#217 Nate Smith- Drummer for The Fearless Flyers, Brittany Howard, Dave Holland & More!
The photo of Nate was takten by Deneka Peniston.
This episode is sponsored by Dream Cymbals.
For nearly two decades, Nate Smith has been a key piece in reinvigorating the international music scene with his visceral, instinctive, and deep-rooted style of drumming. He holds a diverse and ample résumé — which includes work with esteemed jazz leading lights such as Pat Metheny, Dave Holland, Chris Potter, José James, John Patitucci, Ravi Coltrane, and Somi among many others. His 2x GRAMMY-nominated debut album, KINFOLK: Postcards from Everywhere, sees Smith fusing his original modern jazz compositions with R&B, pop, and hip-hop. He’s also ventured into the pop/rock world with recent collaborations with Vulfpeck spinoff band The Fearless Flyers, Brittany Howard (of Alabama Shakes) and performances with songwriters Emily King and Van Hunt. In recent years, through a series of viral videos, he has emerged as one of the most influential and popular drummers of his generation. His videos have been viewed millions of times and have inspired countless musicians and fans. In September of 2018, he released his first ever solo drumset album Pocket Change.
As a composer and arranger, Mr. Smith received two (2) GRAMMY nominations for his composition “Home Free (for Peter Joe)” for best instrumental composition and best arrangement (instrumental or a cappella). Of the KINFOLK: Postcards From Everywhere project, Mr. Smith says: “It was my goal to start with the simplest of elements, singable melodies with familiar harmonies, and use them to weave stories that felt nostalgic without being overly sentimental. Pieces like ‘Retold’ and ‘Pages’ use familiar, consonant harmonies as a means of evoking the listener to “reach back” for a memory, while ‘Skip Step’ and Spinning Down’ use layers of rhythm to express a feeling of unsettled tension. ‘Disenchantment: The Weight’ uses an ascending/descending chord progression to simulate a deep sigh of resignation, while ‘Home Free (for Peter Joe)’ uses a hymn like melody as a means of evoking feelings of both solemnity and ceremony.
Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday to Omar Hakim (Feb 12th). Damon mentions that Omar is at Berklee College of Music. Below is Omar’s video for the Zildjian Live! series.
And also Harvey Mason (Feb 22)
Gig Alerts
As a result of “the ongoing effects of COVID-19,” Carnegie Hall has canceled its performance season for the first time since 1891.
Carnegie Hall higher-ups recently announced the performance season’s cancellation in a formal release, noting at the outset that the 130-year-old Midtown Manhattan concert venue has been closed since mid-March of 2020. The newly nixed shows had been scheduled to begin on April 6th and run through July 24th, across each of the venue’s three performance areas, and “planning is well underway for Carnegie Hall’s 2021–2022 season,” per the release.
Additionally, Carnegie Hall officials intend to announce “future live programming” in late spring, ahead of a planned October of 2021 reopening. In the interim, the National Historic Landmark will continue to offer fans digital programming via its Live with Carnegie Hall and Learn with Carnegie Hall programs. Plus, the Voices of Hope festival will still take place – albeit online – between April 16th and 30th. -Article
Educational Spotlights
It’s tax season, and if you’re a working musician, don’t forget to write off all of your music-related expenses so you can lower your taxes and keep more of the money you earned.
The minute you set out to make money with music, you’ve crossed the line from a music hobby to a music business. This means you need to adopt business thinking, strategies, and techniques. It also means the government sees you as a business as well, which is why we want to remind you of one benefit of being a legitimate business: keeping more income by taking tax write-offs. -Article
Damon interviewed his accountant for episode 112 and there are all sorts of tips to file your taxes as a musician and not get audited.
This article gives some suggestions to think about when you are creating and putting together your listening room (or space to consume music and entertainment).
This article, by friend of the show Chris Robley, helps you get your YouTube pages organized and get and Official Artist Channel.
Iconic Recording
This week’s iconic recording is called “Vicissitudes” by the Dave Holland Quintet off of the ‘Critical Mass’ album. The album features Chris Potter - sax, Robin Eubanks - trombone, Steve Nelson - vibraphone and marimba, Dave Holland - bass, and Nate Smith - drums.
Black History Month
The Black History playlist that Damon and Marcos put together can be found on Spotify. It includes gospel standards, negro spirituals, protest songs, spoken word, hip hop classics and more. Fair warning, there are some songs on the playlist that are NSFW (in case you were thinking about sharing the playlist with students).
Music News
On the first Friday of every month since March, Bandcamp waived their revenue share to help support the many artists who have seen their livelihoods disrupted by the pandemic. Over the course of these nine days, fans paid artists and labels $40 million dollars, helping cover rents, mortgages, groceries, medications, and much more. If you’re among the nearly 800,000 fans who participated, thank you.
