An opportunity to tune in and partake of the job a showcase one for a 7 want to say propers again to melody and duo featuring melody and Barry dispenser they definitely rocked the session and you can find them like I did all around the Bay Area. Embarcadero muni and or Bart Station Montgomery Powell Street outdoor markets. If you New York one of the public libraries there yes just many ways to check out melody yawned and heard lovely. Design playing music the good sign an offshoot of the zit the Chinese instrument but right now we shift gears from the showcase to be Java on jazz line and we've got a lovely guest in studio 4 here along with a couple of interviews and some new music so right now you're going straight to know our in studio guest Tracey Cruz How are you. I'm doing great Did I hear you is your microphone on. Say something to her yet there you are all right so. You have been singing for quite a while what got you into the music business my family. Specifically my. Mom and my grandma and my grandfather was. Going to pursue it Ok and your style is considered Neil So that's the Army soldier. What is Neo so. It was a term coined by Karen messenger earn the early 2000 when Eric about dude and D'Angelo and Maxwell came into the scene it's like soul makes with jazz but it's has a really relaxing by. Yeah like a feel good yeah yeah yeah well we're all about music all about feeling good and definitely about supporting our Bay Area jazz and blues artists right here on the job or on jazz night so I know that you have been singing around and in fact you have an upcoming performance next week yes and that's true yes yes yes. I know you've not this is not going to be a 1st time there it's I've actually performed there 6 times before but this is my very 1st solo show. It's the 1st time that I'm actually for 4 and a. By myself with my bat Ok and your band consists of. So 4 keys I have been a rock know all I and bass Vernon hall drums. Brandon farmer but James small will be there and Julian Hoover on guitar Bill smaller on trumpet Britney Biala on sax and flute I usually have Lionel Briana's But Britney will be there and then all supporting vocals Anthony Jackson low on a Giles is my female supporting vocalist but she won't be able to make it that night but she'll be there in spirit Oh yeah yes so this performance is coming up on Tuesday the 6 now yeah right right 8 pm said Yes that's correct what can people expect from. You playing from your latest release are you playing material you have not yet released what do well it's a mixture of everything so I'm performing music from my entire disc CAGR Fi I'm playing songs from each project and then I'm also featuring a very new song that's on released and then a song that I've been performing for about a year that is not recorded to release so with it's a make sure of different types of songs that I've created in the past and that I just recently created. You sing. About things that many vocalists address. Pain. Of. Newness growth so. Which one of those has compelled you the most to do to New your work growth. I feel like your constantly and evolving as humans and. Our experiences really shape us and we learn something new every single day about ourselves about the world about our relationships about failures about our success and growth just really inspires me to just keep evolving it's not easy you know China grow out of your comfort zone but you have to be uncomfortable to grow interesting you must be uncomfortable too I guess because if you're comfortable then you are just complacent Yeah you're not going anywhere no you're just going to have this plateau for. As long as you just stay there until you wake up and say oh my goodness I want to you know change for the better yes Tracy Cruz our guest if you are just tuning into k. P.f.a. Here in Berkeley I am Saffy one I will be hosting tonight's job on jazz lying and reminding all of you that k p f 8 is still in the midst of its summer fund drive and we could use your support especially if you've not ever contribution to this legacy station 70 years and still going strong you can help k p f a grow even stronger by going to Cape p.f.a. Dot au r g and making your tax deductible donations in support of k. P.f.a. And all the different programming that goes on here 247 Tracey Cruz our guest in studio came a bit of always to be here we really honored that you are here and I know you are pumped up and in the least about Tuesday's upcoming performance at Yoshi's What do you think will be different this time from the past performances past what 64 mid-season you've had there yeah so it's different because it's just my band and I and. I'm able to share my music from the very beginning and till the present and then tour as a future so I think that's really special to me it's like a time capsule like a musical time capsule and is just really great to be working with a lot of talented Bay Area musicians and they add so much of their personality and great talent and flavor to the music like they showcase their personalities and I have a very dynamic group and I feel like we really gel together and we just have a lot of fun and a lot of my family my friends and my fellow singers. Fellow music friends and my students and their families are coming so it's a lot of very special people in my life that are going to be in attendance and I'm really excited about that so does that put any added weight on this notion of you're going to be up on that stage before all these P.E.'s do dence instructors Yami friends oh yeah yeah I think this is the most weight that I felt for a performance because it's just me and I'm not opening up for anybody I'm not double billing with anybody it's like oh my God you know I trace pressure and I'm going to be quite honest I feel a lot of pressure you know and I worked really hard. Trying to focus on the music and also trying to push the show you know without. Any type of record label or manager I'm pretty much doing everything by myself. So what is that like I know that back in the day it was all about record labels record companies taking artists on and showcasing their work promoting their work presenting their work what has made things change for you and others now that you are working on your own independently I think this era is really a great friend of pen and artists because we have social media and then we have access to recording a quick meant and everything can be promoted online you can share music with anybody at any time at any part of the world and I think that's really powerful and then you know musicians and singers are coming