Kate Olson is one of Seattle’s favorite reed players, and a first call musician on saxophones and flutes. Olson will be releasing her first album as a leader in the new year, and recently brought her quartet to the KNKX Seattle studios to share some of her latest compositions.

The record, entitled So It Goes, is set to release on Origin Records Jan. 16. It features all original compositions by Olson. During her studio session at KNKX, she highlighted her new band and songwriting process, while also performing two fresh songs.

So It Goes features Conner Eisenmenger, who played trombone in this performance and also plays trumpet on the new album. Olson takes full advantage of his lyrical playing, as well as the prodigious talents of bassist Tim Carey and drummer Evan Woodle. Olson has been playing gigs with this lineup for more than a year.

Olson, an affiliate artist at Tacoma's University of Puget Sound, first moved to Seattle in 2010. In conversation with KNKX, she humbly suggested that she’s “not a naturally gifted musician. I had to learn everything by trial and error," Olson said.

She also acknowledged the impact of the privaten lessons she's taken with highly regarded mentors, including pianists Geri Allen and Wayne Horvitz. Horvitz makes guest appearances on piano for three songs on So It Goes, along with bassist Geoff Harper, who guests on two.

Olson's bandmates in the KNKX studios said they appreciate her pop sensibility and how she gravitates toward beautiful melodies. Emphasizing that point, Olson recalled asking Horvitz about how to connect with an audience.

“He’s like ‘well, beauty doesn’t hurt,'" she said. "So, you write a beautiful melody, and then you write something that’s fun to play over. That’s my motivation.”

Writing music has also taken Olson to inspirational settings around Puget Sound. Most of the songs on So It Goes were written on Whidbey Island and Orcas Island and about the natural world, she said.

But, Olson found different inspiration for her new tune “Car Trouble.” It's about a time she broke down at a ferry dock on her way to a composing retreat. The song's leisurely tempo evokes the long wait for a mechanic. It also features Olson on alto flute, an instrument she’s just started playing more recently.

“I got really excited about the sound of that instrument. That timbre is definitely the thing that inspires me," she said.

Another new song, “Subtleties,” and a track from the new album, “Bumbling Thumbs Blues,” have a bebop bounce that Thelonious Monk fans will find very appealing.

The session wraps with the record's strong, gospel-tinged title track, which moves at a stately pace and blends a pop aesthetic and dynamic interaction between the band members. Carey’s thoughtful solo on six-string electric bass was a highlight of this performance.

So It Goes is Olson’s long-awaited first album as a band leader. It confirms her stellar reputation as a player, composer and leader while offering up irresistibly catchy songs for her longtime fans and the new ones she’s sure to attract.

Musicians

• Kate Olson - saxophones
• Conner Eisenmenger - trombone, trumpet
• Tim Carey - bass
• Evan Woodle - drums

Songs

1. "Subtleties"
2. "Car Trouble"
3. "Bumbling Thumbs Blues"
4. "So It Goes"

Bassist, vocalist and composer Alune Wade returned to Seattle for the Earshot Jazz Festival in October and brought his new album tracing the path of music and culture between his native Senegal and the origins of jazz in New Orleans.

Rather than tracing the roots of jazz, the album New African Orleans examines the cultural "branches" of those roots in the United States.

Wade told us that he heard the music of New Orleans in Senegalese radio shows that featured jazz legends like Sidney Bechet and Louis Armstrong long before he learned about the cultural importance of the city.

In 2015, Wade produced a jazz festival on Gorée island off the Senegalese coast, an historic location involved in the Atlantic slave trade. “That was my first connection with the diaspora,” Wade explained.

Inspired by the history, Wade decided that “it was time for African people, people like me, to do this project with New Orleans.”

The connections are numerous, including the stage name origins of one of New Orleans’ most famous musicians. Mac Rebbenack took his stage name Dr. John from a man from Senegal named Jean Montanet who lived in New Orleans in the 1800s. Sometimes known as "Voudoo John," he possessed, Wade said, “a lot of magic, a lot of natural power.”

