through our art intuitively and through study and practice. And I just feel like right now on planet Earth, like we have an incredible gift to be offered through this medium of music. People trust us.

They need us. Like, we know that we're administering medicine. So I'm excited at this particular moment of how that medicine can be like supercharged with what our friends and colleagues over in the science world are doing, you know? Yeah, I literally got an email from somebody who is like the CEO of Musical Health Technologies. So that's like literally, and you went to Kappa with them.

Yeah. Who? Oh, oh, I was supposed to tell you. It's out here. It's happening. It's happening. And it's exciting. And maybe it'll all come back around to what we already do intuitively.

Like, well, learn. Like, we've been doing this, you know what I mean? You are telling the truth because you remember, like, some time ago, when Terrence Howard was talking a little bit crazy on the red carpet? Oh, at Tyler. Mary's thing? Okay. You know, Black Twitter had a field day. He was actually telling the truth 100%.

But he did it in such a cosmic way. Oh, I don't know you're talking about it. He did it in such a cosmic way that would just set off Black Twitter like, oh, he's crazy. Well, I mean, the thing is, you know, when people talk about like meditation and kind of metaphysics and all that stuff, anything that ain't in the Bible. Right, exactly. We're getting there, people. That's not be too hard on us. We got a history.

No, we need. We are doing it more often than not when it comes to meditation and things of that nature. That's not be hard on us. All of us here know it. So I've been putting off this thing for like nine months where I'm like, what the hell is a sound bath? Okay, you're going to play a gong and I'm going to do some breathing exercises like Lamaz. And it's going to change my life, right? Lamont of all.

You're going to give birth to music. Of all. Please keep talking. No, but that's the thing. Please, please. I love that. No, no, no, I'm just saying that that's how closed I was to the idea of it. And then I went into the most transformative, like, experience of my life, which, and it's so hard. It's like I would have, it's probably easier to make you think that there is a Santa Claus.

Wow. But you're actually speaking into existence things that happen where these people play music. in meditation and it's it's it's past a tantric orgasm like it's past all of it it's really and especially yes I highly recommend it can I can I ask you guys what yeah you didn't tell us what it was you had to go experience it oh you can't okay it's like okay how do you know what it is I do know what it is I know we talk we're the same certain things are experiential you know like okay I practice Reiki and people ask me what that is I'm like, I can try to explain it to you, but it'd be like if you never heard music.

Right. And I'm trying to explain to you what the sensory experience of hearing organized sound is. You feel it in your body. And when you feel it, you get what the shit is. But until then, it really doesn't help to explain. You should experience it. I believe, like, when you see homeless people talking to themselves on the street. Somebody find me a coupon for one?

Really? No, my dream is to organize this for me. my loved ones. Like, I'm going to try and figure out how I can do it for 50 people. But in the meanwhile, I have to get them open to the idea of doing this. Because mine took me about, my experience was like eight hours. What? I got there at 4.30.

And after all the crying and screaming and all that shit was done, you know, I'm telling my girlfriend, like, oh, okay, let's go get some neat. She's like, babe, it's 3.45 in the morning. What? Literally, yeah, it's... You went in. It's the most intense therapy thing that you'll ever deal with in your life. I think that we might be

one of the few cultures that doesn't have an articulation for the medicinal properties of music. They do in Africa, though. I think that's what I'm saying. She's saying American. I'm in this nation, in our culture. I think that it's actually very common knowledge

in many, many cultures that you utilize music for specific functions. for grieving, for births, for birthdays, for celebration, for even for medicinal reasons, you know. And I think that right now we're coming back to that, maybe that ancient understanding. Yes. And I know a lot of musicians who are asking like, okay,

so how do I like, how do I imbue what I do with that? When you were speaking about wanting to bring your family into it, I'm like, damn, is that something you could do from the stage? Like, is there a version where you like weave some of that potency into what's being disseminated for the whole audience? This is where I think, you need Erica for that. No. Erica, that's real.

That's real. That's real. She knows what she's doing. I'll give you a better example. Now hearing that 19-minute version of Farrow Sanders, the creator has a master plan. Hey. That, or like the Prince of Bees, the Leon Thomas, just like the 20, you know, like listening to it without context. And then like when he starts his yodeling thing that starts weirding me out, like, okay, what's he?

and then they start primitive screaming and all that like pretty much the last ages of Coltrane the last stages of Farrow Sanders' albums truth be told Yoko Ono's

early early stuff do my first exposure to Yoko was the Rolling Stones Rock and Rolls Circus Yes and you've seen it So you know exactly what I saw and what I heard

Exactly Exactly No, but even with the plastic owner thing with Mother. Woo! All the screaming at the end of Mother is due to the fact that Yoko got John into primal screaming therapy. Primal Scream Therapy. Did that feel cathartic for you listening?

