Inspiring Jazz, Rap and Neo-Soul Tiny Desks
Featuring: Anderson Paak, Tiny Desk artist. Mac Miller, Tiny desk artist. Common, Tiny Desk artist. Erykah Badu, Tiny Desk artist.
Above are four compelling Tiny Desks, each suggested by LREI music teacher Nick Wright. The artists above explore and merge the worlds of r&b, rap, soul, neo-soul, hip hop and jazz to create their own sound. While the style and instrumentation is unique to each artist, each band contains a few key elements: bass, drums, guitar, piano, vocal (with background vocals), and passion.
Common’s Tiny Desk is centered around the absent voices of women in rap, and celebrates the female presence in the genre. Badu opens her concert with the question, “Peace and Love, how y’all feelin’?” Engaging her audience and immediately commanding peaceful attention. At the end of his piece, Anderson Paak asks his viewers to choose his final song. Thus, each artist establishes a presence and makes clear the purpose behind their performance.
As I compile the elements of LREI’s first Tiny Desk Concert, I will use the strategies modeled by the aforementioned artists to engage the audience, voice the purpose behind the performance, and establish my own voice and message.
LOUD Spotify Podcast, The History of Reggaetón.
LOUD: The History of Reggaetón is a Spotify original podcast that provides historical insight into one of the most popular music genres today. The podcast series explores young Latinx musicians from Panama, Puerto Rico, and Jamaica who created “an irresistible musical culture.”
Each episode explores how Latinx youth used music to educate and explore ideas around race, drugs, sex and censorship. Their hit podcast episode, “The Zone” describes how Afro-Panamanians translated the lyrics of Jamaican dancehall songs into Spanish. Once translated, the music would be broadcasted in block parties, buses and trains; the Afro-Latino rhythmic beat stealing the hearts of its passionate listeners.
This podcast series serves as a way to understand the Afro-Latinx roots of Reggaetón, paying tribute to those who sought to translate the hit Reggae genre for Spanish-speaking listeners. This genre can be incorporated in my research and performance.
Graham Nash, Elton John, Ringo Starr, cast. Asif Kapadia, director. 1971: The Year That Music Changed Everything.
Hit music documentary series, 1971: The Year That Music Changed Everything, provides a historical lens on American protest music. The series highlights sensational artists such as
Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye and Joni Mitchell to explore the connections between political uproar and the rebirth of American music.
Each episode offers a deep-dive of incredible artists of the 1971 era, along with an explanation of how their music impacted American society. As I begin to establish the vision of this performance, I’m inspired to research the cultural and political elements of protest songs. As an 18-year-old Latina activist myself, it’s imperative that I understand the historical context behind each chosen song.
Pollack, Sydney, director. Amazing Grace.
Extraordinary music documentary Amazing Grace offers raw, behind-the-scenes footage of the Queen of Soul herself, Miss Aretha Franklin. After releasing 11 consecutive music hits on the soul charts, Aretha Franklin recorded what is now “the most successful gospel album of all time.” The recordings took place in 1972 at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church, located in Los Angeles.
The documentary also stars James Cleveland, Baptist minister and choir member himself, along with Aretha’s father, C. L. Franklin. In addition to the elegant piano, booming drums and organ, Aretha’s legendary vocals are accompanied by the Southern California Community Choir. What’s amazing is how each musical element works in such harmony, proving that each musician is listening to their counterpart.
The passion, harmony, listening, and spirituality that radiates from the documentary footage will certainly be used as inspiration for the Tiny Desk process. Each musician must come dedicated to conveying a message and purpose, much like Aretha and the Southern California Community Choir sought to promote the beauty and rawness of faith through song.
NPR, director. How Are Tiny Desks Created?
Videos and articles that explain how Tiny Desks are created will be essential for this project. This research better explains the production process and its many facets. When people think of musical production, most consider the more technical, engineering side that mixes beats and uses programs like Logic. Since I’m not yet familiar with this side of production, I will be delving into another: the side of production that models that of a movie director. Understanding how to scout and recruit talent, finding funding to support one’s vision, promoting performances on social media, and creating a vision that includes costume, recording footage and recruiting talent is essential to creating a performance. I hope to further explore this prospect with workers at NPR or other production companies.