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ROBERTA: Theatrical Premiere at DocNYC Fest, Airs on PBS 1/24/2023

“Roberta” a documentary about Roberta Flack, had its theatrical premiere at the DocNYC fest last month and will be airing nationwide on PBS “American Masters” series on 1/24/2023 and subsequently in Europe on ARTE.

I composed and performed the score for the feature-length documentary and am now on to my next scoring project, an episode of PBS Frontline with investigative journalists Daffodil Altan and Cristina Ibarra which will air in the spring of 2023.

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Summer 2022

A picture of one corner of my studio in Oakland. Drum kit, saxophone, congas, vibes, microphone, shakers, picture of bell hooks.

Happy belated summer solstice from the Bay Area. I am spending my days parenting, walking the flats and hills of the East Bay, trying to find clean water to my kid to swim, picking stone fruits (plums, loquats, apricots) which are just coming into season, and scoring two big pieces for PBS.

Antibalas continues to bring our new repertoire throughout Europe and North America this summer and we’ll be recording all this for a new album this fall or early next year. There’s a feature on us and our back catalogue in the recent Songlines Magazine June 2022 issue.

Hmm…what else. Reading Joan Didion “Salvador,” B.W. Higman “Jamaican Food”, working on some musical / nature prototypes and a big Fire Wedding collaboration at the end of this month with Earth Lab at UCSC, Annie Sprinkle, Beth Stephens, Guillermo Gomez-Peña, Courtney Desiree Morris and other artists.

Now back to the lab. Love to whoever’s reading this.

My kid and I making music at our friend’s desk.

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New Music: Chris Gabo "Price of Anarchy"

I spent a month of early morning sessions with singer / MC Chris Gabo engineering vocals and adding a sparing amount woodwinds and keyboards. The sessions were a lot of fun and we got to become good friends. He’s a great lyricist and gets into a vast amount of emotional territory and never fails to crack me up. In his other life, he’s an accomplished playwright and screenwriter: you can his work on HBO’s “In Treatment,” “Parasite” and more to come.

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Writings: Artist Bios for Cochemea & Okuté

Over the past few months I was asked to compose artist bios for two of my favorite current artist/groups - Cochemea for his new Daptone release “Baca Sewa Vol 2”, and the Havana-based group Okuté for their self-titled debut LP on Chulo Records (distributed by Daptone). The music speaks for itself. Enjoy.

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Fourth of July narrated by Daveed Diggs

I was honored to be a part of this piece (music, sound effects) in solidarity with the Movement for Black Lives for this piece that came out July 2, 2020. It is building momentum with over 10 million views and an airing on CBS This Morning with Gayle King.

Daveed Diggs demands we ask: ‘What to My People is the Fourth of July?’

‘Hamilton’ Actor Launches Provocative New Video with the Movement for Black Lives

Oakland, CA – Amidst the growing national uprising against police brutality and racist violence, Tony award-winning actor Daveed Diggs (“Hamilton”) is launching a bold new video that asks a simple, provocative question:  what does the Fourth of July mean to Black people in America right now?

Inspired by Frederick Douglass’ historic speech “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”, Diggs’ new video asks poignant questions and radical truths, naming and reframing America's claim of “liberty and justice for all.” Written by a national collective of Black artists including Emmy Award winner W. Kamau Bell, National Book Award finalist Danez Smith, legendary emcee Pharoahe Monch, and award-winning writers Safia Elhillo, Lauren A. Whitehead, Angel Nafis, Nate Marshall, Idris Goodwin and Camonghne Felix, the video pairs Diggs’ powerful performance with images that juxtapose America’s ideals of freedom with the realities of police violence, economic exploitation, and public health devastation.

The full video “What to My People is the Fourth of July?” will be launched this Thursday, July 2 in the leadup to the national holiday this weekend.

"When I heard that some of my favorite writers were remixing the original Frederick Douglass speech -- a piece that has always meant a lot to me -- and that they would like me to perform it, I jumped at the opportunity,” said Diggs, who is in the public eye this week as “Hamilton” premieres on Disney+ on July 3rd. He also stars as Frederick Douglass himself in the John Brown epic “The Good Lord Bird” this fall on Showtime. “This piece captures the spirit of the original and adds to it the frustration of nearly 170 years of American refusal to value Black life while still expecting Black "citizens" to celebrate America. I'm honored to get to say these words. I hope people hear them. I hope we have contributed something to this very necessary moment of reckoning that maybe helps it last beyond just the moment.” 

“Every year we are asked to celebrate this nation’s independence day, its freedom, and every year we are faced with the irony and cruelty as Black people who have never gotten to partake in that freedom,” says video co-writer Safia Elhillo. “This piece is the product of that mourning and that anger, honoring the original Douglass speech and responding to how little, ultimately, has changed for us since then. Real change comes from the people on the ground, not a government’s empty promises. That’s who I put my faith in – the people.”  

Produced by Offsides Productions and Colehouse Walker Political Outcomes, the project is partnering with the national Movement for Black Lives and amplifying their call to “defend Black lives, fight voter suppression, and defund police.”

“This brilliant artistic offering places the current iteration of the Black liberation struggle in its right historical context, while tapping into our people's power and ability to find hope and harness beauty during each step of our journey to freedom,” says Karissa Lewis, National Field Director for the Movement for Black Lives. “As we continue the fight to defend Black lives and defund the police this Fourth of July and beyond, we invite everybody who watches the video to join this national movement for justice -- because when Black people get free, everybody gets free."





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Keleketla! Collab with Coldcut & Friends out now!

A new collaboration with Coldcut, Tony Allen and a cast of musicians from South Africa, the UK and beyond.

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Guardian - ‘Global Album of the Month’ Album review

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/jul/03/keleketla-review-ninja-tune

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NPR - “New Music Friday” Album review (audio)

https://www.npr.org/2020/07/02/886560842/new-music-friday-the-top-6-albums-out-july-3

 

Mojo - Album review

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Q Magazine - Album review

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Future Music - ‘Recommended’ Album review

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Music Policy Forum Webinar 5/31/2020

Hey world. We all want live music to resume, but we are nowhere close to where we need to be on so many fronts—health-wise, economically, and so forth. I was invited by Michael Bracy and the Music Policy Forum to share my experiences and outlook as a professional musician since the Covid-19 shutdown.

My last day of work was February 29, 2020 performing in Denver with Antibalas. We were in the midst of a spring/summer album tour through North America and Europe, and a fall trip to Nigeria in the works and all of that is on ice for now. It is far too early to create any sort of a timeline, but several cities are on board with REVS (Reopen Every Venue Safely), developing standards and protocols for what it would take to make this a reality. It is going to take a lot.

Anyway, below is my segment of the webinar but PLEASE check out the whole thing—we talk about healthcare resources before and during Covid-19 in New Orleans, Seattle, and Austin.


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