José pushes limits of jazz
! ’ " " # $ ! $ % ! "#$%"#&"$" ! " & & ' "
T’ S a day off from a busy touring schedule for the singer who recently performed at the San Jose Jazz Summer Fest and New Port Jazz Festival.
With fans quoting songs off his five albums since his announcement on social media that he ’ s coming to South Africa, José James quickly realises he has a tough job ahead of him.
“It ’ s exciting and a little overwhelming. It being my first time coming, I ’ m not sure which songs to perform because with so many albums everybody has their favourite song that they want me to do, so I ’ m probably going to have to give a four-hour concert,” he jokes.
James ’ distinct soulful baritone voice easily converts many a listener to an instant fan.
He ’ s flipped traditional jazz and given it a modern spin, blending soul, hip-hop and R&B to make up his own unique brand of vocal jazz.
Born in Minneapolis, where music greats such as the late pop legend Prince hail from, the star says growing up in the 90s was musically exciting and helped shape his approach.
“In the 90s a new hip-hop album dropped like every month, from Far Side to A Tribe Called Quest. I went to see the movie Juice, and there was a song called The
Ledge where this bass sample was used. It made me curious as to what it was. It then put me on to all the greats [like] Nat King Cole and Billie Holiday – it was a beautiful moment of discovery, ” recalls James.
All the 38-year-old wanted to be at 14 was a rapper. But it was his hormones that led him to discover his voice in high school.
“I went to a Catholic school which was big on singing and there were only girls in the choir, which made me want to join,” he chuckles. “It was when I started singing at rehearsals and realised I was actually good at it.”
He later pursued studies in jazz vocals at The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York City. However, James feels that formal training in music is not a necessity.
“Studying music can actually harm you because of a certain structure imposed on you. Music isn ’ t only about going to school and I don ’ t mean to knock it but the only good thing about it for me was that it ’ s the scene where musicians meet and that ’ s where I met all the musos on my debut album, The Dreamer.”
James was discovered by BBC Radio ’ s Gilles Peterson while performing in London and got signed to his label Brownswood Recordings.
“It was like a movie. As soon as I got the record deal I left school.”
His eclectic approach to contemporary jazz puts him in the same class as R&B innovators like Frank Ocean and Miguel, yet he stays true to the jazz tradition.
His bold exploration of synths and beats in the album Blackmagic was followed in 2010 by the award-winning For All We
Know. He later went on to sign with the prestigious jazz label Blue Note Records in 2012 and released his fourth album, No Beginning,
No End as well as the tribute album last year, Yesterday I Had The Blues: The Music of Billie Holiday to celebrate the woman he refers to as his “musical mother ”.
James is passionate about the #Blacklivesmatter movement and forms part of the Peace Power Change that takes on racial injustice in America. He has ruled out performing in Florida ever since the killing of Trayvon Martin last year.
“It hurts my heart to see on the news how police are killing black people. We have a real problem with gun control.”
James believes that his forthcoming album, Love In
A Time of Madness, set for release next February, is easily his best release to date.
He admits he doesn ’ t know much about South Africa, only that we have amazing food and cultures he is anxious to try.
He is excited to perform over two nights at the Sandton Convention Centre on the 16th and 17th of September.