WDAV and the Fair Play Music Equity Initiative continue the second season of NoteWorthy virtual concerts with R&B artist Nia J joined by flutist Jill O’Neill and violist Ben Geller. We speak to the trio about how well they bonded as a group, and how the addition of the classical instruments helped “breathe some life back” into the singer-songwriter’s music. Watch Nia J with Ben Geller and Jill O’Neill Nia J Ben Geller Jill O'Neill Transcript Frank Dominguez : This is Frank Dominguez for WDAV’s Piedmont Arts. On Wednesday, August 24 at 7:30 PM, WDAV continues its second season of NoteWorthy virtual concerts presented in partnership with the FAIR PLAY Music Equity Initiative. The series brings together gifted Black and brown artists from the Charlotte music scene with classical musicians for some genre blending and community building. This time, we’re teaming R&B singer-songwriter Nia J with flutist Jill O’Neill and violist Ben Geller. The trio joins me now via Zoom. Thanks, everyone! Jill O’Neill : Thanks for having us. Nia J : Yeah, excited to be here. Frank : Nia, R&B is a category of music that's really as broad and varied as classical music in terms of its range of sounds and artists. So who are some of the musicians, from R&B or otherwise, who have had an influence on your music? Nia : I would say Jhené Aiko comes to mind. I really like her harmonies and the really melodic tunes that she is able to achieve. And just that it’s really peaceful. I like for my music to be tranquil and have that really peaceful state. I really like Daniel Caesar as well. Same thing as far as harmonies - I really like the way that he writes. Both completely different artists, but those are two that come to mind when I think of R&B artists that inspire me. Frank : And if I were asking you to describe what R&B means to you, how would you talk about that? Nia : I don’t know, it's kind of limitless right now! There's no sound that is unique to it at the moment, everyone's taking their own direction with it. I think it gets back to the lyrics. The lyrics are really soulful, I think the message is usually pretty powerful. And I like the contemporary stance that a lot of artists are taking, where we're fusing different genres into it. Frank : Jill, you are a flute professor at Winthrop University and you teach Music Appreciation, but in addition, your resume also includes the Charlotte School of Rock and courses in the History of Rock and Roll. How did you come by this eclectic streak? Jill : It actually doesn't seem eclectic to me, I don't know why it does to everybody else. (Laughs) You know, I grew up listening to heavy metal and punk and being a kid in the 80’s. Yes, I play a very… solit(ary), shall I say, girly instrument. Most of my teachers were men when I was a kid. (The flute) is seen as that frilly, fluffy, pretty, very vocal instrument, but that actually is very unlike me as a human and as a musician. When I have to play flute, I really have to bring myself into Nia’s way of thinking. I really have to calm myself down and try to contain it. Because that’s not the kind of music I really listen to and the two bands that I played with, it’s not pretty flute music. It’s kind of heavy, loud, grinding… and that’s just the kind of person I am. So, when I’m playing drums, I actually sometimes feel more like myself. But the flute is my life. I started playing piccolo when I was six, so of course, everybody insisted that I gravitate towards the flute as well, so I played both. And alto flute and bass flute. But that’s just one very small part of me. I think as a teacher, that’s what I bring to the table, because I make sure that all my students can do everything. I always say, “the more you do, the more marketable you are, so don’t pigeonhole yourself!” Frank : Great point. Ben, most of WDAV’s listeners are used to seeing you in evening wear at concerts by the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra. What is the appeal for you personally about stepping outside your usual circle and collaborating with Nia J on this project? Ben Geller : Well, it's… that pigeonholing that Jill was talking about, that’s more of my life. I think when I was younger, I had broader interests, and as I got older, I wanted to focus more and more, and eventually orchestral viola kind of took over my life. Not to say I don't love it, but I miss doing more out of the box stuff. And playing in the orchestra does get you a decent amount of variety. We play all kinds of classical music and modern stuff. But being a directly contributing partner to a project like this was… I mean, I love that. Nia’s got such a unique voice, a beautiful voice, and great songwriting. And working with another colleague in Jill, who brings this whole varied background… this was so much fun. I wish we could do this all of the time, always. Jill : Hear that, Nia? (Laughs) Hint! Ben : Stand by. Nia : Taking the hint. Frank : That's really great to see the obvious bond that has formed between the three of you. Nia, I'm interested in your creative process for writing songs. Are you thinking about the audience and their expectations of you, or are you perhaps more driven by your own experiences and emotions? How does it work for you? Nia : I think anytime I try to start with the audience, it just doesn't work. So