Wade’s new album includes his version of Dr. John’s song “Gris Gris Gumbo Yaya,” which tells the story of Montanet. He lived near Congo Square in New Orleans where African slaves there were allowed to make music on Sundays. More than 400 years ago, that place and time marked the origins of blues, jazz and American music.

Other connections Wade mentions include drum rhythms and cuisine drawn from West Africa, and even a tenuous link to Seattle’s native rock and roll hero, Jimi Hendrix. New African Orleans includes a cover of the Hendrix classic “Voodoo Child” with Wade singing some of the lyrics in his native Wolof language.

The Alune Wade septet brought all of this history to the KNKX studios in a most joyous performance of four songs, including a funky number from a past album called “Black Booty” that had our audience cheering for more.

Wade told us that he looks forward to keeping his connections to his fans and friends in the U.S. strong and even joked that his next album “will be Senegal-Seattle!” Until then, enjoy this West African-New Orleans gumbo from the Alune Wade band.

Musicians:

• Alune Wade - bass, vocals
• Alix Goffic - drums
• Cédric Douchemann - keyboards
• Victor Ademofe - trumpet, talking drums
• Harry Ahonlonsou - tenor and soprano saxophones
• Leah Concialdi - baritone saxophone
• Matt Breuer - trombone, sousaphone

Songs:

1. Night Tripper
2. Watermelon Man
3. Boogie and Juju
4. Black Booty

It’s been a busy two years for genre-bending singer Bilal. After a decade hiatus from recording, he released two albums in 2024: Bilal: Live at Glasshaus, where he was joined by some of his long-time collaborators, pianist Robert Glasper and rapper Common; and Adjust Brightness, which features fresh and thought-provoking new material.

On the heels of his performance at the 2025 Earshot Jazz Festival, Bilal visited the KNKX studios for a dynamic and intense performance of several songs from Adjust Brightness. Utilizing a blend of jazz, funk, soul, and rock, Adjust Brightness inhabits a unique sonic niche and combines introspective lyrics, addictive instrumentation, and Bilal's voice, which bends and contorts like a yo-yo.

Bilal’s captured audiences worldwide with his stage presence, akin to that of the legendary musician James Brown, and voice that's bigger than his physical stature. Sure enough, the spell was cast on our studio audience during his session.

Bilal and his band opened with the laid-back, post-psychedelic song, "Evr Chngin Nrml." Backed by the hard pound of Joseph Grissett's bass drum, Bilal’s lyrics were like streams of consciousness as he took audiences into a world of karmic influences, love, and the loneliness that comes with life's constant evolutions.

On the next tune, "Tell Me," the band provided an effortlessly groovy underpinning for the straight-ahead R&B tune with lyrics that can be read as a Shakespeare poem. Bilal crooned as he simply asked his lover what their heart desired.

Bilal and company wrapped the session with "Quantum Universe," a rock and roll opera with hints of reggae. The song felt like the perfect soundtrack to a post-apocalyptic film, as Bilal took an honest, but hopeful look at humanity and the power of manifestation, singing the lyrics “you are what you believe.”

Soulful, sensual and tirelessly innovative, Bilal’s studio session is a must-listen.

Musicians:

• Bilal Oliver, vocals
• Conley Whitfield, Jr., bass
• Randall Runyon, guitar
• Joseph Grissett, drums

Songs:

• "Evr Chngin Nrml"
• "Tell Me"
• "Quantum Universe"

With the just-released recording of his Seattle band's first concert, Jovino Santos Neto pays homage to 30 years in the Seattle area. In a recent visit to the KNKX studios, he talked about his Northwest connections and the magic of live performance.

Growing up in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Santos Neto first heard live music from bands that would "play in the gazebos on Sunday nights.”

“I would walk and hear the music, and all I saw was a little window, and I was too scared to go up there,” he said.

