Nate Smith's
visceral, instinctive, and deep-rooted style of drumming has already
established him as a key piece in reinvigorating the international jazz scene,
and now his rising career reaches a new benchmark with the release of his
bandleader debut, KINFOLK: Postcards from Everywhere (February 3, 2017 via
Ropeadope Records). Much like his diverse and ample résumé (which includes
esteemed leading lights such as Dave Holland, Chris Potter, Ravi Coltrane, José
James, Somi, and Patricia Barber, among others), this album sees Smith fusing
his original modern jazz compositions with R&B, pop, and hip-hop.
This leader
debut shows Smith at the helm of a core ensemble consisting of pianist and
keyboardist Kris Bowers, guitarist Jeremy Most, alto and soprano saxophonist
Jaleel Shaw, electric bassist Fima Ephron, and singer/lyricist Amma Whatt, with
Michael Mayo on backing vocals. The lineup expands on several cuts with the
inclusion of several illustrious guests: saxophonist Chris Potter, bassist Dave
Holland, guitarists Lionel Loueke and Adam Rogers, and vocalist Gretchen
Parlato.
As the title
KINFOLK suggests, the music bristles with a magnetism that can be only achieved
by assembling the right musicians, building upon and blending their individual
voices and developing a bracing group rapport. Indeed, Smith refers to the
aforementioned musicians as "kindred spirits," while embracing some
philosophies gleaned from Holland, his mentor. "Dave once told me, 'I
really believe that musicians find each other,'" Smith recalls. "He
feels that all the collaborations he's done and all the sidemen that he's hired
came into his life on purpose, even though he might not have been looking for
something specific. He discovers people along the way.
"KINFOLK
is about the musical family that I've put together," Smith continues.
"All core members of the band have very unique and specific points of
view." He reinforces the idea of family by composing tunes that touch upon
his childhood: such is the case with the jovial "Morning and
Allison," whose title partly invokes Allison Drive, the street on which
Smith grew up. The song stars Whatt serenading idyllic recollections of a child
enjoying a bright, fun-filled Sunday morning.
Smith
recorded his parents - Lettie and Theodore Smith - talking about their
respective parents on the mesmerizing interludes "Mom" and
"Dad." On the former, Smith's mother tells how her father migrated
from Virginia to Detroit and was drafted into U.S. Army, then later returned to
Virginia where he bought the family a house. The latter provides a vehicle for
Theodore to recall how his own father tirelessly worked at Navy shipyard in
Norfolk, Virginia during the Jim Crow era without getting proper financial
compensation or promotion until decades later.
"I
think of these stories as snapshots that ultimately gave shape to the Black
American experience into which I was born, which ultimately informs this
music," Smith explains. He goes on to stress the significance of having
his father on the disc: Theodore Smith passed away in March 2015. "He
never got a chance to hear the music or the band," Smith says.
Smith
celebrates the legacy of his paternal grandfather on the haunting ballad
"Home Free (Peter Joe)." The song begins with a chamber-like string
intro then moves into a gorgeous hymnal melody, highlighted by Shaw's uncoiling
of a splendid, blues-soaked lyricism. "Of my four grandparents, Peter Joe
was the one I felt the closest to," Smith says. "He was a real buddy
of mine. He died when I was only nine but I still think about him a lot."
Smith
reemphasizes the theme of nostalgia with "Retold" and
"Pages." "Retold" finds Bowers tickling a melancholy yet
romantic melodic motif on which guitar and saxophone run parallel lines across.
"When I started writing this song, it always sounded like someone telling
a love story from start to finish," Smith says. The dreamy
"Pages" becomes a superb showcase for Parlato to vocalize the song's
theme: turning the pages of a photo album. "I've loved Gretchen since the
first time I heard her sing," Smith says. "She becomes a part of the
musical fabric. When she sings, it's never about the singer being at the front
and the band being way in the back. It's all one sound."
The spirit
of the Black Lives Matter movement permeates the somber ballad
"Disenchantment: The Weight," another tune that spotlights Whatt's
thoughtful lyrics and delicate singing. Underneath the prowling melody, Smith's
drums martial rhythms that convey a sense of marching forward. Written in the
summer of 2013 soon after the verdict of the Trayvon Martin murder trial, Smith
says that the song's cyclical harmonic pattern represents a longing sigh that
many people felt and continue to feel after witnessing these ongoing
travesties.
Following
that aforementioned song is "Spinning Down," an intricate tune marked
by multiple subdivided rhythms inside of larger rhythmic cycles. Featuring
Holland playing acoustic bass alongside Ephron on electric, intertwining
saxophone passages from Shaw; incredible solos from Bowers and Loueke, and
surprisingly the only drum solo on the disc, the song touches upon the theme of
trying to ease a restless mind. "It works well right after
'Disenchantment' because that song is about everything that's wrong,"
Smith explains. "'Spinning Down' is about the mind trying to work all that
wrong out."
Because
Smith didn't come strictly from the formal matriculation of music studies as so
many of his jazz contemporaries did, he lovingly describes his approach to
drumming as "unrefined," which in turns helps him distinguish his
voice. He did, however, earned his bachelor's degree in 1997 in media arts and
design from James Madison University. While he was still in college, the
legendary singer Betty Carter recruited him for her world-acclaimed Jazz Ahead
program.
Smith says
that the visual arts discipline he studied in college definitely seeps into his
compositions. "I love great movies and images. I've always had a deep
interest in composing for film," Smith says. "For this project, there
is something very cinematic about the way that I conceived this record. That's
why it was so important for me to cast the right characters in terms of
musicians. They bring to life the themes of family, nostalgia and identity that
define this music." Ultimately, Smith likens the songs on KINFOLK to film
vignettes sequenced together to tell a greater story about the unfolding
journey of a working artist. This music represents snapshots from that voyage -
these songs are the postcards from everywhere along the winding road.
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