You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians - It's 2024: Is Jazz Getting Smoother?

Episode Date: February 1, 2024

In this episode, hosts Adam and Peter embark on a musical journey, exploring the talent of Yussef Dayes. A prominent figure in the industry, Dayes' innovative sound has left a mark on the music scene. Join the hosts as they navigate through the layers of Dayes' artistry, questioning and unraveling the mystery of his genre. Is it smooth jazz, or does Dayes defy categorization altogether? Tune in for a great discussion that dives into the unique and enigmatic musical realm that Yussef Dayes effortlessly commands.↓ Links from the pod ↓Yussef Dayes LIVE from Joshua TreeHave a question for us? Leave us a SpeakPipeCheckout courses from Adam, Peter and more at Open Studio🎹 Head over to our YouTube channel for a better look 👀.Follow us on Instagram

I'm Matt Amanus. And I'm Peter Martin. And you're listening to the You'll Hear It podcast. Jazz, explained and prognosticated. I don't know what that means. I do. I think in my 45th year, I do have to go get that checked out, actually. Happy 45th, by the way.

Thank you. I got to make a prognosticate appointment with my doctor for sure. Oh, boy. It's time. Please do not stop listening now. Yeah, we're getting smooth up in here today. I mean, it's all started smooth. Right.

And I'm getting my notebook out. Your notebooks look smooth. Yeah, I've been out of the pod. You've been out of the country. Yeah, for about a week. And you went solo. I went solo before that, which was fun. But it's good to be back together.

How you doing? It's great, man. Yeah, feeling good around here. Yeah. Missed you when you were gone, but glad you're back. How was the jazz crews? All good? Jazz Cruz was good.

Yeah, bad. Kenny Barron. How can I saw Kenny Barron within like five minutes of getting on the boat and I was just like, that's Kenny Barron. How about that for some effortlessness? That's, man, it was so great. Great to hear him. It was always Chucho Valde.

I'm just thinking of the pianists. There was a bunch of great musicians, Chucho Valdez. Emmett Cohen, some younger, some medium, some older. I mean, Chucho is quite up there in age, but not in terms of his playing or his physical appearance or how he talks and how he, man, it's such a cool guy, great player. Beautiful soul. It really does. Yeah. It really does.

Yeah. So that was, that was really cool. Some great bass players. Christian McBride, Rodney Whitaker. John Patituci. Patituci. From the Italian island of New York, I think, actually. Okay.

No, so Patatucci, McBride, and John Clayton did a three-base. It was a lot of interesting combinations, but they did a three-base situation, a concert. And it was so cool, man. They were like, you know, I mean, three-based, I mean, it's such a corny kind of, a potentially corny thing to try to do that. Yeah. but they pulled it off great. It was so interesting musically, like their sensitivity of playing,

which, I mean, we talk about pianos, we never, it's so rare we get to, well, we do it all the time here, but I mean, like an actual gig, but think about bass players.

How often do they do that? Well, so it's so funny you mentioned that because McBride dropped a video with him and Edgar Meyer. I guess they're putting out an album. Right. Now that they've done a fair amount

over the years. It's a pre-release, but it's hilarious because like the name who's something like, who's going to play the melody? It's like what the name of the album or something is called. It was really, man, those two together, that's magic right there.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was cool. And, oh, Rini Rosanis, I heard her. She had a great quartet. Underrated, amazing musician. Steve Wilson and Patatucci and Carl Allen. It was very inspiring. Very inspiring.

The boat rocking back and forth, not inspiring. Well, speaking about rocking back and forth, we're going to be doing quite a bit rocking back and forth on our chairs, I predict today, because did you know... Get your fanny packs ready! Yeah, we're going to have two Fanny Pack episodes in a row.