up with ways to create content whether it's even through their phone or and i Pad or you know a simple recording device for a podcast and so I think that social media and the access of all of these recording devices really allow the artists to be independent and there's so many other ways that you can book your own shows or distribute your music and you have different platforms like cd baby and so I feel like it's just a growing area of being independent like you don't mess it necessarily have to be signed to a record label if you choose not to. Tracy Cruz our guest right here. One k. P.f.a. Burghley the job on jazz line I am your host Sofie one I Roby and we're just having a chat about some aspects of the music industry and Tracey Cruz is going to be performing at Yoshi's on Tuesday that's the 6 August 8 pm said you know she's of course located at 510 the Embarcadero West Oakland Jack London Square will be offering a pair of tickets later in this show because we've got a couple of other. Events at Yoshi's coming up that we want to get in on at once what does it Tracy that you foresee in the next 5 years you are here for a really great question I've asked myself that many times I definitely want to broaden my vocal studio Eventually I want to open up a music school and I want to travel overseas and I want to continue releasing projects and I just want to perform more nationally and spiritual or share the stages with amazing musical acts I just want to be able to just travel. That's what I really strive for I mean if it's you know in a different city here and there than a different country here and there I don't have to be gone for 6 months I just you know just little. Splashes of you know gigs here and there and you know different months but that's really the direction that I want to go into here right fantastic Well we really appreciate you coming in in the wee hours of the morning to share your voice we've got another conversation actually a couple let's see Munty Alexander my guy he's going to be performing at Yoshi's the day after you on Wednesday this 7th No I might have that twisted. But I believe it is Wednesday the 7th Yes 7th of August and. Monti was gracious enough to share a conversation with me. Earlier this year at Blues Alley in Washington d.c. So we are going to go to that conversation right now on k. P.f.a. Barkley k. P.f.a. Dot au r g. The pleasure and honor to runs again be speaking with Monte Alexander Monte Alexander what do you doing here have to lose our lead today I'm going to bring music. To this fine establishment I've been coming here for a good many years and it's a great pleasure to be back again here in 2019 and I have my colleagues to join me with the musical. Expressions and I'm happy to be sharing this time with you happy to be sharing it with you as well and you mention your musical colleagues would you care to state who they are and instruments in judgment playing the bass fiddle is a sign j g. Shock or. And on drums Jason Brown goes at a guys. And occasionally because I heard this as I was walking and I posed the question he. You have vocal accompaniment we have absolutely no book other company meant and. The person doing the vocalizing is none other than Catarina is up for any role in Italy. Who was so absolutely my way. Yes happy to meet her today for the 1st time now talking about your. Fellow musicians How long have you all work together. Bassist Hassan j.j. Shark or Frost joins me in 979. And we had played together for a good many years and then he joined the Duke Ellington Orchestra led by Russell everything so between everything orchestra and myself. All these years he's been traveling and touring with me so this last quarter own is about 23 years . Of us playing together. All right the last time. I had the opportunity to embrace your music and your performance was at Yoshi's in Oakland and then prior to that you were. Here she's San Francisco while it was still around oh yes and I did not check saying the past 10 years what is it that you feel most impressed with Monte Alexander and it isn't easy it's a. Special report it but these last 10 years I've been enjoying my return mentally psychologically spiritually to my home country called Jamaica I was born in Jamaica and I spent 1st 17 years of my life there and went back many many many times and I've been. Playing this music all those years in between. Then and now traveling the world but as these. Last several years went by I just became more. Loving my roots so to speak and I allowed myself to enjoy. The memories and get back into the scene a somewhat not totally so by this time I've been well entrenched in the jazz language having been with my own groups but having played with some of the really great masters of jazz. That I played sort of violence it was Clark Terry David Jackson and never it you know all the best river on the great Jazz basses and these are the classic musicians most of them passed away. And in fact this is something I've come to terms with because as I really didn't get with the next generation that was coming along and the one after that and the one after that because I was I was busy about my own just getting from place to place because a lot of guys my age have done this wonderful thing called educate and they got involved with the educational scene to bring along the young guys who want to pick up on this whole legacy called Jazz and I kind of was a slow poke in that area and because we all need humanity we need people I phoned up my my newer friends were coming from Jamaica which is a different. Sense altogether so what happened I just got deeper and deeper into the roots and a suit and maintaining my love for the great legacy of jazz kind of done from Duke Ellington Louis Armstrong so what I do know is bring 2 words together you know on this immigrant from Jamaica who wants to bring my gifts and bring it into the jazz language so people. Word got out my dear dear god. So I bring my roots and my rhythms and my love. For the month goes on the tree you know and the breadfruit and all the beautiful things Jamaica and the question make it has its own jazz festival that there's a festival that's been going on one that's more called it the real thing because they had one that was funded by air to make up and they were leaning towards the popular artists which is great they had to pop out of the deck of using the word jazz which was not really the proper description because they had to reflect r. And b. People and so on and so forth and the jazz kind of got less and less but there is a festival in Orchard reassessment going on