Yes, totally. Right. Isn't that deep? Yes. And I wonder when we're thinking about, you're speaking about Ferrell Sanders and Coltrane, often I think we speak about their intention of what they were sending out, but I want us to just remember that, you know, the personal work when we share it is very potent and very powerful just as medicine in and of itself. Because very rarely do we actually get to witness people in healing process.

Like it's hidden. It happens in a room somewhere with like your therapist or it happens in your marriage counseling or at church if you happen to get the spirit if you're a lucky one, you know. But I think that right now, like giving that permission to show like the total vulnerability and almost like borderline madness of what healing looks like and that catharsis is a game. that we can give too. I'm happy you brought up creator as a master plan because I still remember the very first time I heard that was probably about maybe 15 years ago and it really was like I felt changed after I heard it. Yeah.

Like I was like, holy shit. I've been a lifelong fan of music, you know, music is transformative, blah, blah, blah. I had never experienced what I felt when I first heard creator as a master plan. It was like, whoa. And those individuals, just to bring it around or connect the dots, they did a deep spiritual work as well. Like I think those are two artists for sure, Farrow Sanders and John Coltrane who recognize their lives as the

instrument as well and we're doing that deep studying and taking that responsibility to polish their instrument of their personhood. When I finally understood what was going on with the Love Supreme, like I was like, oh wow, this is just You understood what's going to? Well, not fully understood, but like, you know, when I finally realized it, you know, the last part is him playing

the prayer on the back of the cover of the album or, you know, when he's playing the, in the first part where he's playing the love supreme motif and you know in every key he's saying god is in every in everything so you know just picking up on things like that it's like whoa yes yes this is completely it's such a gift a big part a big part why is so maybe foreign to us because this is one of the unfortunate one of the kind of things that i found problematic with how religion is in america especially in terms he's getting there he's going to be about to get deep you know especially in terms morning there's the church of john cool train

in California. So here's the thing. When I was doing research on, this is a long story of me finding out how my ancestors came to the states. And so the long story short is that once they were emancipated, they were allowed to purchase a big body land, 200 acres, of which they were allowed to go back to their religion and their way of living in their technique.

So they didn't have to practice Christianity anymore. Whoa. And once I did the research of what they did in Africa Town in Alabama, at first I was joking like, oh, no wonder I'm kind of hippie. It's like, they're a bunch of hippies. Even in the failout play, they spoke of a, I can't pronounce it, umboch to. It's a religious practice where it's like a three-day meditation. It would be the equivalent of a ayahuasca tea ceremony or that sort of thing or mushrooms or whatever. it's sort of like the religion that was imposed on us for purposes of slavery

is conflicting into what we originally came from. And so that's kind of what I'm conflicted with now on at least trying to get other black people than not just think that I'm some Birkenstock granola hippie saying, hey, do tune in and tune out. There's a larger tribe than you think. I like to think that whatever archetypal benevolent energies there are. They are very forgiving of the small-minded ways that human beings interpret what they have to say.

I like to imagine them in another realm just like in harmony with each other. And we're the ones who are like clashing are like diminished edits of what they've offered with each other. You know, I mean, everywhere you go in the world that Christianity has been imposed, you see ways that indigenous cultures have absorbed the best of and use it as no in clature to translate what they already knew, what they already knew to be truths. Because, I mean, essentially, if you can't feel the ultimate truth in your heart, what's the word going to do for you, you know?

And I have seen this with friends who are practicing in other faiths, but are really open to Christianity. They find the metaphor they need to access that benevolent archetype and let it serve them and support them. So, you know, like, in other words, like, I don't need to throw away Christianity

or, like, put it down. I just can see that human. got their hands on it, diminished it to diminish other human beings, but the archetypal truth is what it is. And I think there are benevolent entities that are fucking hard to describe. Like, what we're human. The dummy version of what you just said is most people just say, I'm spiritual. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Yes. And work with it. Work with it. Like, not one or two religions. They got some truth here, some truth there. I just pull it. But I mean, that's similar to how we get into music, right? Like, essentially,

If you are devoted, you're going to find what you need. Like, devotion is devotion as devotion as devotion. It doesn't matter if you're a folk singer or a jazz musician or whatever. Like, if you're willing to put in that level of devotion, like, you will unpackage that the polishing of your centrifuge, you know, and be able to bring through the magic that you have to offer in this realm. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clever Taylor the Fourth.

You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or. my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes,

creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for

honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me, or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to The Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. There's two golden rules that any man should live by. Rule one, never mess with a country girl. You play stupid games, you get stupid games, you get stupid prizes. And rule two, never mess with her friends either.