Really? Oh yeah. We got this one and then we got a don't give it away. We got a different one. But did you know that 2024 is getting

pretty smooth? Yeah, I did not. And so full disclosure, my legal ramifications that I'm going to put out there. Debocia and Debocia and Deboci. Esquire says,

I must mention this for legal reasons. I think that's a real law firm in New Orleans. We've got to be careful. That's our law firm. If anybody's going to sue us, it'll be demotioning.

the most here. I just heard, I've heard of these guys, I think they're guys, mostly guys, for a while, but I just heard it right before we started. That's why we kind of played that vamp based upon something. I don't know if it's the one we're going to listen to, but... We've had a lot of our listeners tell us to check out today's artists that we're going to be reacting to Yousef Days.

Yes. When we made our list of the top, I think we did top five records of 2024 for us, a lot of people in the comments. In fact, the most commented request or addition was Yousef Day's latest album called Black Classical Music. Actually, the comments came more like, you idiots. Why are you sleeping on the South London scene? Yeah, the South London scene is taking off. And it's a lot with people like Yousef Day's here.

It has a lot to do with that. And I mean, this is really going to be, you know, and something interesting we could probably talk about as well is how we are siloed in terms of like, I just wasn't really. I mean, I heard them, I think, a little bit, just, but not as much as obviously some people are into this. And so it's a good reminder for me to like figure out how actually, to tell you the truth at this point, our YouTube comment section. Yeah. And please comment on stuff that we're missing.

We love. It's gold. There's gold in there. Like, that's kind of the word of mouth that really helps us. Because we're all kind of sequestered. We're siloed. I feel like that's where I first heard about Jihari Stampley, like a year ago. Yeah.

From our comment section. Yeah. And so, yeah, put your recs in there because we're always looking for wrecks. Not that we wouldn't have heard of this artist because Yusuf Dez is kind of blown up a little bit in the last year or so. Caleb knows about him and was telling us a little bit about the vibe too.

Shout out. Shout out producer Caleb. Producer Caleb here. But I thought we could just check it out. So one of the interesting things about this that maybe is kind of like a subtopic is that Yusuf Dez has made his sort of like career off of these amazing videos.

A lot of them are outside. and some of them are at sunset this one is a Joshua tree I love Joshua tree shout out Joshua tree My favorite YouTube album But also national And the actual park

Yeah In California I believe Not a lot of trees there though No just one Just the Joshua one But this is a beautifully shot video It's a beautiful sounding video In fact we were debating

Was this played live I say it's not And you guys were like it is If anybody in the band Is watching or listening Let us know if you were playing live Or what the sound That's how Inger and I

I'm just like this. I say yes, but it would be tough. How could it be... Okay, well, let's play a little bit and then we're going to do the immediate pause because I have a question for you. And this has nothing to do with the music at first.

It's just going to be out of the sound. I'm excited. Turn up for what? Okay, question. Yes. How could that possibly the sound be so crisp and contained if they were outdoors?

With that micing setup, look at that. There's no mics on... It looks like two mics on the drums. There's a kick and a snare and an overhead. Where's the kick? Where's the kick, Mike? You can see it down there on the bottom left.

Okay, maybe. But listen to that high hat. Listen to the bass. Okay, the bass could be direct or something. The bass is, the base and the keys are definitely direct. But it looks like that would be a lot to replicate. Yeah, okay. I think we convinced him.

I just, Caleb made a good point that it would be harder to play along perfectly. Not impossible. Not impossible. I've done it before. Those kungas, look how far away the mic is. They're outdoors. Cungas are loud, man. What do we need studios for? Let's go to Josh.

And I'm imagining that the bass and keys amps are very, very low. Yeah. I mean, yeah, the guitar and keys and the sax, how does it not just sound like a cavernous mess? I need one of those hats. I need one old shirts. That's like a Bo Derek shirt from the 70s. What was that? That was a little Terry-on-Gully feel there.

Shout out to that. Look at that bass drum. Look at that kick. Yeah. It's like a sacrificial. Orange Is this 2024 or 1974 or 1974?

