How did you get together with Jeff Parker?

Our first Fellowship Band record Jeff played guitar on. Even at that time in 1998, he was already busy with his own prospects of playing with Tortoise…we never toured a lot at all with Jeff, but we made that first record together. I always loved Jeff’s playing and I just thought, when this batch of songs kind of came into focus, that I would love to play with Jeff again and he was available and we went into the studio.

Landmarks reminds me a lot of Tortoise beyond Parker’s appearance on the album, especially in the way the band plays so atmospherically while also implementing a loud-soft-loud dynamic in certain sections. Is that a bit of a touchstone for you, that sound that was coming out of Chicago in the 90s?

I can’t say that I really know it at all, specifically. It wasn’t any place I ever lived. Maybe I have some of the recordings from the time, but it’s more so just what so many different influences from so many different artists that somehow dispel themselves. We become who we are through that inspiration.

How much did your immediate surroundings inspire the record?

Somehow it coincided with my brother and his family moving back home and him opening up the studio that these songs that I was writing spoke to, I guess, some memories…returning home, my stuff, after having not lived here since I was seventeen. There was this sort of parallel line that was coming to converge. I’m glad we got to do most of the record here. Some of the songs, like two at least, we had recorded earlier while we were on tour. We just kind of dropped into a studio for a couple of days. That became unknowingly the beginning of this Landmarks record.

In regards to coming home, you’ve returned to Blue Note for this record. How did that come about?

That was great. My brother coming home to open Blade Studios, he also started this label…with some friends. We were sort of the artists they were interested in having a relationship with, and my brother had worked with Don Was on several different things over the years. Don has stepped into Bruce Lundvall’s position as president of Blue Note, it was great. We had someone in our corner who was interested in our music, so we sort of rekindled the relationship that was there before. I’m glad Blue Note has such a great history.

When you look back at Blue Note, do you have any favorite albums or even a favorite era?

God, there’s so many…the first Wayne Shorter record I got was Juju and that was on Blue Note. Later on, Larry Young Unity, McCoy Tyner’s The Real McCoy, Bobby Hutcherson Oblique…Thelonious Monk spoke volumes. My God, it’s a long, long list.

As a drummer, are you a fan of Art Blakey’s Orgy in Rhythm ?

I was just about to say, actually, all of Art Blakey and the Jazzmasters’ records. Free For All is my favorite. Masterpiece.

Blue Note in the 90s was awesome, especially with the of hip-hop collaborations that came out of there. It must have been cool to be a part of that.

I think it boils down to Bruce Lundvall and his awareness and his desire to keep finding music that inspires him. Musicians and bands where he was like “Okay, these guys need to be heard.” They gave these guys a home, and a great historic home to say the least. To be a part of that company and realize you’re a part of this lineage. It comes down to Bruce Lundvall.

You have a great singing voice. Where does that fall in with everything going on in your career now?

I’m always writing songs, I’m hoping to record another record of Mama Rosa lyrics later this year. It usually comes in two strings. Either I begin writing something and it goes in the direction of the Fellowship Band and this instrumental landscape, or it starts to have this story with words connected to the music and then it ends up in the Mama Rosa batch. It’s never certain until I get into it deeper.

Would you consider Mama Rosa more of an R&B thing?

It definitely comes from my love of gospel and my first real experience and introduction to music, through church. I think a lot of it comes from that, a lot of these things I grew up hearing Al Green and to a certain degree Joni Mitchell as well, Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson, it all sort of coalesces. The songs come out and they are what they are. I write on a guitar, so for me, all the songs are just acoustic guitar and singing. For me to feel like there’s something worth recording, it has to stand on its own two feet with just those two elements.

Let’s talk a bit about Driftwood, the album you recorded with guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel and Larry Grenadier of the Brad Mehldau Trio on bass for ECM. How’d this come together?

It was really through my relationship with Wolfgang, we made quite a few records together. This was just sort of the next record he wanted to make. As a trio, we hadn’t played together a lot. I played with Larry in a lot of situations and Wolfgang in other different situations. It was an easy connection and we all hooked up together so easily and quickly. I’m glad we were able to make an ECM record, because I love Wolfgang and that Driftwood record, it’s been good company. It’s great for me, because a lot of records I got when I went to college on ECM are still some of my favorite records…it’s its own identity.

Do you have any aspirations to do a one-off with ECM or lead a group on an album?

No. Thankfully we have a home…it’s not like they’re singing music that they would hear and they’d be like “No, we don’t want to put this out.” I can’t really see that happening. But maybe Wolfgang will make another record for ECM and invite me to come back and work with him.

How was it working with Larry Grenadier as a rhythm section?

Larry is just an incredible person and an incredible musician. When you’re in that kind of company where just the level of musicianship and sensitivity is so high, it just makes you play that much better. You don’t even have to discuss if there’s any moment of disconnection or misunderstanding. Everybody’s in tune with each other. I’ve been really privileged to be in situations like that.

It must be important for the drummer to have that kind of relationship with the bassist. Speaking of which, how was recording with the late Charlie Haden the album he made with Michael Brecker, American Dreams ?

I loved Charlie. I’m thankful that I got to play with him and Michael Brecker as well, they’re like heroes for me and for generations after. I’m really grateful for that.

One final thought about Landmarks is how eye-catching cover is. There’s just always something about the album art on jazz records that is as intriguing as the music when its done right.

I hope that in of itself is inspiring to people. Like “Oh, look at this image.” It makes you curious about what it sounds like, just because of the cover. I’ve done that with a lot of records. I don’t even look at the artist sometimes when I’m in record stores, but I’ll look around and see an image and I’ll want to hear it.

Are there any other artists that you aspire to collaborate with?

One day in the future I’d love to do some recording with Bobby Hutcherson. I got to play with him during the first year of what was called the SF Jazz Collective out in San Francisco. He was part of that collective and so was I. It was an honor to get to stand beside Bobby. Hopefully maybe make a record with Bobby.

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