Stir Crazy With Steve Jenkins: Conversations With

My guest this week is Nigel Hall-an amazing singer/keyboard player/multi-instrumentalist. Born and raised in Washington D.C. and currently residing in New Orleans, LA. Lettuce's keyboardist/vocalist Nigel Hall is an accomplished musician steeped in Gospel tradition, as well as classic soul, funk, hip hop and R&B. Hall was discovered by Lettuce co-founder Ryan Zoidis around 2007, who invited him to Brooklyn to meet Eric Krasno and record with jazz band Soulive. Nigel was a huge fan of Soulive and this was a major moment for his young career. At that same time Hall connected with Lettuce drummer Adam Deitch and The Roots drummer/founder Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, and soon began appearing onstage with Soulive, Lettuce, and Royal Family affiliates. Nigel Hall was first nominated for a Grammy for his work on Ledesi's 2009 LP Turn Me Loose. In 2011, Hall decamped to New Orleans to immerse himself in the Crescent City's musical heritage. It was in NOLA where Hall was drafted by Jon Cleary for his band, and appears on the NOLA pianist's Grammy-winning LP Go-Go Juice. Hall toured with Robert Randolph and the Family Band, John Scofield, and briefly with Tedeschi-Trucks Band, before he was chosen as a keyboardist/vocalist for Warren Haynes Band. Hall appears on Warren Haynes Band's studio album Man in Motion and live LP Live at the Moody Theater, released on Stax Records. Hall appears on the Grammy nominated Family Dinner Vol.1 from Snarky Puppy, as well as Grammy-nominated album from New Orleans own Cha Wa. Hall has also appeared onstage with Marcus King, Pretty Lights, Dave Matthews Band, and more. In 2012, Hall co-founded The Nth Power, a funk/soul/R&B band with former Beyonce drummer Nikki Glaspie. In 2015 Hall departed The Nth Power and soon released Nigel Hall Band's critically acclaimed debut Ladies & Gentleman... A Bonnaroo 2013 performance saw Hall share the stage with the likes of Chaka Khan, Willie Weeks, James Gadsden, Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi, Solange, members of the Wu-Tang Clan, Anthony Hamilton, SchoolBoy Q, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Chance the Rapper, and Thundercat. As a solo artist, Hall has been nominated for the New Orleans Offbeat awards, won New Orleans Big Easy Award, and has been a featured solo artist at New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival for five consecutive years. Hall will be performing at New Orleans’ Essence Music Festival for the first time in July 2019. Nigel Hall joined Lettuce as a full-time keyboardist and vocalist in 2015. Hall is featured on Lettuce's forthcoming fifth full-length LP ELEVATE, due in June 2019.   Nigel and I talk about all kinds of stuff including where he came from, what his favorite Christmas song is, All kinds of music stuff, and the importance of living your truth and being who you are.  This is one of my favorite episodes yet and I think you’ll like it also.  We talked yesterday and here’s how our conversation went.

James Casey is an NY/LA-based multi-instrumentalist, singer, producer and composer ​A current member of Trey Anastasio Band, James has had the opportunity to perform, record, produce and write with many of the world's leading and most influential artists. Credits include: The Roots, Phish, Meghan Trainor, Anderson .Paak, The Jonas Brothers, Maceo Parker, Carly Rae Jepsen, J.Cole, Leslie Odom Jr., Dave Matthews Band, Sabrina Claudio, Chaka Khan, Wu-Tang, John Legend, Roy Hargrove, Soulive, Lettuce, Shawn Mendes, 5th Harmony, and many more. When not on the road, James has found a niche in the studio, producing and performing for many different acts, including his own: Animus Rexx. James also has a live-streaming platform which is called AuxChord.  Their goal is to act as a venue for musicians who want to live stream and they help with the technical elements of it.  IF you want to know more about that go to auxchord.live   I caught up with James when he was in NYC doing some benefit streaming concerts with Trey Anastasio and we had a great conversation.