We always say that trust your girlfriends. I'm Anna Sinfield, and in this new season of the girlfriends... Oh my God, this is the same man. A group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist. I felt like I got hit by a truck. I thought, how could this happen to me? The cops didn't seem to care, so they take matters into their own hands. I said, oh, hell no.

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It's Will Ferrell. My dad gave me the best advice ever. I went and had lunch with him one day. And I was like, and Dad, I think I want to really give this a shot. I don't know what that means, but I just know the groundlings. I'm working my way up through, and I know it's a place that come look for up and coming talent. He said, if it was based solely on talent, I wouldn't worry about you, which is really sweet. Yeah.

He goes, but there's so much luck involved. And he's like, just give it a shot. He goes, but if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an issue. Inspirate. It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat. Just hang in there. Yeah.

It would not be. Right. It wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck. Listen to Thanks, Dad, on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. I have a question. Yes. With regards to music being a healing tool and so forth.

And I want to just temporarily bring it to the actual bass guitar. Okay. And is the bass guitar or base or anything that creates low end? Is that more suitable for healing because of the stronger vibrations? That's interesting. I don't know. For me, I experience it as a very soothing part of my life. Also, I think more than the bass.

as an instrument that was an instrument that I could improvise on. It was the first instrument that I actually felt free, just spontaneously creating on. And I recently... That's what I meant by Comfortable earlier. Yeah, yeah. I recently learned that when you are in the state of improvising, you're actually soothing your brain.

So being an active improvisation actually changes the functionality of your brain as you're doing it. It's also the only time that you're... The part of your brain that forms eye narrative and the part of your brain that listens are active at the same time. So personally, I don't know if it's the instrument itself or the fact that I was free on it. I know that my whole life when I've been playing that instrument, I've been soothing myself. I've been soothing my brain. It is a blessing.

But also, you know, you'll feel the vibrations more in your body. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. That would be something interesting to look into, just the resonance, what the resonance of that instrument does. It feels healing as hell. I have one other question about bass. So for people that don't know out there,

the difference between an upright bass or an acoustic bass and a double bass, is there a difference? Oh, there's a difference. It's just different names for the same thing. Yeah, yeah. Can I ask a question? My dad wanted me to ask you this question because we were rolling around listening to your music the other day,

and he was like, oh, I'm a fan. You don't have to play it. He said, but he's as a drummer, my dad's a drummer, he was like, I need her to really talk about how difficult it is to sing and play stand-up bass and how those, somehow he did some Amir Bill shit where it's like the ones, the twos and the fours and how it's hard to get in and stuff. But I didn't, I was like, I'm going to ask the room and ask Esperanza. Yeah, I disagree that it's hard. I think because it's all hard. All of it is difficult. I mean, we know this.

You know this. You practiced a lot, though, right? I did. I did. I practiced a lot. I think anybody who practiced as much as I did singing and playing would find it as accessible as playing piano left and right hand. It's just you're used to seeing that so we don't think about it as much. But like left and right hand piano independence is crazy.

What's the thing you ignore? Ignore? If I'm playing. I'm serious though. If I'm playing and singing, I'm not thinking about what I'm playing. I'm thinking about what I'm singing. Oh, interesting. I try to hear it all.

I try to stretch to be able to. I feel like, that's what you were going to say. Yeah, okay, okay. Okay, okay. You know what it is? Like, after a certain point, the kinetic memory comes in on the base. Yeah. Yeah, so that, you have access to that.

I have to say, though, this particular era I have not been practicing that much, and it's really wild to be in, like, a playing environment and actually be trying to think about all that shit at once. It doesn't feel, it doesn't feel as close right now. Because P.S., my dad is 80, and we were really trying to rock our brains to think of other stand musicians that play stand-up bass and same. And we were like, yeah. Can you play drums?

Sure. Does it sound good? Do you play good? Have you played on your albums? I have not. Okay. No. I got a question.

But it's not too late. The roots have been trying to complete their last album for like three or four years. Yeah. And you like to like make an album in like three days or 77 hours and things like that. So I feel like the two of you should, you know, bond. You'll crack the whip on it. Yeah. That album, what that was, was showcasing the process of creation as the project.

So it was less about the final product and more about, like, the art form that we're exhibiting right here is creation itself. With all the tightrope walking involved, because I truly think, personally, in my daredevil character that I am, like, when the risk is real, it activates this whole other dimension of your creativity. I propose. I agree with that. I agree with that. And not just in music, I think it's in anything. Like,

I feel like I do my best work when I'm under so much pressure. That's what I'm saying. Because that, nope. Okay, what about, okay, it doesn't have to be pressure, but just the stakes are real.