Santos Neto’s growing passion for music eventually brought him to his mentor, Brazilian master musician and composer Hermeto Pascoal. Pascoal helped develop a fusion of jazz and samba and rose to international fame in the early '70s for his work with Miles Davis.

“My very first gig with Hermeto, I rehearsed for a whole week,” Santos Neto said. “We didn’t play any of the songs we rehearsed.”

“What Hermeto did was to teach us to trust our intuition, because our intuition is never wrong," he said. "If you can go to the source and drink that water from where it comes up, that’s what it is."

This lesson has become the foundation of Santos Neto’s music.

Santos Neto recently retired after more than a quarter-century teaching at Seattle’s Cornish College of the Arts. The bass player for this session performance, Tim Carey, also teaches at the institution.

With the newly released Mais Que Tudo: Live at Kerry Hall, 1995, Santos Neto and his fans look back at his first concert with that Seattle band, which included Hans Teuber on the saxophone, Chuck Deardorf on the bass and Mark Ivester again played percussion.

“When I listen to it, I get blown away,” Santos Neto said. “It was like you’re cooking these beans in the pressure cooker and suddenly go, ‘Pssssshhh!’ The energy of our very first chord of the very first song, it came out with such power. You know when they christen a new ship with a champagne bottle? That was us!”

Santos Neto and his band, which also includes longtime collaborator Ben Thomas on vibraphone, recently performed in front of a rapt audience at the KNKX studios, their music bursting with life and love. Ivester played the drums, 30 years after the recording. Two of Santos Neto's older compositions, “Two Friends, True Friends,” and “Feira Livre," joined the new original tune, “Na Umbigaga Da Vida,” for this exclusive session.

There will be much more Santos Neto to enjoy later this year with two more live album releases. On Halloween, Jovino Santos Neto Quinteto will open for Latin Grammy-winning flutist Nestor Torres at the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute for the Earshot Jazz Festival. In the meantime, put on your dancing shoes and enjoy this KNKX studio session.

Musicians:

• Jovino Santos Neto - piano, melodica
• Ben Thomas - vibraphone
• Tim Carey - electric bass
• Mark Ivester - drums

Songs:

1. Two Friends, True Friends
2. Na Umbigada Da Vida
3. Feira Livre

For more than three decades, Larry Goldings has found a lot to say in an organ trio with guitarist Peter Bernstein and drummer Bill Stewart. Recently, KNKX caught the group's musical conversation during an exclusive performance at Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley, followed by a chat about the trio's origins and well-honed simpatico.

Goldings, who was born in Boston, was originally a piano player. For that reason, pianists were his biggest influences as a young musician.

"Before I heard [organ legend] Jimmy Smith, I heard Mel Rhyne,” Goldings said. “He wasn’t falling into the Jimmy Smith pattern at all, in terms of style and repertoire.”

Goldings was also drawn to "the kinds of trios that are really communicating with each other, where not one person is always at the center of attention," he said.

He kept those influences in mind as he put his own trio together years later. Goldings spoke humbly about his trio's first recording in 1991, saying it took him time to find his stride.

“I was very new to playing the real Hammond B-3. I kind of felt like, ‘I think I need a few more years on this instrument,'" he said. "I do remember, we felt like a band worth documenting. It was quite a thrill!”

That album, The Intimacy of the Blues, was well-received and also launched a trio that's evolved into one of the best performing today. After all, each member honed their talents through extensive touring and recording with stars like James Taylor (Goldings), Dr. Lonnie Smith (Bernstein), and James Brown (Stewart).

The trio's sound often defies expectations of the organ trio sound. Goldings, who won the Downbeat Magazine critics’ poll for Organist of the Year in 2024 and 2025, plays as an orchestrator and colors the music with his playing. Meanwhile, Bernstein takes the lead on melodies and Stewart adds in his layered, polyrhythmic drumming.