Okay, can you pause for a second? Got a couple of initial comments. Okay. Should we start with the music or the fashion? Either way. The gentleman at the keys is dressed exactly like my father was in every picture of when I was a little kid in the 70s.

When he's holding me like we're by the beach because we lived in Florida. I collect her grandpa. I collect her grandpa. Is that what that's cool? No, really. Shout out Bill Martin for how he dressed. No, but I mean,

visually this is amazing. The fashion, the sun going down over the hills. Yeah, the sun, I mean, that's the timing of it, the symmetry. What about the groove? What about the groove? I mean, the groove is good. It's, this is kind of, this sounds like smooth jazz from, it reminds me of smooth jazz festivals I used to play in the early 90s. Totally.

You know what I mean? Is that a good thing or is that a bad? It's just a thing, right? The kids are loving it. It's just a band from C minor to F minor. I mean, the playing is really good. Is it deriven? Is it derivin there and a soprano saxophone instead of an alto?

Right. something going. It is nice. It's definitely got like a different and especially because of you stuff's the drummer, right? Yeah. Yeah. The way that like he did that that that that would definitely, I mean there's a lot of Chris Dave influence on all these drummers of course, but there was a Tarion Gully unless I'm missing it. But I've heard Tarion. I think he originated that. I play with Tarant Don, dun, dun, dun, yeah. And just that kind of the way he pushed there and then he pulled back after which is cool. But there are some differences in terms of like how little details around this of all, but it's very late 80s, early 90s, smooth jazz.

See, I'm, I feel like it's more of that early 70s, like, Afro-Futurism kind of thing. Oh, that too. I'm feeling that vibe a little bit. And Grover. And Pieces of a dream. Piece of a dream. Grover, Washington, of course. One thing I will say, oh, that's a nice, nice clean feel there.

One thing I will say, though, which is interesting about Yosef is the use of video, right? With, like, making a name for yourself. Yeah. So this is an 18 minute, 19 second long video. that has five, one, two, three, four, five. It's like an EP, right? Five songs. It's like an EP on video played live. It's like if you just took a set, essentially, a short set and recorded it as the sun was going down in a beautiful place. They could be wearing short sets as well. That would fit with these lives. But I'm just saying for any, like, any aspiring musicians out there,

if you want to make a name for yourself, like, do not sleep on investing in some video. Because it goes a long way. This has 2.4 million views. It's a year old, which is incredible for an instrumental video of any kind. And now that I know that you can make stuff sounding this good outdoors, that's got me thinking about that. That's what I'm saying. That's a good sound of bassian. A lot of minor 11s.

Shout out McCoy Tyner. Shout out Grover, Washington. You know what, though? It just makes me think of, though, is that, like, a two-cord vamp never goes out of style. Right. A two-cord vamp has been in style.

I like that little transition. They made that. It's almost like a curated segue, like a DJ would do, you know. Desert version. I like that. I want to hear the dessert version. Two pause for just a second before we're going to this next one.

So just that segment, and I think there's definitely some diversity of like approaches, and we're teasing about the smooth jazz stuff. This is probably the smoothest part of this, I would imagine. But I would say, is, I would pose the question to you, Adam, and to our dear listeners. Is there an appeal? and at this time kind of in the zeitgeist of whatever we're in 2024 kind of our times the aesthetic the sort of simplicity of the two-cord vamp like the way they're approaching the group is there an appeal to that to like almost like this is going back to simpler times this is like

a simple not simple but I mean I don't know what the word I'm like yeah kind of a simple like very organic, like this is kind of the opposite of AI. This is the opposite of like automation and and like TikTok scrolling by really fast. Is there an appeal for that? Have they reached something with this? Well, I think that there's connected with people. I think, I think so harmony is is considered intellectual. That's the, right, Aaron Parks has this great breakdown that melody is emotional. It's the heart. Rhythm is the body. It's dance. And harmony is the intellect, right? Harmony is math. Harmony is a thinking person's

sport. When you take harmony out of the equation, when you just do one chord or two chords, I think a spiritual element comes into play where we stop thinking about what's happening. So famously, love Supreme, right? You look at that, one or two chords on those songs. So what?

