The Candid EP is my coming of age story as a solo artist, narrated from the piano. I wrote the song Candid sometime between 2016 and 2019 while I lived in Atlanta, long before I had a vision of being a professional solo artist. At the time, I was a seminary student who just wanted to write a tune that pushed my composition abilities on the piano. But God had so much more in mind.
Though Candid is my first original piece that I have commercially released, it emerges from my time having worked in other outfits. I have worked extensively with The JuJu Exchange (Exchange, The Eternal Boombox, and JazzRx) and Isaiah Collier & the Chosen Few (Parallel Universe, The Almighty, The World is on Fire) alongside other collaborators such as Peter CottonTale and Tank and the Bangas. And I have released a solo piano album called Rest Assured that is my interpretation of well-known church music. (This album is associated with my musical-theological project Notes of Rest). God has used these projects to introduce me to the music industry and to fuse my love of Black American improvisational traditions with my love of Christian theological reflection. But in the midst of these collaborations I discerned that there was more to my story; I had unique music to make based on my personal relationships. Cue Candid EP.
This debut project comprises four versions of Candid, each one bookmarking a critical juncture in my growth as a solo artist. The mixture of solo and group settings and different recording techniques is intentional. Playing the tune in all of these settings shows how God has been pushing me to see more of my gifts over the last few years, to lean into my sound. Coming out of your shell requires candor.
Welcome to my unfolding, candid story. What does yours sound like?
Candid (Counsel from Companions) ft. The JuJu Exchange and Derrick Hodge – September 2021
This is the OG recording of Candid. It represents a special time when the master Derrick Hodge spent time in the studio with The JuJu Exchange, my jazz-electronic fusion band with Nico Segal and Nova Zaii. Nico had suggested I bring the tune in to try to record it with the group. When Derrick heard me play it, he heard how tied this song was to my personal musical identity, so he counseled me to start the recording by myself. Then Nico and Zaii counseled me to breathe in my soloing given how nervous I was on initial takes. Nico then suggested I try out a different ending than the song’s usual version (different than all of the others on the EP).
We all need candid counsel from trusted companions on life’s journey. I am thankful to have Nico, Zaii, and Derrick to number amongst mine.
Candid (Response to Vulnerability) – August 2023
This rendition of Candid was recorded at Nico’s house in August 2023. We were just wrapping up a candid conversation about our respective musical careers. It had been raw and vulnerable, and would have been the perfect place me to put to just put a pin in it and leave for my crib. But I instead decided to be bold and ask if I could record Candid in his studio right then and there. Something about the moment just felt right, even though I felt vulnerable doing so. I knew he could say no and had a lot to work on that day for his own musical project. But as he has done countless times in my career before, Nico made space for me and said yes.
As I was getting ready to record, I got a message from another dear musical collaborator here in Chicago, Isaiah Collier. He was beginning a tour in Europe, but had just learned that his cousin had passed away. I could hear the vulnerability in his tone – to be so far away when learning about a story so close. I dedicated that take to him in honor of his cousin.
When we are confronted with vulnerability, we can always respond with candid care. Nico and Isaiah have been guides along my musical path who have done just that in my life. I am thankful that this version of Candid marks this moment of reciprocity.
Candid (Tone from Bedrock) – April 2023
This version of Candid emerged in April 2023 right after I had recorded songs for a project about Chicago that deals with intense stories of antiblackness. After I had finished recording that session with Micah Collier and Wes Julien, we recorded Candid. It was potent bringing that energy from the initial recording into this version. I call this take Tone from Bedrock because I just let it all hang out there in the trio setting. Note the contrast of this to Counsel from Companions. In Counsel I was so focused on just playing lyrically and calmly. To be fair, that was true to where I was at the time as a musician. I needed that take to just be a beginning, a stepping stone. But by the time I get to Bedrock, I feel so much freer in my range of expression, and you can hear it in how I’m trying out new ideas. In the background of this take I was hearing Herbie Hancock’s soaring solos from the 1970s, particularly a version of Actual Proof recorded live in Tokyo. His was a sound of freedom, and at my bedrock that’s what I candidly want too.
Candid (Look at Self) – November 2022
I recorded this take straight to digital and then had my mixing engineer Mason Bonner run it through a tape recorder. This was fitting because I wanted this version to speak to the fact I was looking deep within. Whereas on Response to Vulnerability I was looking outwards to Isaiah and Nico, here I am looking deep into myself. St. Paul says that in this life the follower of Jesus can only ever see reality – including oneself – dimly. But one day, when Christ returns, we will see in full (1 Corinthians 3:12). This is the hope of my faith and thus how I see myself, so the haziness of self-perception is captured in the haziness of the tape print. So I look truthfully into myself through a dim mirror, knowing that the rest of my life, the rest of my career, will be replete with opportunities to see myself with greater color as well as the rest of God’s creation. What a journey it is to endeavor to look, and listen, candidly. Amen.