“Our range is a little wider than the perception of the traditional organ trio," Bernstein said. "We play whatever we like, and anything can be adapted."

The trio’s repertoire includes originals from all three, as well as standards and classics of different kinds. Much of their uniqueness stems from their eclectic tastes and the way each musician's unique voice is represented.

“We’ve all been writing for the group in recent years," Stewart said.

This time around, Goldings, Bernstein and Stewart offered up Burt Bacharach’s “This Guy’s in Love with You” to begin the set at Jazz Alley. From there, original tunes from the organist and guitarist showed off their dynamic range and collaboration.

“We...just find some tunes we like to play and let an arrangement just kind of come together,” Bernstein said. “I feel comfortable with these guys and know that whatever I do, it’s gonna be cool, no matter what.”

Looking ahead, the trio will record a new live album this month at Smoke Jazz & Supper Club in New York City. They’ll release it next year on the venue’s label, Smoke Sessions Records, and it will come with a vinyl pressing. Until then, enjoy this live set from the trio at Jazz Alley.

Musicians:

• Larry Goldings - organ
• Peter Bernstein - guitar
• Bill Stewart - drums

Songs:

1. "This Guy's in Love with You" (B.Bacharach)
2. "Mr. Meagles" (L.Goldings)
3. "Dissipation Blues" (P.Bernstein)

Hours before her first of two shows at Dimitriou's Jazz Alley, singer-songwriter Dominique Fils-Aimé made her Seattle debut in the KNKX studios. She led her band through a magnetic set of modern American music and filtered through her unique, international perspective.

Born and raised in Montreal, Canada, by Haitian parents, Fils-Aimé found inspiration in the blues, jazz and soul music from the United States. She described the common thread as “powerful and vibrant sounds that are rooted in emotions. That really struck me from a very young age.”

Fils-Aimé took the time to learn about the context of Black American music, too.

“The music is that place where you get to understand the emotional impact that those historical moments had," she said, adding that the music became a tool for “different types of revolution or even survival, in a way, [through] how it unites people and how it can allow us to feel less alone.”

Fils-Aimé wasn't alone in the KNKX studios. Her wonderful band shared backing vocal duties and performed on their respective instruments: Etienne Miousse on guitar, David Osei on keyboards and bass, Danny Trudeau on bass and keyboards and Harvey Bien-Aimée on drums.

The singer’s four acclaimed studio albums feature complex arrangements and multiple vocal parts. Fils-Aimé explained that her live band takes her music “to another place that is more communal," as her band takes her vocal-filled songs and makes them their own to create "a whole new world."

During their KNKX appearance, the studio audience was immersed in that unique world through a passionate medley of four original tunes.

The slow blues of “My Mind at Ease” set Fils-Aimé’s vocals in a spare guitar and bass atmosphere. Her voice ranged from a whisper to a synthesizer-soaked roar before softening to a repeated phrase looking for “peace and quiet.”

Keeping the tempo down, Fils-Aimé segued into the bluesy, guitar-saturated song “Birds,” before finding a mid-tempo rhythm for the soulful psychedelia of “Love Take Over.”

That song’s abrupt ending inspired a deep sigh from Fils-Aimé, who introduced her final song, “Cheers to New Beginnings,” with a few spoken lines about creative freedom.

Then she dove into lyrics celebrating the “freedom of dreaming of a new world together.” Fils-Aimé sang in tandem with Trudeau’s bass and Osei’s dancing piano lines, before the band developed a driving soul groove.

Fils-Aimé just released her first live recording from the 2024 Montreal Jazz Festival. Her fourth studio album, Our Roots Run Deep, marks the first of a second album trilogy. Though this Canadian may be a discovery for American audiences, Fils-Aimé is quickly establishing herself as an important international voice in modern jazz, blues and soul.