Although vaccines are starting to roll out, it will likely be several months before live performance revenue starts to return. So Bandcamp is going to continue doing “Bandcamp Fridays” in 2021, on February 5th, March 5th, April 2nd, and May 7th. As always, isitbandcampfriday.com has the details. -Article
French electronic music duo Daft Punk has broken up after nearly three decades together, cofounders Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter have confirmed. -Article
The hit “One More Time” by Daft Punk contains a sample by Eddie Johns from his song called “More Spell on You”, from the album with the same name. This post explains how they used the sample from the song.
Damon also talks about the performance at the Grammys with Daft Punk, Pharrell, Stevie Wonder, Nile Rodgers, Nathan East, and Omar Hakim.
Music Workers Alliance is an organization of, by, and for independent music workers. They came together because we are fed up with unfair treatment and lack of benefits, contracts, and representation. MWA’s shared purpose is to activate our power as music workers to create a community where music is valued financially and culturally and music workers benefit, and achieve dignity in our lives by engaging in collective action. Any self-identified music worker who supports the mission of MWA may apply to join MWA as a member. -Join Here, Fill Out This Form!
Nate Smith Interview
The song leading into the interview is called “Skip Step” by Nate Smith and Kinfolk, from the album ‘Postcards From Everywhere’.
Damon talks about the first time he met Nate at a show, and how Nate helped him schlep his gear (something all drummers and percussionists understand).
Both Nate and Damon enjoyed their parent’s record collection growing up. Nate points out the Cannonball Adderley album “Mercy Mercy Mercy, Live at the Club” with Cannonball Adderley (alto saxophone); Nat Adderley (cornet); Joe Zawinul (acoustic & electric pianos); Victor Gaskin (bass); and Roy McCurdy (drums).
Nate also talks about the “Bring on the Night” documentary by Sting.
Damon and Nate talk about black rock and rollers as well as the early rhythm and blues influence. Specifically the band Living Colour. He also talks about Vernon Reid’s relationship with drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson and Will Calhoun’s being influenced by Elvin Jones. Later he brings up Prince and Sign ‘O’ the Times.
Damon brings up some Virginia based musicians and Nate mentions the importance of Teddy Riley.
Nate was into drum corps and really enjoyed the Santa Clara Vanguard.
Nate attended and marched in the drumline at James Madison University. He talks about how marching drumlines influence his playing to this day. Damon mentions another JMU alum, Master Sgt. Randy Gorman, who plays percussion for the U.S. Air Force Band.
Betty Carter was the first one to hear Nate and give him a gig that would ultimately take him to a new level of artist that he worked with.
Nate talks about summer playing jobs at King’s Dominion and then the Disney Grammy All-American College Jazz Band at Epcot Center in Florida.
Nate’s friend Andre Hayward recommended him to Betty Carter. He submitted a tape and got accepted to Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead Program. The three drummers selected for the program were Nate, Byron Landham and Eric Harland. He also talks about his relationship with Kareem Riggans.
Nate talks about playing odd meters. He credits playing with the Dave Holland Quintet and him being influenced by Billy Kilson.
Damon and Nate talk about subdividing and the Yogi Horton masterclass video is referenced. Nate talks about the song Robin Eubanks wrote called “Global Citizen”.
Nate started making beats with an Akai MPC 2000. You can also upgrade to their new version.
Damon and Nate discuss the space between sixteenth notes and triplets that makes the J Dilla lilt.
Nate brings up the author Dan Charnas and Damon mentions reading his book on the history of hip-hop called “The Big Payback”. Nate mentions his new book, “Dilla Time” (referenced in this podcast).
Damon and Nate talk about Steve Nelson.
Damon touches on some of the other gigs/genres Nate plays in. They stop on The Fearless Flyers for a bit.
Then they talk about Brittany Howard and the musical director duties Nate has.
Nate talks about his sonic choices in switching from situation to situation. He talks about playing with Van Hunt.
He even talks about the discussions he had with Norah Jones recording on her new album, “Pick Me Up Off The Floor”.
Not only is Nate a bandleader and a sideman, but he also has a solo album called "Pocket Change”. He talks about the inspiration for this album.
(He also made a cameo in Birdman, which had a score of just percussion instruments).
Two of the albums that inspired Nate’s solo album were the Max Roach album “Drums Unlimited“ and the Jamire Williams album “Effectual”.
He talks about how people have “participated” in his music like dancing or using his drum loops. Vol 1 or Vol 2
Nate tells a story about a blue Vince jacket and how he got his money’s worth out of it before ultimately retiring it.
Nate talks about building relationships, and being generous as a sideman AND a band leader. Sharing information can only help you in the long run. He also talks about off the stage stuff being just as (or more) important than when you’re actually playing on the stage.
Nate talks briefly about how he wrote a song for Michael Jackson and the connection to Teddy Riley.
Nate uses Ludwig Drums, Evans Drumheads, Vic Firth Sticks and Mallets, Zildjian Cymbals exclusively.
You can follow Nate on his Website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
The song leading out of the interview is “Small Moves” by Nate Smith and Kinfolk, from the album ‘Postcards From Everywhere’.