So what? And, you know, we call it modal jazz, but again, I don't know if that really covers what we're talking about. This is definitely very influenced by, I mean, the way they're playing. By Coltrane. That's what I hear a lot. of, which is, you know, why I was thinking, like, more like late 60s, early 70s kinds of vibes. But just removing the harmonic aspect, removing anything that's clever, removing anything that's like dealing with overthinking or trying to be cute or structured or smart, and just like

following your body and your heart into this melody and rhythm is, I think that's timeless. I think that that is a spiritual kind of music that never goes out of style. And even though you can dress it up in different ways, which this definitely has. has this sort of earthy vibe, obviously, but how they look, how they're playing, where they are. Like, that aspect of it is to me, like, it's to the pure source when you can eliminate all that stuff.

Now, this is going to be someone who loves harmony, so I'm not like slag in harmony. I love it. I agree with what you're saying, but then the one thing that's a little off-putting to me is that they're improvising, at least on this segment. I mean, we heard some sax improvisation and keyboard improvisation,

and certainly drum, you know, improv throughout in terms of like, you know, the architecture of going through this vamp and, you know, with the fills and different things. But the way that they're improvising is very, very expected, like very formulaic, actually, you know, just in terms of the way they lean into like going between the Dorian, you know, even when like the keys player is kind of, you know, we kind of went up to that. Yeah. And then, you know, which is, which is like, that's fine that you're going to, you know, formulate

harmonic areas, but even the way that they're improvising, like there's nothing, like we talk about a cold train or something. There's nothing like really challenging with this. It's very soothing. What do you want to hear out of that? Do you want to hear something different? No, no, I'm just wondering, maybe this is a time when people want to be sooth. And look, we're going to go to the segue. Maybe that's supposed to be the more challenge. Maybe this is the part that's just supposed to be just vibe. This is like music. If a DJ was playing, you're having a drink, you're talking to someone. It's very pleasing, you know. It's definitely not love. It's well done. It's not love supreme in that it's like,

Like this is a statement to be, to be like, you know, a very strong in your face kind of declaration. Right. It definitely doesn't have that aspect, which is the difference, I think, between. I hear what you're saying there where it's just more like, let's chill, let's smoke a little bit. Let's, you know. Is this weed smoking music? Maybe that's a question. One thousand percent.

So can you get the full appreciation for it without smoking wheat? Serious question. Like, is there a certain things like, no, you can't hear it unless you are smoking weed? Is there a heightened sense of awareness? If I was chilling with friends and we were like just chilling, doing whatever, maybe not smoking weed, whatever. Yeah. I would definitely put this on. This would be like a perfect ambiance setter, for sure.

Yeah. Or just driving around. So is it background music then? Well, everything is background music if you put it on. No, no. A Love Supreme, I mean, like, it's very, even if you hate it, love it, or in between, to me, that kind of recording is like you have to really be anti-music and art to not pay attention to it. Okay, so the other thing is I'm not hearing, there was kind of a melody, right, but it wasn't super long or strong. You know what I mean?

So it's like smooth jazz, maybe you have to improvise more melodically or down the middle for it not to be. Is this getting in your way at all? No, it's not. Right. So I don't know. I just think maybe this is a time when people are wanting stuff that's more chill, more in the background, less challenging, you know. And it's just something for us to think about as jazz players as we develop and, you know, develop different things. Not that we're like, whoa, you know, licking our fingers and seeing where the wind is blowing.