Musicians:

• Dominique Fils-Aimé - vocals
• Etienne Miousse - guitar
• David Osei - keyboards, bass
• Danny Trudeau - bass, keyboards
• Harvey Bien-Aimée - drums

Songs:

1. "My Mind At Ease"
2. "Birds"
3. "Love Take Over"
4. "Cheers to New Beginnings"

Groove Lab, an 8-piece instrumental funk band from Olympia, Washington, has a motto: “We like to make people dance." During the group's recent visit to KNKX, they delivered on that with an upbeat, groovy set.

Stephanie Anne Johnson, host of KNKX's Grooveyard, interviewed Groove Lab's lead vocalist and trumpet player, Alex Rekow, about the Olympia music scene, the band's commitment to music education, and their forthcoming new record.

Interview lightly edited for clarity

Well, like most of the music community, COVID affected things a lot, and took away a lot of the bigger stages, so it became increasingly harder for large bands like us to find places to play in town. But since then, the community has bounced back, and there're quite a few new places to play. And there are jazz jams, there's all sorts of music, and instrumental music is making a bounce back too, especially with things like the [Oly] Funk Fest, where we're bringing talent from out of town, increasing people's likelihood to start bands like that.

Well, our guitarist here, Johnny is a music teacher, works for the public schools. [Percussionist] Tommy works for the public schools. He gets kids to and from the school. And I work with children with autism, and I try to sneak in music as much as I can, especially if it's reinforcing for the kid.

We do a lot of home recording where we can produce things like demos for our music and where we practice at [our saxophonist] Paul's house, we've set up quite the studio for ourselves.

Okay, well, initially, the band was started with Brice and Paul, and they have, over the years, gathered a troupe of musicians. We've almost done this like stumbling forward thing, where most bands don't have it quite together in the beginning, but as long as we're constantly moving forward, [that] has been the goal.

With writing generally, our process lately has been somebody brings an idea to the group, or maybe [we] flesh out a skeleton of a song, and we either add parts to it or we build on it and we make micro changes. It's a group effort.

Musicians:

• Alex Rekow (lead vocals, trumpet) 
• Michael Eakes (baritone and alto saxophones) 
• Kevin Hyche (baritone saxophone, flute) 
• Paul Hyde (tenor saxophone) 
• Brian Johnson (keyboards) 
• Nick Rawson (bass)
• Brice Bement (drums)
• Tommy Sandoval (percussion)

Songs:

1. "Man Like Me"
2. "That Bad Brew"
3. "Midnight Maze"

Just before his recent two-night stint at Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley, local guitarist Brian Nova brought his world-class quartet to the KNKX studios to perform music from his latest album, and to chat about the Seattle music scene's lasting influence on his career.

In particular, Nova said that without his musical mentors in Seattle, he may never have toured around the globe with jazz guitar heavyweights, Herb Ellis and Joe Pass.

From the late 1980s into the early 2000s, Nova established himself as one of the top jazz musicians in the Seattle area. His career eventually led him to California, where he toured and recorded with iconic jazz musicians for many years.

Still, with lots of family in the area, Nova never lost his ties to the Northwest. In recent years, he settled back in Seattle and quickly reclaimed his reputation as one of the master musicians in the city’s ever-evolving jazz scene.

Being back in Seattle has led Nova to revisit the lasting impact of the Emerald City on his music career. Jazz Alley, for one, is the venue where his passion for jazz guitar was born.

After spending his early years focused on playing rock and funk with friends in high school, a friend’s mother took a teenaged Nova to Jazz Alley to see the great Herb Ellis play. It was a surprising, formative moment.

“I still have a mark where my chin hit the table. I just didn't know the guitar could be played that way. I was 19. I didn't know, and I’ve been chasing after it ever since," Nova said.

As Nova embraced jazz, he found mentors eager to teach the young guitarist how to succeed in the music business in Seattle. One of the most important to Nova was pianist Primo Kim, who taught Nova "thousands of songs."

"It's all about the songs. I don't care how many chops you've got or where you studied, or any of that. If you don't know songs, you don't understand the vernacular," Nova said.