Today my guest is Adrian Harpham. Adrian is an excellent drummer based in NYC and Philly.  He has played with folks like Leo Nocentelli (of the Meters), Bernie Worrell, Chromeo, Amel Larrieux, Dr. John, Tom Scott, Oz Noy, Screaming Headless Torsos, and so many more. Besides being a stellar drummer, Adrian also has moved into the realm of music production and has produced over 30 records as well as having his own imprint label called Modern Icon Recordings which is part of the Ropeadope label. I first met Adrian back in 2006 on a few gigs that we did together and we’ve been friends ever since.  It had been a while since he and I had chatted so it was great to catch up.  We had a great conversation and here’s how that went.

This is a special one-off episode where Adam Dorn returns and we discuss the 2020 Election.

My guest today is Lex Sadler. Lex is a bassist, programmer, designer and musical director. Besides being a great electric bass player he’s also a very skilled synth bass player. Lex moved to NYC 13 years ago from Australia and has played with people like Peter Cincotti, Talib Kweli, Michael Bolton, etc. He also is a big part of the many of the great local music nights in NYC including Producer Mondays at NuBlu (featuring all kinds of all-star guests) and the Jelly. He has a great solo album called “Polytronic”, with geniuses like Cory Henry, Nat Townsley, Ari Hoenig, Alex Han and my drum brother Sydney Driver. There’s also Rhythm & Stealth (which also features Sydney Driver on drums) that’s an eclectic mix of electronica, hip hop, samples, live instrumentation and drum’n’bass beats. We talked back at the end of June and talk about all kinds of stuff ranging from vintage basses, video games, NYC in the late 00’s, etc. It was a great conversation and here’s how it went.

My Guest This week is Steven Wolf. (Or Wolf as everyone calls him.) Wolf is a drummer, programmer, songwriter, and music producer. His discography includes numerous gold, platinum, and Grammy winning records. He has worked with a range of artists including Alicia Keys, Katy Perry, Hiram Bullock, Grover Washington Jr., Celine Dion, Aretha Franklin, The Bee Gees, Miley Cyrus, Annie Lennox, David Bowie and many more. We talk about all kinds of things for nearly 2 hours: evolving as a musician, expanding one’s horizons in terms of moving away from chops-oriented playing to more song-oriented playing, dealing with playing related injuries and how to transcend them, the ego and how it relates to making music, and we also talk about the current state of things. This chat was from a few months back and we were a week into the George Floyd protests. Steve’s been in LA for the past few months and here’s how the conversation went.

My guest today is the great guitarist/instructor Chris Buono. I met Chris in 2003 through our mutual friend David Fiuczynski while doing a thing at Berklee College of music. Chris and I have played music together a lot. A good bit of that music has been with the great drummer Tobias Ralph. We also did a TrueFire instruction play along course with Keith Carlock called “IN The JAM: NYC Funk” I’ve also played bass on a lot of Chris’s instructional courses. Which brings me to the next thing, besides being a kick ass guitar player who’s played with people like Graham Haynes, Sofia Ramos, Karsh Kale, Snarky Puppy, etc, Chris is one hell of a guitar instructor. He has over 40 courses for TrueFire, he’s written articles for Guitar Player magazine, and has made instructional content for guitar instructor. com. He also taught at Berklee College of music for a time and has several books that have been published by Hal Leonard. We had a great Chat back in June and Our conversation begins talking about the new hustling challenges brought on by this pandemic. And don't forget to stick around at the end for the conversation about Van Halen.

Steve Lawson is my guest today. Steve is a prolific solo bassist who has put out a staggering amount of records and is always working on something. He explores all kinds of sonic landscapes with effects, loopers, MIDI, accompanied by his trusty 6 string bass. I think I first heard about Steve at some point in the late 90’s and then we became friends in real life maybe ten years ago. Steve has been a part social media forever and he has some of the most forward thinking views about music and distribution. Besides he’s recorded musical output, everyone should take some time and read through his blogs. He’s many great things that all independent musicians should think about. Steve and I chatted for a couple of hours back in mid July. It’s a long but fun chat and we cover all kinds of topics from bass playing, to the role social media plays in life now, and so much more.

