Soul Understated plays the Blue Note and talks music to Flowers In a Gun

Soul Understated, co-led by Jeremy ‘BEAN’ Clemons and Mavis ‘SWAN’ Poole, took the stage at the Blue Note during the late night set on Friday the 13th. The show was part of the inaugural Blue Note Jazz Festival. The festival, now in its forth year, brought together over 150 musicians with shows scheduled in multiple venues in NYC during the month of June. The line up consists of musicians who have performed at the Blue Note in the past and it is a very diverse and impressive list of artists. Soul Understated played their first show at the Blue Note in 2008 and continued playing at the club over the past several year.

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Soul Understated defies easy categorization. It crosses over musical genres and effortlessly blends jazz, funk, gospel, and R&B. Their sound is fresh and they put on a very vibrant and soulful show. Ms.Swan’s vocals are sultry and rich with emotions; she sure knows how to deliver a stellar performance. The rhythm section was the driving force that kept the band tightly together throughout the show and their solo in the middle of the set was amazing. Everyone in the band got to shine and had a chance to play a solo or two, even though the band is not small – it currently has 8 members. If you like soulful music that makes you feel and makes you wanna dance and sing, be sure to check out this band, you will not be disappointed.

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A few days before the show I had a chance to interview Bean and Mavis about the about the band, its past and present as well as their plans for the future. Both of them are very genuine and real people and I was delighted that I got chance to spend some time with them talking about music and life. I was instantly charmed by their personalities and their vision.  It is always fascinating to learn what musicians think about their art and how they relate to it. And if you want to know why anything I might have said about Soul Understated is a understatement, do continue reading.

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Anna: What’s the story behind “Soul Understated”?

Bean: Soul Understated is something that only existed in my brain until I met Mavis. My apartment burned down in ‘05 and it kind of changed the way I was thinking. I thought that really I should be doing what I want to be doing with my life. So I started messing around with some tracks, trying to write little songs here and there. But I don’t think they really came to live until I met Mavis.

A: How did you guys meet?

B: At a jam session in New York – Cleopatra’s Needle. I first saw Mavis in 2006 and we started working together in 2007.

Mavis: We went to the same college in North Carolina, but we went at different times. He had already graduated by the time I got there. So he had already moved up to New York. My college came up to NYC for IAJE – International Association of Jazz Educators. And they had a workshop type of thing where everybody came together and all these greats performed and they had students that competed… And I was there with the college and I remember everyone was talking about Bean. And I was thinking ‘Bean’? What kind of name is ‘Bean’?!”…  and then we finally met at Cleopatra’s Needle – he was hosting a session there and I sat in.

A: What does the name mean?

B: Bean is a nickname. I used to be a lot bigger than I am now and there was a boxer named ‘Butterbean’. And we were joking one day and one of my mentors called me Butterbean. I don’t like the name Butterbean. I just liked Bean … So, I said just call me Bean if you gonna call me anything. And then when I got to college it kinda of stuck.

A: And what about the name of the band? Where does Soul Understated come from?

B: To me it is everything and nothing, meaning that soul music is more than what you just think it is. All music to me is soul music. When it moves you in a certain way, and it feels a certain way – it’s soul music. And understated … it’s like anything you say about the music is an understatement.

M: Anything you can possibly say about soul music is an understatement!

B: Yes, that’s what it is. Although Soul Understated is this and that, everything you use to describe it is an understatement. … We are trying to pioneer something new.

A: Can you talk about your musical influences and how it all came together in this project? Your music blends jazz, gospel, R&B, funk, hip-hop … where does it all come from?

M: Everywhere … I grew up in the church singing when I was young. So there is definitely a heavy gospel influence. My jazz influence came later, in my early 20s. And it was after receiving training on the language of jazz and the vocabulary of jazz in college. And then in addition to this you have pop music that you listen to … I am a heavy 90s head, I love 90s R&B. So that kind of stuck. That’s pretty much my influences. Karen Clark, the Clark Sisters, and also anything form the 90s, from the gospel era. But the game changes for me with the Clark sisters and Jon Hendricks ..and Mavis Staples – that’s who I was actually named after. Bean?

B: “Count” Basie. I was just watching some Basie a few days ago and it reminded me of what I leant, the dynamic structure. I am big on dynamic structure. And I learnt a lot form being in a Royalaires Drum and checking out “Count” Basie. But influences … I like a lot of people. As a drummer, Art Blakey of course is one of my favorites. And Elvin Jones. But I like people like James Black, Idris Muhammad too. You know there are a lot of people that we both draw influence from. We both got jazz degrees, we know extensively about that side of the music. We both grew up in Church, me more going to church, starting to mess around on the organ a little bit. I didn’t play drums in church until later in life.  … […] Church is amazing – being able to conjure someone’s spirit from within. And that’s the aim. When you check out Donny Hathaway it matters not WHAT he is singing a lot of times, but he found a way to get to your spirit … and to me that’s what soul music is. That’s what we are aiming to be. The music is to move people, to educate people. I really am not gonna hear anything you have to say in the music, outside from it being a nice groove, unless you move me in a certain way.

