Jasper
Interview 12 April
2005
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"From my perspective" is an eclectic mixture of
traditional soul with just a touch of hip hop. It took approx. 4-5 months
to put together. Instead of going out and trying to find "big name
producers" to work with, i really just wanted to work with producers
around me in my own home town. Where im from, theres alot of talent and i
wanted to showcase that on my album. There were alot of other songs that
i wanted to do, and topics i wanted to touch on but didnt get to, but
overall i feel really good about the album and have been recieving alot of good
feed back. It's been out for nearly a year now.
"Hoody Goody" f/ E-40 has recieved alot of attention,
and seems to be a favorite among many. I'm like you however with "Nobody
else" being one of my personal favorites. That song is on of those
smooth soul ballads where i could just lay back and do my thang on.
The cd can be obtained from CD.Baby.com, Tower
Records.com, VirginRecords.com
Right now im feeling
artist like Jill Scott, Glen Lewis, and a cat named Kem who i heard
for the first time just recently. My greatest influence is a gospel
artist named Mitchell Jones formally of a group called
"Commissioned". Old school artist includes Stevie Wonder and
Donny Hathaway. Now those two are true vocalist.
I tried to give the
the album a varierty of flavors as much as i could without making it sound
inconsistent througout. I wanted it to be soulful, and at the same time
R&B with just a splash of hip-hop.
My style is more of a laid back style. Smooth. I dont do alot of
the yelling over tracks like a JonnyGill or a TeddyPendegrass. Thats how they
chose to sing to the women, and it worked for them. I'm a little more sexy with
it. I feel im diffrent than alot of artist because im not afraid to
include all of the diffrent styles of music that have influenced me on one
CD. My first cd, "Mellocentric"(also available on CD Baby.com)
really reflects my love for jazz music. There are tracks on that album with
jazzy piano, even saxaphone solos,and then the very next track will
feature a rap artist so on and so forth. I Like to give my listeners
a variety of who i am musiclly, not just give them the same sounding song over
and over throughout the whole cd.
Thank you for the props on the album. Its always good to know
people are out there feeling it. Its going well too. We have been focusing on
california for a while exclusivly, but now we're branching out to other
areas. We just got distrubution in Japan and are excited about that.
As an idependent its
a little more of a struggle to get the exposure that you need. Its crazy
hard to get radio spins and sometimes a little frustrating. I have to
work twice as hard as an artist on a major label. Its a competition with these
major labels and usually the company with the most money wins. So were out here
working everyday, Hard!
I've grown alot vocally and artisticlly since the first album and you
can really tell when you listen to both of them back to back. I had more
experience on the second album and was able to lay back and have more fun
in the studio.
I've been writing since about jr high school. Poetry, songs
etc. For me, writing is a pleasure. Its an outlet. I usually
draw from personal experiences. Either something that i went through or
something i witness someone else go through in life.
I dont know anything
about the UK scene right now, but i would sure love to find out. I've
never been out of the states in my life but thats gonna be changing pretty
soon. First stop, the UK.
I try to
surround myself around positive people. Thats how i was raised. Im
usually in the studio with other singers and musicians.
When i do a show, I
usually do the songs from,"From my perspective". I might throw
in a couple songs from the first album, and i also include a couple cover
tunes in my show "Pretty brown eyes" by Mint condition and maybe a
song from Musiq soul child.
We try to make the
show really intimate. Low lights, candles, red roses, that sort of thing.
If the stage isnt too high up, i try to make sure to walk out into the
crowd while singing and i often bring a young lady up to the front for a
quick slow dance during a musical breakdown in a song. Most of my shows
have been with my live band, but i have given performances singing over
tracks. Usually when i open up for "big acts" ie Alicia Keys,
Anthony Hamilton, Floetry, Im told that i cannot perform with my band, and have
to sing over pre recorded music. I guess its because they fear they'll be
upstaged by there opening act. Who knows?
Soul music will
always be where my heart is. I remember way back when Tony Toni Tone came onto
the scene, I was juiced because live soul music was finally making its way
back like them old days. I think the return of soul music hit a peak a few
years ago, but now i see it sort of dwindling away again slowly. I
could be wrong but in any case, soul music will always be my first home.
I was born and raised in Sacramento, CA. Ive never really been too
far out of this small, but growing town and really cant wait to start getting
out to other parts of the world. Im a laid back type person, real mello
and calm. Im real humble about my music and often feel weird when people ask
for an autograph. I dont feel like ive reached that point yet where i
should be signing autographs, but people want it and so i sign. I enjoy doing
regular things. Kicking back with the fellahs playing bones, or just sitting up
watchng a movie.
Music is not in my family. I do have an older sister who has a
lovely voice, but she never wanted to do anything with it. She had
another calling i guess.
I use to play the drums when i was younger. I played for about 10
years and was pretty good too. I ended up giving it up though out of
bordum. I wanted to do something else a little more challenging. I can
still play now if i just sat down and practiced for a few days but i have no
desire really. I also play a little bit of piano. Thats how i write most
of my songs. I plan on getting into some production later on as i develop my
skill a little more.
I realized that i wanted a career in music very early on as
a child. Initially i wanted to be part of a singing group as oppossed to
being a solo artist. That never worked out though because it was very hard to
find big talented guys with small egos. Every group that i sang in ended
in disaster due to personality clashes. Talent and bad attitudes seem to
go hand in hand so I gave up my dream to sing in a group and just focused on
the solo thing.
This music thing is working out fine. Its not easy work but i have
a good team behind me and with a little more persistance, i will be alright.
I also enjoy acting. I've actually been acting longer than i've
been singing. I done some commercials when i was younger, Plays, things like
that. I hope to get into acting a little more in the future.
Right now im continuing to work closely with my band
and sell these cds. Im working on a mix tape cd which will be strictly a
give away thing, and will start production on a new cd very soon.
Again thank you for the props on the cd, and thanks for the
interview. Anything you need from us just holla!
-JASPER-
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