One of the best things about writing for okayplayer for six years was being to be follow people’s careers over that time. I didn’t know much about José James when I was asked to interview him, but I was pleasantly surprised by the man and music. So when his next record was released three years later, I was in the right place (with the right knowledge) to give it the credit it deserved. But before that happened, I first had to meet José.
Jazz. Like José James says, it's a "funny" word, all too open to misinterpretation. And he should know. A jazz singer who defies that definition by being too R&B for the jazz crowd, too jazz for R&B, and too hip hop for soul. Not that it really bothers him how people label him.
"None of the people, like Billie Holliday or Charles Mingus, who we associate with it actually wanted to be called jazz artists. It's a word, like hip hop, that was thrust on them as a movement. And there’s too much music to be contained in this one word. Even in the 60s you had free jazz on one hand, Dixieland revivals on the other, and blues, rock fusion shit and everything else in between. But when people say jazz today, they just think about old music."
That's something that José is hoping to change with his new album, Blackmagic. At its core is the same instantly familiar warm, honeyed voice that made his first album, The Dreamer, such a success in the jazz community, but Blackmagic is very much a record of today. It features collaborations with artists as diverse as Flying Lotus, Benga and Moodymann, making it, broadly speaking, a jazz album with hip hop, dubstep and house producers onboard. None of which, especially made by those three composers, could be accused of being "old music." It’s José James in a nutshell; an extraordinary jazz singer who respects the past and embraces the future.
"I’m trying to be sort of a bridge between the worlds. Jazz artists back in the day always worked with the leading composers of their time. I don’t have George Gershwin, I’ve got Taylor McFerrin, Flying Lotus and Moodymann and I really respect what they do. I want to make good music and help composers like them take their work in a different direction too and they need a vocalist like myself to do that.
"It happened with Lotus first, he reached out and asked me to do a track for Los Angeles. We made "Visions of Violet" and that was really dope. I had never really gone in that direction, and it satisfied and challenged me musically. The definition of jazz for me has always been progressive black music, and I think that jazz needs to embrace contemporary realities a bit more again. I understand and respect forty years of perfecting the sound on your horn, but times change man.”
“I’m comfortable with the word ‘jazz’ because I know the tradition, but I think people just don’t understand that for me as a composer, there’s not a whole of difference between a song like “The Dreamer" which is just three chords, like hip hop, and "Blackmagic" which is a loop as well. But as “The Dreamer” was played by instruments instead of a sample, people say it’s jazz, but if it’s clear that same loop is a beat, then the same people will say it’s not music any more.”
Then what they’d make of “Warrior,” José’s take on Benga’s “Emotions,” I’m not sure. A jazz quartet playing dubstep. Yep, a jazz quartet playing dubstep. “And that’s the most jazz, in the traditional sense, song on Blackmagic. It’s a jazz quartet, piano, bass, drums and vocals. There’s a little intro, I sing the melody, quote unquote, then there’s a solo, then I come back. And the instrumentation and arrangement, you can’t get more traditional. But the fact that’s it’s dubstep puts people in a different thing. To me, that’s the freshest music right now.”
“Though to be honest, I’m trying to reach a young audience and I’m not really concerned with upsetting the jazz police if I take a different drummer on tour, or whatever. I was on tour with the dreamer for two years, I went to 30 different countries, I got to hear a lot of stuff and see a lot of people so I wanted to make a record next that was a little more contemporary.”
This burning desire to keep on moving and evolving is inspired by John Coltrane, the creator of what José sees as the highest achievement in black American music, A Love Supreme.
“I would call him a musical father, for his leadership, his spirituality, his drive, his passion to always push himself. That’s what people have to understand; I want to push myself, I want to grow. I’m too young to settle down as a jazz artist and just sing standards for the rest of my life.”
“I feel like if I'm on a jazz label, like Impulse is, that means that a certain musical standard, but also experimentation. I feel like I need to take the best of the kind of music and musicians that are around me and take it to the next level, whether it’s jazz, soul or whatever.”
Ah yes, Impulse. The house that Trane built. Home of John and Alice Coltrane, Sun Ra and Pharoah Sanders, and quite possibly the most famous jazz label in the world. That also happens to be the major label that José has signed to after releasing his first two albums on Gilles Peterson’s label Brownswood. It’s another move that could jeopardise his standing with his old supporters, but unsurprising that’s not how José sees it. For him it’s progress. Positive progress.
“It’s been my dream to be on Impulse my whole life. And to be honest, distribution wise, I definitely need a worldwide market. I think the net is cool, but people in America are buying my stuff on import for twenty, twenty five dollars and that just really hurts. And I’m getting a lot of love and traction in the States right now, people are still discovering The Dreamer, and I feel it’s bigger than me, it’s bigger than a label. If I can be a young face or voice for jazz or progressive black music, I definitely want to be that. There’s just not enough visibility. There’s plenty of artists, but not enough visibility. Whenever people who are underground get opportunities to go mainstream, I feel we have to take it and not feel we’re selling out. We’ve made the choice to stay underground and keep it real or whatever for too long, and let a lot of other, fake ass people get a lot of money and a lot of control, while all the artists we love stay broke."
“It’s really our responsibility to take the responsibility, to apply for grants, to get involved in arts councils, get involved politically, socially, economically, get involved, period. I mean why shouldn’t we have somebody’s beat on a TV commercial and it’s your homeboy? I mean you watch TV, get involved. Do I want a worldwide deal? Of course I do. Am I going to bring the same passion I did at Brownswood? I’m going to bring twice as much. I don’t see enough of what I’m into represented in mainstream culture, and I would like to.”
Word. Progressive black music in action. Whether it’s jazz, hip hop or soul, José James or John Coltrane, it doesn’t matter. Pick it up and get involved.