Stir Crazy With Steve Jenkins: Conversations With Creatives During The Quarantine

My guest this week is Nigel Hall-an amazing singer/keyboard player/multi-instrumentalist.

Born and raised in Washington D.C. and currently residing in New Orleans, LA. Lettuce's keyboardist/vocalist Nigel Hall is an accomplished musician steeped in Gospel tradition, as well as classic soul, funk, hip hop and R&B. Hall was discovered by Lettuce co-founder Ryan Zoidis around 2007, who invited him to Brooklyn to meet Eric Krasno and record with jazz band Soulive. Nigel was a huge fan of Soulive and this was a major moment for his young career. At that same time Hall connected with Lettuce drummer Adam Deitch and The Roots drummer/founder Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, and soon began appearing onstage with Soulive, Lettuce, and Royal Family affiliates. Nigel Hall was first nominated for a Grammy for his work on Ledesi's 2009 LP Turn Me Loose. In 2011, Hall decamped to New Orleans to immerse himself in the Crescent City's musical heritage. It was in NOLA where Hall was drafted by Jon Cleary for his band, and appears on the NOLA pianist's Grammy-winning LP Go-Go Juice. Hall toured with Robert Randolph and the Family Band, John Scofield, and briefly with Tedeschi-Trucks Band, before he was chosen as a keyboardist/vocalist for Warren Haynes Band. Hall appears on Warren Haynes Band's studio album Man in Motion and live LP Live at the Moody Theater, released on Stax Records. Hall appears on the Grammy nominated Family Dinner Vol.1 from Snarky Puppy, as well as Grammy-nominated album from New Orleans own Cha Wa. Hall has also appeared onstage with Marcus King, Pretty Lights, Dave Matthews Band, and more. In 2012, Hall co-founded The Nth Power, a funk/soul/R&B band with former Beyonce drummer Nikki Glaspie. In 2015 Hall departed The Nth Power and soon released Nigel Hall Band's critically acclaimed debut Ladies & Gentleman... A Bonnaroo 2013 performance saw Hall share the stage with the likes of Chaka Khan, Willie Weeks, James Gadsden, Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi, Solange, members of the Wu-Tang Clan, Anthony Hamilton, SchoolBoy Q, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Chance the Rapper, and Thundercat. As a solo artist, Hall has been nominated for the New Orleans Offbeat awards, won New Orleans Big Easy Award, and has been a featured solo artist at New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival for five consecutive years. Hall will be performing at New Orleans’ Essence Music Festival for the first time in July 2019. Nigel Hall joined Lettuce as a full-time keyboardist and vocalist in 2015. Hall is featured on Lettuce's forthcoming fifth full-length LP ELEVATE, due in June 2019.  

Nigel and I talk about all kinds of stuff including where he came from, what his favorite Christmas song is, All kinds of music stuff, and the importance of living your truth and being who you are.  This is one of my favorite episodes yet and I think you’ll like it also.  We talked yesterday and here’s how our conversation went.

James Casey is an NY/LA-based multi-instrumentalist, singer, producer and composer

​A current member of Trey Anastasio Band, James has had the opportunity to perform, record, produce and write with many of the world's leading and most influential artists. Credits include: The Roots, Phish, Meghan Trainor, Anderson .Paak, The Jonas Brothers, Maceo Parker, Carly Rae Jepsen, J.Cole, Leslie Odom Jr., Dave Matthews Band, Sabrina Claudio, Chaka Khan, Wu-Tang, John Legend, Roy Hargrove, Soulive, Lettuce, Shawn Mendes, 5th Harmony, and many more. When not on the road, James has found a niche in the studio, producing and performing for many different acts, including his own: Animus Rexx.

James also has a live-streaming platform which is called AuxChord.  Their goal is to act as a venue for musicians who want to live stream and they help with the technical elements of it.  IF you want to know more about that go to auxchord.live  

I caught up with James when he was in NYC doing some benefit streaming concerts with Trey Anastasio and we had a great conversation.

Today my guest is Adrian Harpham.

Adrian is an excellent drummer based in NYC and Philly.  He has played with folks like Leo Nocentelli (of the Meters), Bernie Worrell, Chromeo, Amel Larrieux, Dr. John, Tom Scott, Oz Noy, Screaming Headless Torsos, and so many more.

Besides being a stellar drummer, Adrian also has moved into the realm of music production and has produced over 30 records as well as having his own imprint label called Modern Icon Recordings which is part of the Ropeadope label.

I first met Adrian back in 2006 on a few gigs that we did together and we’ve been friends ever since.  It had been a while since he and I had chatted so it was great to catch up.  We had a great conversation and here’s how that went.

This is a special one-off episode where Adam Dorn returns and we discuss the 2020 Election.

My guest today is Lex Sadler.

Lex is a bassist, programmer, designer and musical director. Besides being a great electric bass player he’s also a very skilled synth bass player. Lex moved to NYC 13 years ago from Australia and has played with people like Peter Cincotti, Talib Kweli, Michael Bolton, etc. He also is a big part of the many of the great local music nights in NYC including Producer Mondays at NuBlu (featuring all kinds of all-star guests) and the Jelly.

He has a great solo album called “Polytronic”, with geniuses like Cory Henry, Nat Townsley, Ari Hoenig, Alex Han and my drum brother Sydney Driver.

There’s also Rhythm & Stealth (which also features Sydney Driver on drums) that’s an eclectic mix of electronica, hip hop, samples, live instrumentation and drum’n’bass beats.

We talked back at the end of June and talk about all kinds of stuff ranging from vintage basses, video games, NYC in the late 00’s, etc. It was a great conversation and here’s how it went.

This week’s guest is Teddy Kumpel. Teddy is an amazing guitar player who lives in Brooklyn. He’s worked with people like Joe Jackson (he been in his touring band for the last few years), Rickie Lee Jones, Phil Lesh, Feist, Marshall Crenshaw, and a ton of other folks. He also has played on soundtracks to movies well all love like Anchorman, Talladega Nights, and he’s also a great engineer.

Teddy and I became friends sometime back 2013. He had this cool weekly residency at Rockwood Music Hall between 2011 and 2018 where he did this thing called the Loopestra. Basically, it was Teddy, his guitar, his voice and some looping equipment and he’d have a different rhythm section every week. There were no rehearsals. The idea was just to play. It was awesome to hear great bass players like Tim Lefebvre, Andy Hess, James Genus, Jonathan Maron, Fima Ephron, and great drummers like Aaron Comess, Shawn Pelton, Jojo Mayer, Aaron Steel, Josh Dion do their thing in the context of Teddy’s Loopestra.

I had the honor of doing 2 of them. Many of those gigs are on YouTube. It’s a goldmine of stuff to check out.

Teddy and I spoke a couple of weeks ago and here’s how our conversation went.