Like, the stakes are really real. Did you have to write the paper? Do you stay up all night to write the paper? Well, you didn't go to college because you're a prodigy. No, she didn't go to college? I'm playing. I'm like,

did you graduate early? She graduated early. And then write the paper the night before because you needed the deadline. No. No, I mean it like, I think we're both. referring to like the creative environment where the stakes are high and very real and there's

nowhere else to go. Like if you had two weeks to do the paper, you could theoretically start it two weeks out and you could feel that like, okay, I'm leading towards something. What I love is when you're in an environment, you don't know what's about to happen and you're being asked to generate in real time a creative response. To me, that's the most exciting space of creation. That's improvisation 101. That's exactly what you're doing. Yeah, that's also like improvisation at the highest level because improvisation 101 could be like, oh, I know the context is going to be this like C minor blues

and here's all the scales and the shapes that I prepared. I'm interested in the stuff that you don't know, like you don't know yet what it's going to look like. You don't know what's coming at you and you co-create in real time. And I think that's what the Wayne Showta Quartet did for the world. They like showed the highest possible level

of that like spontaneous creation literally making something from nothing because they'll go out and have no idea. They don't have a set. They don't have a song. But you learn that shit so you can forget it. Isn't that the big line about that stuff? You learn C minor scales and all that other crap.

Yeah. When you actually get there, you just vacate it. Maybe. That said a lot, but I'm having a hard time thinking of anybody who actually exhibits what the possibility is at that level. Sure. It's like the way short of quartet. Also, I'm like such a devotee of Wayne, so I try to talk about him as much as I can. That's cool.

All the time. He's awesome. Because he's just so next level. I would like to propose a, not a challenge of mission before you leave. Oh. Oh, God. Okay. Okay.

Are you familiar with, are you familiar with Dogman 95? Have you heard that term? All right, so. What is it? Oh. Dogman 95 is fun. This is exciting. Dogman 95.

So a bunch of Danish filmmakers, we're tired of the French flexing on that. Oh, we're the best filmmakers. We're the most artistic. So they. Is that the French accent? Yeah, we're used. I was about to say. Like the skunk.

Pemi La Pipe. So they, so they. So they. issued a challenge which had all these restrictions. Like, okay, well then you got to make a movie on this type of camera with natural lighting, no soundtracks, no da-da-da-da-da, no edits, no end. It was like who makes the best product under all these restrictions, then they're the winner. And they called it Dogman 95.

I would love to see the music version of that. Actually, I think there's, I think... Why? I think Matthew Herbert, the electronic musician, works that way. Really? And also, oh God, God, there's somebody else. There's somebody else. Oh, Mono Neon.

I don't know if he still does, but when he first started, he used to, like, at the end of all of his videos, he would have, like, his little manifesto or whatever. And it was the list of all the things that he did do. Yeah, all of his rules for making music. I think that's a luxury of the privilege, though. Like, truly, which is cute and beautiful. And I love what he is. She said cute.

Yeah, yeah. I hear what you're saying and disagree with it. I really dig that. I do. And I'm thinking of this documentary that I saw about the landfill harmonic of these young people and their music teachers who were making instruments out of garbage. Right. But because that's all they had access to.

And the drive to generate music was so strong that they were like, yo, we don't have cellos. We don't have violins. But we have all this stuff around us. Let's just make what we need. And again, like that creative impulse of generating something out of nothing is incredible. And for those of us who have like infinite access to the. these resources, I sort of feel like it's our

responsibility to expand and need the capacity to utilize them. As far as a, get out. You're out. You're out. I do. Ladies and gentlemen. All three of y'all.

And spread it. And spread it. If you have all that surplus, like, go find some musicians who are actually trying to make some shit and, like, offer your access to them instead of... You do it. You do it. You do it.

I know. You do it. I'm going to say... Asperanza, get out of here. We're going to continue talking so we can come to term with it all. Undo everything I just say. Have a good day. Thank you.

Thank you so much. We'll see you. Love you. Delian, love you, love you, love you. Thank you. Struck, girl. Strong J. What's Love Supreme is a production of Iheart Radio.

For more podcasts from IHart Radio, visit the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me. Clifford Taylor,

fourth. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, the Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfilled conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. When a group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist, they take matters into their own hands.

I vowed, I will be his last target. He is not going to get away with this. He's going to get what he deserves. We always say that trust your girlfriends. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe, on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. This week on the sports.

Slice podcast, it's all about the NFL draft, and we've got a special guest. The director of the NFL's East West Shrine Bowl, Eric Galco, joins the Sports Slice podcast to break down what really matters when evaluating draft prospects. From hidden traits teams look for to the biggest mistakes franchises make, to the players flying under the radar. This is the insight you won't hear anywhere else. If you want to understand the draft like an insider, you don't want to miss this episode. Listen to the Sports Slice podcast on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcast. or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slice of Life 12

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