Steve Lawson is my guest today. Steve is a prolific solo bassist who has put out a staggering amount of records and is always working on something. He explores all kinds of sonic landscapes with effects, loopers, MIDI, accompanied by his trusty 6 string bass. I think I first heard about Steve at some point in the late 90’s and then we became friends in real life maybe ten years ago. Steve has been a part social media forever and he has some of the most forward thinking views about music and distribution. Besides he’s recorded musical output, everyone should take some time and read through his blogs. He’s many great things that all independent musicians should think about. Steve and I chatted for a couple of hours back in mid July. It’s a long but fun chat and we cover all kinds of topics from bass playing, to the role social media plays in life now, and so much more.

This week’s guest is Teddy Kumpel. Teddy is an amazing guitar player who lives in Brooklyn. He’s worked with people like Joe Jackson (he been in his touring band for the last few years), Rickie Lee Jones, Phil Lesh, Feist, Marshall Crenshaw, and a ton of other folks. He also has played on soundtracks to movies well all love like Anchorman, Talladega Nights, and he’s also a great engineer. Teddy and I became friends sometime back 2013. He had this cool weekly residency at Rockwood Music Hall between 2011 and 2018 where he did this thing called the Loopestra. Basically, it was Teddy, his guitar, his voice and some looping equipment and he’d have a different rhythm section every week. There were no rehearsals. The idea was just to play. It was awesome to hear great bass players like Tim Lefebvre, Andy Hess, James Genus, Jonathan Maron, Fima Ephron, and great drummers like Aaron Comess, Shawn Pelton, Jojo Mayer, Aaron Steel, Josh Dion do their thing in the context of Teddy’s Loopestra. I had the honor of doing 2 of them. Many of those gigs are on YouTube. It’s a goldmine of stuff to check out. Teddy and I spoke a couple of weeks ago and here’s how our conversation went.

This week I’m talking to the magnificent Julie Slick. Julie is an amazing bass player who I first heard with Adrian Belew’s Power Trio. It was thrilling to hear her play through all the various music Adrian has been a part of whether it’s his newer compositions or classic King Crimson or Frank Zappa stuff. She also has a cool project—or a band (side question: what’s the difference between a band or a project?) called EchoTest and that features 2 bass players. She’s also played with the Crimson ProjeckT which is a cool King Crimson-adjacent band featuring Tony Levin and Pat Mastelotto. The last time I saw Julie was in early 2019 when we both were playing on the Yes “Cruise To the Edge” cruise. We had a great conversation and it was excellent to catch up.

Today I’m talking to the amazing Charlie Hunter. Charlie is an amazing guitar player and has a really unique concept where he plays bass and guitar at the simultaneously—similar to players like Tuck Andress and Joe Pass. It’s the kind of thing you have to hear to believe and if you see him do it live, it feels like your senses are playing tricks on you. If you have the D’Angelo album “Voodoo” album you’ve heard him . Go to the track called “Spanish Joint” and listen to the first 20 seconds. The bass and guitar are Charlie doing his thing in real time. Charlie has been a bandleader in his own right for 2 decades or so. His first record Charlie Hunter Trio was produced by Les Claypool from Primus who also released it on his label. Charlie’s got records on out Blue Note, Ropeadope records, etc. (I think he has one of the greatest titles for an album ever “Everybody Has a Plan Until They Get Punched In The Mouth”. ) He’s also made music with Christian McBride, Snarky Puppy, Frank Ocean, John Mayer, and many others. Charlie and I had a great chat a few weeks back and here’s how that went.

My guest on this episode is the great bassist Evan Marien. Evan’s been a good friend of mine for years and is known for his awesome electronic/jazz/funk/fusion duo he has with Dana Hawkins. He also works with Elliot Moss, Wayne Krantz, and is featured on the not-yet-released new album by Tigran Hamasyan which comes out later in the year. Evan and I chatted back on 4/20 and we talk about all kinds of stuff.

Todays guest is Panagiotis Andreou who’s a friend of mine that I’ve known since college at Berklee College of Music. Panagiotis is one of the most unique and expressive musicians I know and besides being one of my favorite bassists to listen to, he’s one of my favorite people to talk to. He’s played with people like New York Gypsy All Stars, Gonzalo Grau, and he’s also a member of the trio Now-VErsus-Now which is a trio that also features Jason Lindner on keyboards and Justin Tyson on Drums. I caught up with him a few weeks into the shelter in place and he’s how that conversation went.

