With his
new album, Coelho was "chasing a club vibe," he says. "The organ
in jazz is a club instrument, after all, having gotten its start on the
Chitlin' Circuit. That's why I called it Turn It Up, because the record was
meant to have that dancing spirit, that groove-to-the-music, turn-it-up vibe.
While making this album, I wanted it to be fun - to make music that people
would put on in the car for a long drive or something you'd play when you've
had a hard day and want to feel better. Take 'Come Together,' 'The World Is a
Ghetto' and 'Soft & Wet' - they're the kind of songs that people really
connect with and jam out to. The original versions were very grooving and
melodically compelling, so it felt easy to incorporate them into the organ-trio
world, transforming them a bit but trying to retain the essence of what makes
people feel good - because when listeners feel good, that makes me feel good as
a musician."
Coelho
has evolved as a musician in just the two years since his first release, he
says: "I've grown and grown up. Making the first album, I was highly
influenced by Tony Monaco - learning at his elbow was a wonderful process. He's
a real master of the instrument. But with this new album, I'm more of my own
man. I was freer with the instrument, freer to explore different aspects of it.
And I approach the tunes with more of an arranger's mind now rather than just
as a player. The arrangements are far tighter on this album and subtler, with
more detail but also more arc and flow."
As a
trio, Coelho, DiCenzo and Jackson had more gigs under their belts by the time
it came to record Turn It Up, the organist points out: "We were tighter as
musicians and as people. I'm a lot more attuned to what Reggie's feel is now,
so I'm better at anticipating what he's going to do rhythmically. He really
knows how to drive the music - his time is so solid. Even if he does some crazy
polyrhythmic thing, he always brings it back to the '1.' Derek is all about
feel and atmosphere. He thrives on a vibe. I've never heard him play the same
thing twice - he's always throwing something different at you. Working with him
has made me a better player, and I know now how to give him more space to do
his thing."
Along
with his organ-trio work, Coelho has joined the Bay Area soul-funk band the St.
Valentinez as a keyboardist, with the group playing everything from Stevie
Wonder to Jay-Z. "They're an incredible group and playing with them has
really expanded my world," he says. "I spent all my years as kid
studying old jazz and records from the '60s and '70s, but thanks to these guys,
I've been listening to a lot more modern R&B, rock and neo-soul, which has
given me fresh ideas beyond the soul-jazz idiom. Plus, headlining clubs in the
Bay Area with the St. Valentinez has made me think differently about life as a
musician. There are two paths, basically. You can aim to fulfill your own
intellectual curiosity with music, pursuing a vision that satisfies your
creative drive first. Or you can play music for others, for an audience - in
other words, be an entertainer. Of course, it's all about balancing the two
sides, experimenting and entertaining. Today, though, I'm leaning toward
playing for an audience, thinking about what I'd like to hear as a listener and
hoping that other people dig it, too. That was the aim with Turn It Up - I want
people to dig it."
Coelho,
who was born on August 29, 1995, started studying classical piano at age 6. He
fell in love with the sound of the Hammond B3 when he first heard a recording
of "Green Onions" by Booker T & the MGs, and he eventually
graduated to adoring the records of jazz organists Jimmy McGriff, Jimmy Smith
and Don Patterson. Coelho began his jazz and organ studies at age 11; along
with Randy Masters and Tony Monaco, his jazz teachers include noted Bay Area
Hammond B3 player Wil Blades and keyboardist Peter Horvath. The young musician
has also had master classes with Larry Goldings and Bennet Paster, among
others. In 2010, Coelho attended and performed at the Eastman School of Music
Summer Jazz program as a rare freshman to be admitted. He participated in and
performed at the Stanford Jazz Workshop for seven years running, winning the
Outstanding Soloist award multiple times. He was also honored with the
prestigious Shape of Jazz to Come award and the Merit Scholarship. Previous
winners of the scholarship include Julian Lage and Taylor Eigsti. Coelho
performed at the San Jose Jazz Festival in 2011 and 2012, and also played in
the Stanford Jazz Festival in 2011 and 2013 with Robben Ford and Henry Butler
respectively. Over the past few years, he has played clubs and corporate events
across the country with such musicians as Akira Tana, Jason Lewis, Chester
Thompson, Darrell Green, Nicholas Payton, Donald Harrison Jr., Brian Pardo,
Bruce Forman, Barry Finnerty, Calvin Keys, Brandon Etzler and Joe Cohen among
others. Along with headlining Bay Area
clubs such as Slims and the Milk Bar as keyboardist with the band St. Valentinez (which he also manages) and performing some
of the Bay Area's best venues with his organ-trio, Coelho is a freshman at
Stanford University, studying computer science.
No comments:
Post a Comment