usually, it's best if I think about how I'm feeling and experiences that I'd like to share, and usually I get lucky and those experiences can be related to by others and people who are listening. So I just try to be authentic in why I'm writing and taking from my experiences and then just hoping that people will connect. Frank : Jill, I have another question for you. And given that you demonstrated you're not the stereotypical flutist that some people might have in mind, how did you go about working with Nia? What form did the collaboration take? Jill : You know what, it was really easy. She had sent Ben and I her music quite some time before we got together, and Ben and I just kind of had - immediately, I mean, we’ve known each other and played with each other for a long time - we just had a sense of what each song needed from us. So that's why I ended up just grabbing a whole bunch of different instruments before I left because we had no idea what was going to come of rehearsals. It was a neat kind of hodgepodge of listen to a tune, grab a different instrument, try something… substitute one instrument for another, until we just found it. I don't think that's a secret. I think that's the way most people write music. So it was fun for us to have that beautiful base of stuff that she had already written. It made our jobs really easy, don’t you think, Ben? (Laughs) It really wasn’t taxing for us. We did have to decide a few times, and Nia was really prominent in the conversations, about how much of the music do we keep and add us on to, versus trying to have us recreate that. It wasn’t an easy task when Ben and I felt like, “Oh my God, we have to play flute and viola. How are we going to make her music sound (right)?” That was really scary. Until she had this look on her face, like “No, you don’t have to do that. You can do anything you want.” And as soon as we realized that, it was on. I mean, we just kind of went crazy. And when Ben got out his mandolin, Nia just looked at me like, “Yeah. This is going. This is what we want.” Frank : Ben, how about you? What was the transition to playing music in this sort of milieu? Easy, or difficult, or how did you manage it? Ben : You know, viola is a backup instrument. We don’t… it's not always “spotlight” for us, for sure. So thinking about it in this vein was a little bit (of) where I live, in how to best support a good clear melody. And viola didn’t always make sense, so I happen to have this wonderful mandolin that I love and don't play enough of, and it seemed to fit on a few of Nia’s songs, so we kept using it. Frank : One definite message I'm getting from this is that there's a lot more to the contemporary classical musician than first meets the eye and than I think the average audience member might realize, not only in terms of your training and background but your interests and the ways you express yourself. Nia, when you were getting ready for this NoteWorthy concert, did you have any role in playing… in terms of choosing the instruments or the musicians who would be performing with you? Nia : I wasn't really picky. They asked what types of instruments (I’d like), and I’m like, “I don’t know!” It’s been a while since I’ve worked with classical musicians. I did choir, and we always performed alongside classical musicians, but that was in high school, so I’m like, “Whatever you think sounds like it will fit with my music.” I was randomly paired with Jill and Ben, and it was great because Jill… the first day that we rehearsed, she brought like fifty different instruments. So it was nice that we could experiment, as they were saying, and just play around to see what worked and what didn’t. I had no idea what route I would take with it. Frank : I’m going to give you the last word, Nia, and ask you what stands out for you as the most memorable part of working with Jill and Ben specifically as classically trained musicians? What did that combination bring to the songs you had written and have been performing? Nia : I think they definitely helped breathe some life back into the music. After performing the same songs over and over again, sometimes you lose touch with them. So working with Jill and Ben helped me reconnect with them in a way that I hope the audience will see when they watch the performance. And just who they are as people, too. I’ve grown really fond of you guys, and getting to work together was awesome. I’m just really grateful to have gotten to meet both of them. Frank : My guests have been R&B singer-songwriter Nia J and flutist Jill O’Neill, as well as violist Ben Geller. On Wednesday, August 24th at 7:30 PM, you can hear them perform when WDAV continues the second season of NoteWorthy virtual concerts, presented in partnership with the FAIR PLAY Music Equity Initiative. The series brings together gifted Black and brown artists from the Charlotte music scene with classical musicians for some genre blending and community building music. And you can watch WDAV’s YouTube channel to catch the video or WDAV’s Facebook page. You can also get more information about the artists and the series from noteworthyclassical.org. Thank you, everyone, for speaking with me. Jill : Thanks, Frank. Ben : Thanks for having us, Frank. Nia : Thanks! Frank : For WDAV’s Piedmont Arts, I’m Frank Dominguez.