In this episode, I talk to my good friend the great bassist/producer/composer Derek Nievergelt. I’ve known Derek since the 90’s and we met during our school days at Berklee College of Music. Derek is a consummate musician and has worked with everyone from Terence Blanchard, Pyeng Threadgill, Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings, Robin Mackelle and the FlyTones and many others. He also has put out a solo album of sorts (featuring the guitarist Al Street and drummer Adrian Harpham) under the name ‘Nievergelt’ on Ropeadope records called “The Jewels” We had great chat not to far into the lockdown and here’s how that went.

Today my guest is Divinity Roxx. She’s probably best known for playing in Beyoncé’s band—and you’ve probably seen one of those concert videos—and before that she played in Victor Wooten’s band for 5 years and has also played with such artists as Jay-Z, nona Hendryx, Will.I.AM, Erykah Badu, Patti Labelle, Ledisi, and Gladys Knight. She also has a solo project which is a combination of funk-hip hop-and rock. I talked to Divinity on June 4th and we cover all kinds of stuff. I really enjoyed our conversation and here’s how that went.

This episode is a special episode dedicated to mental health. I wanted to talk to someone who has some good insight about how to cope with life in the era of the coronavirus. My guest today is Dr. Susan Bodnar. She is a psychologist based in New York City. Besides her own practice she also teaches at Columbia University. We discuss the challenges and anxiety that Covid-19 has brought on society and what we all can think about to persevere and stay in a positive place.

My guest this week is Jonathan Herrera. Jonathan is a stellar bass player and he has performed and/or recorded with Cathedrals, MoeTar, Zigaboo Modeliste, Stanley Jordan, Brain, Oz Noy, Garaj Mahal, Miguel Migs, Cyrus Chestnut, Cathy Richardson, Michael Lee Firkins, Jon Fishman, Kai Eckhardt, Matthew Charles Heulitt, Dynamic, Rick Musallum, Levy's Love Lounge, and many more. He also wrote for Bass Player magazine and eventually was Editor-in-cheif before stepping down in 2010. Even after that He still continued to write for them and he actually helped me get some writing work there in 2016 and I did a few columns about some of the unorthodox techniques I use. Bass Player eventually got sold and the old guard started the online publication BASS MAGAZINE And he writes for them as well. In addition to that, Jon owns Dime Studios in the Bay Area which is a kick ass place to record music/film videos/or be creative in a cool space.r Jon and I talk about all kinds of things. We talk about politics, the music business, his take on the current state of the music business, weird LA bullshit,

Today, my guest is Adam Dorn. Adam is a composer, songwriter, producer, bass player and DJ. You can hear some of his scoring work on the Showtime docuseries “Enemies”, Season 3 of the podcast “serial”, the HBO documentary about Robin Williams called “Robin Williams: Come Inside my Mind”, and he also scored the Richard Pryor documentary “Omit The Logic”. Beyond his career as a composer, Adam’s a successful jazz oriented dance music producer and DJ. He calls himself Mocean Worker and a lot of that stuff can be heard on his solo records, and film and TV shows including “The Devil Wears Prada”, “The Bourne Supremacy” , “CSI” and more. If that wasn’t enough, Adams also a kick-ass bass player. He’ll probably deny that. But it’s true. And I’d know about shit like this. He’s also the son of the renowned jazz and R&B producer Joel Dorn. Adam grew up around a lot of legendary musicians and studied with Marcus Miller and also got the occasional bit of musical wisdom from people like Miles Davis, David Sanborn, and Luther Vandross. We talked about all kinds of stuff pertaining to living through this pandemic, remembering the great Hal Wilner, LA stuff, and much more.

In this episode, I talk to the amazing Vernon Reid. Vernon is one of the most intelligent and interesting people I know. We share out love for science fiction, comic books, and music. Besides Living Colour, he’s played with people like Ronald Shannon Jackson, Mick Jagger, The Roots, Public Enemy, Janet Jackson, Don Byron, Bernie Worrell, Santana, Jack Bruce, and many more. As a guitar player, he’s still very cutting edge and represents what I feel is a perfect balance of feel, technique, and technology and an infinite range of sounds.