Interviewing Tall Black Guy
Sitting down for a warm, comfortable chat with the creator of future love music for aliens himself…
Jazz is… free. And there is no right or wrong way when it comes to creating it.
Frankly, we did not expect this to happen, but we were surprisingly lucky and managed to interview one of the most promising modern hip-hop-producers — Tall Black Guy. The artist told us more about his second album “Let’s Take A Trip”, unveiled the plans for the future, and refuted the rumors about his height. Hot stuff!
N: I recently listened to your new album “Let’s Take A Trip” and was genuinely super-impressed by the soulful sound with some interesting jazz-influenced-morsels, your use of samples, and the unique approach that you’ve utilized to make the record what it is now. You had even sung on one of the songs, right?
TBG: Yes, that was “Come With Me And Fly”. I sampled my voice and made a crazy pattern out of it.
N: And that was the first time you actually sang on а track of yours?
TBG: Uh-huh, that was me actually being inside of the track. There were some previous tracks with my vocals on them but they were tucked far, far in the mix, opposed to this one, where it’s much more prominent.
N: Comparing your new record to the debut, “8 Miles To Moenart”, I would say that the second one is much more conceptual. I know that it’s based on the idea of travel (physical, mental, spiritual, as you’ve already mentioned in the previous interviews), but had there been a specific idea or an event that motivated you to create the album?
TBG: Going into making “Let’s Take A Trip” in April 2013, I was feeling quite positive and had many ideas in mind. In fact, I wanted to challenge myself by using many instruments and also having several other musicians on the record. That’s what I was going for, but then I had some tragic stuff happen. One of my dear cousins had passed away in the process of me making the album; plus there’d been other personal problems… That was a part of the influence, and the other part was me living in England and seeing all the stuff that was going on in the United States — you know, the racial tension tied with the police and a lot more. Eventually all of it came into play, and it was this combination of different events that I was trying to capture in my music.
N: What you’re describing is, indeed, very tragic, but the album actually sounds light. How is that?
TBG: Now that you say it, “Let’s Take A Trip” must be way less melancholic, compared to “8 Miles To Moenart”. The thing is that I did not want to go into that depressing mode again. And at the same time, as I was getting closer to completing it or at least getting the major portion of it done, I had a vivid dream. In it, a train arrived, and then I was hanging on the side of the train. Suddenly, I had a vision of the artwork; short sound bites just came right to me. After waking up I started digging for all those peculiar train sounds to try to tie it all together to create an upbeat story.
N: Do you think of “Let’s Take A Trip” as a sequel to “8 Miles To Moenart”, or should it be considered a totally independent album?
TBG: I think it’s independent. They are two different albums that belong to two different stages of my life. I’ve also had a lot of growth as a producer and a musician in between “8 Miles To Moenart” and this album.
N: Was its sound influenced by the artists you listen to the most?
TBG: Everything that I listen to is all pretty much jazz and soul music. It definitely impacted my style and, especially, this album. Since I do have a daytime job, most of the album was coming together as I was making my commute to work, listening to tons of CDs in my front seat. I also would have my recorder and notebook ready, and in those 45–60 minutes I would pick out little snippets, and write their times down. Once I got to my job, I would usually have some kind of idea and look for more samples that would help me develop it. And I would just do it over and over again.
N: You brought some guest jazz-musicians, such as Kenny Keys, Miles Bonny, Diggs Duke, and Dee Jackson to help you out. Could you please tell me more about them?
TBG: Dee Jackson is my best friend from high school. I’ve known him since we were 15 years old. Over the years we’ve actually made 4 albums together. Diggs Duke sang on the song “There’s No More Soul” from “8 Miles To Moenart”, so I wanted to return some of the same people I’d had on my last album. Kenny Keys is my good friend from the States, an amazing keyboard player. Miles Bonny came through at the very end. I had a track in mind for him, but I didn’t really reach out to him. I don’t know how that happened, but eventually I hit him up, and I was like: “Hey, man, you wanna do something on the album?” And he was like: “Oh, yeah, for sure.” So I sent it to him, and he added a nice horn section.
N: …And he plays?
TBG: He plays flugelhorn and trumpet, and he sings and produces as well. I think his main thing is flugelhorn, though.
N: And I am wondering… who is Yusef Rumperfield?
TBG: That’s my alter-ego’s name that my friends and I came up with, when we were little kids. I even have an album called “Jazz In Motion” by Yusef Rumperfield.
N: What equipment did you use in the making of the record?
TBG: I used Sony Acid 7.0. It’s a really old computer program from 1998 that I still use to this day. Plus a midi-keyboard. That’s it.
N: I loved the promo-animation for “Let’s Take A Trip”. Who was behind it?
TBG: Bran Dougherty is the name of the guy. He did a cool job, because the video was so simple and sweet, but it hit you right on the head.
N: Are there any artists you would love to work with in the future?
TBG: I would love to collaborate with Jill Scott for sure. Probably the jazz-funk trio Yussef Kamaal that just came out. They’re really dope. There’s a handful more that I cannot name off the top of my head, but the general plan is really to continue the existing musical relationships and try to search for new ones, too.
N: Do you think you’re gonna go in the same direction on the subsequent record or make a change?
TBG: I do know I wanna make a real jazz album. I don’t know how that’s gonna happen, but I would like to get in touch with some horn players and a keyboard player and try out some things with them. I will need to produce the whole thing from top to bottom and come up with ideas for them to replay. That is the next venture I want to try.
N: Making an actual jazz record is gonna be a challenging task, isn’t it?
TBG: It is. As I’ve said previously, I’d already been listening to a lot of jazz music and studying it, figuring out what kind of approach I should use for my project. Jazz is… free. And there is no right or wrong way when it comes to creating it. Essentially, it’s gonna be about all of us coming together to experiment and share ideas.
N: What track would you recommend a person that is not familiar with the “Tall Black Guy Productions” label to get a general sense of what it is about?
TBG: I did a remix of Robert Glasper’s “Move Love” with KING in 2012. That’s probably a good start.
N: It’s been more than a year since your appearance at Boiler Room. How was it?
TBG: It was real smooth! I had a lot of fun and was super excited, because I did not think it would actually happen. The reason for that is that they asked me about a year before that, and I wasn’t ready, so I turned it down. I simply had to prepare. At the time I was spending a lot of time in my room making music and was slowly going back to playing live sets. As a multi-genre producer, there is a lot of work to be done to create a full set.
N: Sorry for the banal question, but what’s your height? Some people on the web claim it to be 7.9 feet (2.40 m) which I don’t find very plausible.
TBG: 6.5 feet (1.98 m).
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