for quite a way. Talking about. John. I mean used for festivals the same time you see gospel blues me see awning beans exalt music rain. How does that. Other musicians in the jazz world truthfully on the one hand it's a positive and the other hand it's a negative because that name that has a lot of integrity I mean if you look at the origins of that word came from a negative thing it was that it was not far from the description of what was a brothel dob this kind of music was you know they had no name for it they always have to label it they mean in the oats not musicians right so when they had these festivals that were sometimes a rock artists and the reggae artist they would attract an audience that was not people that had tuned in to the sensitive. Expressions of the so-called jazz musician so about by bringing all these musicians these names and kinds of music to attract more people. It diluted the jazz experience so people would use the word jazz to describe a festival but one of the big reasons was that people were more let's call it cultured and they wanted some of this where they can sit back and enjoy it from a deeper place if I can put it that way and another reason because that would minimize people who would get drunk. And make noise because a lot of gotta music people want to scream and shout whereas the best way to enjoy the artistry of a jazz artist is to be quiet and soak it up you know and Derrida get a thrill from the whole thing so that's been a different jazz is a word that they use to minimize you know but behavior and stuff like that simply put Yeah so how does this in your opinion in. The sense of being with the knowledge and ability the education of the younger generations in terms of jazz I mean if a person is hearing a festival identified as jazz or even a radio station saying that it is playing jazz and all of a sudden you hear it back or whatever you do it so serious thoughts on that simply put it puts the rug out from underneath you know because. The history was going a certain way until electronic instruments started to turn it up really loud and rock but the popularity of the rock music it just doesn't go together well in my case from Jamaica I come from a concert when when Scott started and I was playing the piano in a lot of those early recordings you know when I was even 14 years old we were still acoustic your ears were tuned to the acoustic instruments. And little by little dealer trick things started happening so when you heard Bob Marley. You started to hear the electric bass and the electric guitar kind of coming from a lot of sauna they were playing in the stadiums whereas the real jazz were there were acoustic instruments a grand piano was meant to be played in a concert hall. Where people would get blown over so to speak or what I did. I was trying to find a seamless way of bringing in the acoustic and electric together so this more that somebody Klein when I did made it when I do the Jamaican thing more so is jazz reggae I mean it is that jazz in is that or thing but I make sure that the dynamics are friendly you know to both ears to the people who liked a lot of music simply about acoustics you know but there's a different essence and more of a sensitivity when you play that caustic. Piano as opposed to electric keyboard so that's one example I hope that made sense yes of course now in times of discussing this impact when you say well it's sort of pulls the rug out from underneath your thinking. Your perspective what thoughts about how this impacts younger people are they having any distortion as to when there is I think they're being felt something that confuses them out but one good thing about this big school of schools the Academy is teaching young people who are so interested some of them are teaching them to hold on to your history because without that history there is no good present or future so some of them I really appreciate in that jazz at its best in its original context was something to it we're going to be wrong you know but I would say by far the majority will never get to know that because in these times or in everything around us is loud airplane flying overhead Sirene trying to take somebody to hospital thankfully and just load people load load load you know and when you go to the concert there's always some people who had one beer too many went through that and I was never a part of it when Armstrong played subdural and the classic music which was. From another time people were enjoying it in a way that was a little more cultured to use that word. A good going a long time and disappearing a bit and really grateful to have you sharing your time with us I know you have a couple of sets coming up yeah I'm looking forward to that and I am starting my neighbor being with kinky after a radio partly sitting here with the illustrious one. Vantage point of your very words of it probably an understatement I'm a survivalist for that rig I've been here a while but this one says I'm going to have that wonderful opportunity to play at your shoes again so looking forward to seeing friends. Before from your older friends as well as new friends so come on to the players your wishes and enjoy yourself if there was one particular thing and I'm sure there are many but one particular thing that he might be Alexander with Ron He reading what he is. Listening to what he means the world to know about mighty Alexander what would that be. I am privileged and honored to have this rule of trying to bring people together so that we can all see the fruits of of good living and enjoy life it is best so you know the negative be thrown aside. A world that is more loving. So that they can receive. People like me you know so there's a just as self-centered idea here everybody love each other and all that but either win by minus one love that's it. Anything or not. You want to hear them listen to what. I am excited that I've made a recording that will be released not long from No that is a us let's call it. 2 great things coming together that are very very. Connected to me as a musician and as a person that came from Jamaica I took it the music of one of our I consider the loneliest monk and married it can use that word to the essences of the rest of Aryan for us a fee and it's truly because when you think about doing a project you don't know how it's going to come out but it came out in a new credible way the rhythms were so close to the rest of our own experience but it was still known as Mark's. Artistry being brought back through the other side of the pianist so I'm excited I look forward to it and what we nee