It was Nova’s mastery of that jazz vernacular that led him to befriend the great guitarist Joe Pass, and eventually perform with him throughout Europe, Canada, and the U.S. In their first meeting, he said they walked together for hours, challenging each other's knowledge of the Great American Songbook.

Ellis, who Nova saw at Jazz Alley, also become a formative guitar mentor. Nova compared learning from a rhythm master like Ellis with heavyweight boxing.

“You don't really know how much it hurts to get punched till you're in the ring with someone that actually knows how to punch. There's nowhere to hide. And that's kind of the way Herbie was. He was just a freight train,” Nova said with a smile.

In the KNKX studios with a backing trio of the nation’s first call players — pianist Shelly Berg, bassist Terry Miller and drummer Gary Novak — Nova conducted his own musical freight train through the Cole Porter classic “Love for Sale,” and the title song of his just-released album, They Say It’s Wonderful.

Nova also confessed his love of the progressive rock band Emerson, Lake & Palmer, covering their hit ballad “From the Beginning.” While the tune choice acknowledged Nova's rock guitar origins, the performance spotlighted Nova, and pianist Berg’s, melodic approach.

After two nights with his quartet at Jazz Alley, Nova returns to his weekly solo performances at the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown Seattle Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.

Musicians:

• Brian Nova - guitar, vocals
• Shelly Berg - piano
• Terry Miller - bass
• Gary Novak - drums

Songs:

1. They Say It's Wonderful (Irving Berlin)
2. From the Beginning (Greg Lake)
3. Love for Sale (Cole Porter)

Over the last 15 years, Seattle’s Polyrhythmics have pursued new sounds in modern, groove-centered instrumental music. While their evolution is mainly driven by their own artistic passion, the Polyrhythmics also draw inspiration from their live audiences.

Founding member and guitarist Ben Bloom explained that when making a record, the band members ask themselves, “what do we want to come up with that’s cool?” The band prides itself on finding new musical paths, while still prioritizing the funk and grooves that compelled them to form in the first place.

As they drift from their Afrobeat origins, Polyrhythmics have recently adjusted their rhythm section. Drummer Grant Schroff, whom Bloom calls, "one of the baddest drummers in this town," holds down the beats without a full-time percussionist. This leaves room for the horn players to take up tambourine and vibraslap, as they did during this studio session performance.

Since their beginnings, Polyrhythmics have also found that their connection to live audiences is central to how they play and how their music evolves. After accomplishing their original goal of recording a single for a vinyl release, the band was inspired by the dancing crowds at their celebratory release show.

“At the time, there was a popular dance called the Space Needle," said Bloom, standing perfectly still in demonstration. "That was the main dance that was going on in Seattle at the time, and much to our delight, there was an enthusiastic dance floor of people with newer moves!”

Inspired by their grooving audiences, Polyrhythmics got to work developing their live performances. They realized their music comes to life through what Bloom describes as a "two-way street" between the energy of the band and of the audience.

“It’s a little bit of a game with us to try to connect with our audience. The type of music that we play has evolved into really feeding that," said Bloom.

If some Polyrhythmics concerts are up-tempo dance parties, others may drift into psychedelic atmospheres. On their new album Life from Below, the band pulls from their years-long experience diversifying their music.

“Our goal is to keep pushing the music forward,” Bloom said.

Pushing forward on Life From Below, Polyrhythmics get into a disco vibe on “Smoke & Mirrors” with a rare vocal guest, Adryon de León. The album’s title song is a dramatic, cinematic blend of chaos and cool, and their latest single “Cake Lady” nods to Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters funk-jazz fusion.

“When we make records we’re constantly thinking about what we haven’t done already," said Bloom. "What styles of music haven’t we touched on that still fit the vibe?”

Listen to the three songs from this wonderful Polyrhythmics studio session performance and you’ll hear that vibe – groovy, funky, passionate and deeply connected to their audience.