But I think that's how things like smooth jazz, like how did that term come about? How did that like, listen, like even like the greatest Grover Washington, I remember hearing him live. And I always think of like smooth. For some reason, I always gravitate towards him sort of being the one, you know, like that represents that. The crown prince of smooth jazz. Yeah. Yeah. But there is something there because, I mean, he was definitely influenced by Coltrane, by Cannibal

Aterley, you know, but there was an element to like, I mean, there was the dance element, first of all. Yeah. But there was also the element of it starting to go a little bit in the background. It can work in the background, at least. Yeah. I don't know. Let's just check out a little more.

We've only listened to like three minutes. Now, the visual element is interesting because that makes you really pay attention. Well, but it's everything. For my ladies. When you make art everything. counts is what you're presenting here on the subject. And so this visual element is no accident. This is what Yusuf Day's wants to project with their art,

with their music and the visuals are a huge part of this. Organic, earthy, brown, green, dust. That's a very, very interesting scenario of them. There's no straight edges in any of the landscape. There's no straight edges. on the clothing, right? It's all like, it's like, squiggly, curvy, hairy sound.

And vibe. There's a little bit of a, no, even the hat is curved. I was just looking at his hat. I thought it was pointing at the top. But there's no, you know, there's no singable melody. It's all the melodies that are there are vivy melodies.

And that's okay. Yeah, it's totally fine. I mean, visually, it's very compelling. I would say it's almost more compelling, visually. Sonically, it's not. Right. Is that what you're saying? Well, it's not that it's not. It's just much more compelling with the visual.

Like, this is not a concert footage. Okay, pause for just second, please. This is what I mean by predictable. Like, where that wind chime, wind tree came in or whatever was exactly, like, I remember doing smooth jazz with some really top level. I mean, some of the best in the business, percussion

and like, that's exactly where it comes, like, you know it was going to come there. And I'm not saying it's a good or bad thing. But it's a pretty. But it's a predictable thing. You know what this reminds me of? This reminds me of like mid-70s Marvin Gay almost, right? Doesn't it have like a, I want you kind of vibe?

Remember that album? But when the wind tree would, what does that call? Wind chime. Wind chime tree. Wind chime tree? There's a tree element because one goes from one end to the other. It's definitely a tree. Look at that.

But when that happened on like, I want you or, you know, know, any of that, the classic records, and not it was the very first time, but that was some of the first time you heard that. Yeah. That's what set this up. So now we're like 50 years later. And so then it does become a little bit derivative at a certain point. But maybe to this generation, it isn't.

It's like what's old is new. Like they're in Levee and they're like, oh, that's great even though, you know, for us. It's like, but are they to smooth jazz what Levee is? Like Chuck Baker. To actual jazz singing. Mid-century pop. Yeah. Maybe. Because we want to get involved with that discussion. Let's just talk about the harmony is actually kind of interesting.

You're just because it's going from a one to four with minor 11s, which was the other. The first one did. Exactly. But you know, you got D flat minor. When you go to these flat keys or sharp keys, depending on how you look at it. And then this is going up to that, what do we call that, that kind of alternative relative major?

You know, instead of E major, it's a major third down. Right. From the tonic. Right. And then it can go down and sit there. Like that's your main area. It's like the 6 quarter. F sharp minor, A major.

Yeah. And then, you know, you can go back to the four or the one. Oh. Nice pentatine work there. Oh. So it's interesting because a lot of the, there's pretty complex improvisational interaction on it, but it's basically rhythmic.

It's not, I mean, the harmony, he's taking it out a little bit, but it's basically based on rhythmic interaction. Hey, this is definitely recorded live, by the way. I don't know what I was thinking before. No way you're doing all that. It would just be so much work to try to figure that out. Yeah. It's a nice solo.

All right, that's Yousef Days featuring Elijah Fox. For my ladies. I think we got the vibe. I think we got the vibe. Thanks, everybody, for the suggestion. For the Yusuf Days. I'm glad we finally... She's my lady.

Should we go out on this? What's that?