M: And it’s all really genuine, and natural. And it’s also the same upbringing. Church. Black college. And what it really is, it’s black. People are afraid to say it, but that’s it. We are naturally black and not afraid of that blackness. Musically it comes through all of those different styles. It’s black music. We grew up around a lot of people who couldn’t read, a lot of the people in my church dropped out in 3rd grade and had to raise families, they couldn’t read a book, but they knew how to moan, they knew how to make music in a way that we couldn’t quite understand when we were younger. And that’s some real shit. It’s black and it’s as black as it gets.

Bean: It is what it is. It’s the black experience.

M: American black experience because the African black experience is something completely different. But that American black experience is something that we are very proud of.  We wear it in our music; we do it in our music. I am not afraid to sound broken, I don’t need to sound like I am classically trained, even though I am. I use it when I need to.

B: Right, we are both classically trained. I am a timpani player. That’s my shit. I am a classical snare drum player and a classical timpani player. That’s why we can both read like that. But reading [music] is not all it is. You have to apply everything.

M: Reading doesn’t matter. Growing up in church, for us there was no reading. I’ve been to a lot of churches where they hand you the music, but the church we grew up in you learnt everything by ear, you learn by rote. .. You don’t get sheets of music; you just work it out until everybody got it. And really it all goes back to the struggle – if it wasn’t me than it was my mother, or grandmother etc it goes back years. And we carry on the same struggle. So we are standing on the shoulders of all those greats that gave us the voice.

B: And hence the name of our record “Standing on the Shoulders of Giants.” People who paved the way.

A: And your new single “Same Ole Groove” … can you say a few words about it?

B: It’s about making people feel good.

M: And it’s also about people from other places, from your home town that feel the same thing that we feel. The groove. Soul music exists in every part of the world. It might not sound the same, but exists everywhere.

A: What’s your writing process? How do you work things out together?

B: You can’t put two positives together. Meaning that we are both very strong. We work together when we need to work together. Mavis works alone. She is very strong, I am just lucky that she works with me. She doesn’t need to work with anybody. She writes her own stuff, some of which we will probably do at the Blue Note. … So we work together because we want to, because we both bring something to the process. As far as the writing process, I might have a melody, but it does not really make sense to me until I let her hear it. But usually I am more hearing the atmosphere and the groove. And moods. When I write I hear moods. And the color. Because music is color you know.

A: What color is “Same Ole Groove”?

B: That’s more red and orange, depends on the part of the song. It got some blue in there when you get to the bridge too.

M: And on my end … He is my musical soul mate. The way he hears music, I could never hear it like that. He comes up with some crazy stuff and it pulls you in. He lays it out for you and it just makes it so easy to write over. And, not to blow his head up, I consider him a musical genius. The way he approaches music, I don’t even know what goes on in there half of the time. He is just one of those people that are very soulful, walking soul, breathing soul. He reeks of soul juice! And it’s natural, it’s not an act. And what I really respect is that he never came up to me even once and said “do it like this, try this.” He just gives it to me and trusts what I do with it. He never changes it. There is a lot of respect and trust there.

A: How did you get involved with the Blue Note Jazz Festival?

B: It’s NYC, you been grinding a long time you know … One of the bookers, Christian, called us and asked if we wanted to be a part of the festival.

M: Our first gig was actually at the Blue Note in 2008. And after the first gig they kept reaching out to us and then we started doing the late night gig.

B: This is actually the first time we are doing a late night at the Blue Note in almost 3 years.

M: And then we started getting the prime time slots and this is like even though it is late night, it’s still part of the festival. So it’s also about building good, working relationship. And building bridges, not burning bridges.

A: Can you talk about the band? Has it been a consistent group of musicians over the years?

B: Yes and No. The band took a very much needed reconstruction about two years ago. There is only one member of the band that’s been with us since day one and that’s the base player, Josh Davis. I been playing with him since 2005 and the first time we played together it was like “wow, his vibe is amazing!” … But in 2012 we did a major “cleaning up the house” thing. Now, there was a line of musicians who WANTED to be part of the band, there were over 18 musicians who wanted to play with us, you know. So right now it’s me, Mavis, Josh David on bass, Samir Moulay on guitar, Kevin Theodore on keyboards, Al Strong on horns, and Brevan Hampden on percussions. And we have Lummie Span subbing on saxophone at the Blue Note [their regular saxophonist is Bluford Thompson].

A: Impressive! What about your plans for the future?

M: We have an EP coming out, which will be released at the Rockwood Music Hall in July.

B: Yeah, July 26th. And then Mavis’s record is released on the 29th. It’s all coming out almost at the same time. And the single, it’s B side, we’ll probably do more work on it before we press the record and all … And we are working on the video, and other things. So there is a lot going on … Finishing mixing the record and then we have gigs coming up.

M: And for me, I am a mother as well as a teacher. And I am doing my own project. I think it’s important to show how I hear music, but he is going to be a major driving force behind it, whether he wants to or not! It is what we do with our lives, so there will always be something coming up, coming out.

B: Yes, it’s grinding. We gotta keep grinding!

 

Anna Yatskevich is Flowers In A Gun’s glamorous jazz & beyond critic! Catch more reviews from her here and follow her on Twitter @jazzaddikt.