Musicians:

• Ben Bloom - guitar
• Nathan Spicer - keyboards
• Jason Gray - bass
• Grant Schroff - drums
• Elijah Clark - trombone, percussion
• R. Scott Morning - trumpet
• Art Brown - saxophone, flute, percussion

Songs:

1. Life From Below
2. Serpentine
3. Mayo Con Yayo

Powerful blues singer Sugaray Rayford brought over-the-top energy to the KNKX studios recently, despite being jet-lagged and sleep-deprived after concluding a European tour. He confessed to not knowing what time of day it was, or even what day it was, but his performance magic was on full display for our lucky studio audience. Many KNKX employees also crowded into the studio's recording booth to take in the show.

Rayford has been on our All Blues playlist for years. He has won several Blues Music Awards and released seven albums since 2010, including Somebody Save Me, which was nominated in 2019 for a Grammy Award in the Contemporary Blues category.

From his time as a child performing gospel to his current status as a soul and blues headliner, Rayford’s life has revolved around music. Starting at age 5, he traveled as a gospel drummer and singer.

“Gospel saved my life," Rayford said. "It gave me a great foundation...it gave me a work ethic, being around so many great professionals. I got to see a lot of the great artists: Shirley Caesar, The Mighty Clouds of Joy, the Jackson Southernaires. This was the Church of God in Christ, it’s holiness or hell they say. Holy rollers, baby. Speaking in tongues, the whole nine, playing till 3 o’clock in the morning."

He continued, “By the time I left the church at 18, musically I pretty much knew who I was, what I could do and what I wanted to do. I just felt when I went into the military there was no future at that time in music.”

So, he left his musical life behind and spent ten years in the Marine Corps. After his tours of duty, he returned to the States and began working as a security guard, later starting his own security company. At that point, he hadn’t played music for over 15 years.

One fateful night, while working as a bouncer at a rock club in Carlsbad, California, the lead singer of the performing band left the stage to work the crowd and handed Rayford the microphone during a cover of the Led Zeppelin song “Rock and Roll.” Rayford decided to start singing.

“I didn’t know the song," Rayford said. "That’s ‘devil music’! But a song is song, and a melody is a melody. So, I just made up something. And everybody in the club was looking at me!”

Rayford's then-girlfriend, now-wife, Pam, who watched the impromptu performance, noted how he lit up as he performed and she encouraged Rayford by signing him up to sing at other local jam sessions.

“I loved the way the blues sounded because it sounded a lot like gospel,” said Rayford, who always preferred to perform his own original songs.

He gradually built up his reputation and repertoire, and in 2010, Rayford was asked to sing with the well-known blues band The Mannish Boys. About the same time, he self-released his first solo album of original blues, Blind Alley. He’s steadily released new albums every two to three years since.

Over the years, Rayford has matured to the point where he feels that his role as a singer and writer is about uniting people and bringing them together.

“What I’m trying to do is open people’s eyes, so people realize that there’s just one people. There’s only one color in this country...and that’s green. I don’t care if you’re Black, white, Puerto Rican, Spanish, Jewish, whatnot. If you ain’t got it, you’re on the other side," Rayford said.

Rayford also feels that his position in the front of the band requires him to be not simply a singer, but also an entertainer.

“Even though I write something serious, it’s got to be funky, it’s got to make your booty move," he said. "It’s like cooking dinner - I can’t just give you all spinach, I got to throw some meat in there and maybe some sweet potato pie or something when you’re done.”

Surely, you'll be well-nourished after enjoying this studio session with Sugaray Rayford and his band in the KNKX studios.

Musicians:

• Sugaray Rayford (vocals)
• Julian "JuJu" Davis (trumpet)
• Daniel Avila (guitar)
• Drake "Munkihaid" Shining (keyboards)
• Allen Markel (bass)
• Sky Garcia (drums)

Songs:

1. Run for Cover
2. No Limit to My Love
3. Gonna Lift You Up
4. Invisible Soldier