RC Williams feels good.
“Texas musicians have this sound,” says Williams, keyboard player and leader of the Dallas supergroup RC & the Gritz. “It doesn’t have to be about being the fastest piano player or the most studied musician. But we have our own sound, our own feel. It just feels so good.”
The band’s sophomore album, The Feel, was released last week. Widely known as Erykah Badu’s band, the veteran musicians of RC & the Gritz have been bringing R&B, hip-hop, soul, and jazz to Deep Ellum for 11 years.
Anyone could show up onstage at The Prophet Bar for one of the band’s weekly jams—even Mos Def, Snoop Dogg, or Talib Kweli. At the very least, the Wednesday night sessions with RC & the Gritz feature some of the best musicians in Dallas. It’s these shows that became the basis for regular recording sessions at Klearlight Studio.
[d-embed][/d-embed]
Klearlight is a cozy studio with a collection of old and rare synths so awesome that the address is kept secret. New Fumes brought Dan Deacon and Tobacco to the studio. The Flaming Lips’ infamous collaboration with Erykah Badu took place there. Ariel Pink recorded there, as well as Neon Indian, before it was called Neon Indian. RC & the Gritz spend Monday nights recording in this keyboard player’s paradise.
The band’s first album, Pay Your Tab, was released almost three years ago. Badu made an appearance, as well as Snoop Dogg and Raheem DeVaughn. The group started working on a second album by picking up songs that did not make it on the first. But that abruptly changed when Sarah Jaffe visited Klearlight to hear a synth pop track made with her in mind.
“What she wrote was perfect,” Williams says. “I was astonished. That night was really inspiring.”
Indeed, Jaffe’s lyrics have an increasingly sophisticated pop sensibility, using the simplest terms. On “Good Day To You Sir” she effortlessly conveys emotion and attitude to spare with a remarkable economy of words. The song has a cinematic quality reminiscent of “Sign Off,” a recent standout track from the Dividends, Jaffe’s project with producer S1.
“I think RC & the Gritz are the epitome of playing what feels good,” Jaffe says. “That’s easy to write for.”
Sam Lao, who released what may be Dallas’ best hip-hop album of 2016, also appears on “Good Day To You Sir” and “Anxiety,” with a focus on singing as much as rapping.
From there, three songs recorded earlier were scrapped, and the album became a collaborative effort with a dazzling array of local talent that includes several Grammy winners. RC & the Gritz had different artists coming to Klearlight every week, making analog recordings, for months. The gems from these jam sessions were used to make an essential album for any fan of Dallas music.
“When I started working with local artists the creativity went out the roof,” Williams says. “Every song has a different feel.”
And many have a different drummer. Williams had his six favorite Texas drummers appear on the album. In addition to the Gritz’s own Cleon Edwards, drummers from Dallas include Mike Mitchell, who has worked with jazz giants like Herbie Hancock and Stanley Clarke, and Robert “Sput” Searight from Snarky Puppy. From Houston, he brought in pioneer Chris Dave, who played jazz with Kenny Garrett and won a Grammy with Adele.
By most accounts, Bobby Sessions’ LOA was the best hip-hop album out of North Texas in 2015. The Feel blasts off with its title track, featuring Sessions rapping to jazz fusion in the unusual time signature of 7/4. Originally meant as an instrumental intro, Sessions was fascinated with the strange tempo.
“That was the hardest verse I’ve written in my life,” Sessions says. “But I heard the song and had an impulse. This new record is like The Chronic, with RC quarterbacking all these artists to create a hip-hop jazz masterpiece.”
Now playing keyboards in Dallas, Bernard Wright was part of Jamaica, Queens’ R&B/funk scene in the ’70s and ’80s. As a teenager, he recorded music that would be widely sampled by artists like LL Cool J and Dr. Dre. Wright worked Shelly Carroll on flute, Jamil Byrom on drums, and Evan Weiss from The Funky Knuckles on trumpet. Together they created “Never Enough,” a fresh take on those classic sounds.
Topic blew everyone away with his quick response to a reverse beat being tossed around while Williams played a jazz chorus on piano. “Jazz And Reverse,” if not in reverse, is a perfect way to describe the sound Topic lays lyrics to. It was one of the first things out of his mouth, and he uses it for the chorus. Spontaneity created a perfect combination of synthesizers, jazz, and hip-hop.
“It came together organically,” Topic says. “That was something I was free styling in the studio. We had fun with it. It was like, This feels right. It didn’t have the constraints of an overly produced song.”
That may be the greatest strength of RC & the Gritz, a group of absolute professionals who still know that a jam is supposed to be fun.
“Many times you’ll have these top shelf musicians that just get locked in music theory land,” Jaffe says. “RC & the Gritz are top-shelf musicians, but they play with all heart.”
RC & The Gritz perform Nov. 23 at the Prophet Bar to celebrate the release of The Feel and mark the 11th anniversary of the jam sessions at the bar.
“Texas musicians have this sound,” says Williams, keyboard player and leader of the Dallas supergroup RC & the Gritz. “It doesn’t have to be about being the fastest piano player or the most studied musician. But we have our own sound, our own feel. It just feels so good.”
The band’s sophomore album, The Feel, was released last week. Widely known as Erykah Badu’s band, the veteran musicians of RC & the Gritz have been bringing R&B, hip-hop, soul, and jazz to Deep Ellum for 11 years.
Anyone could show up onstage at The Prophet Bar for one of the band’s weekly jams—even Mos Def, Snoop Dogg, or Talib Kweli. At the very least, the Wednesday night sessions with RC & the Gritz feature some of the best musicians in Dallas. It’s these shows that became the basis for regular recording sessions at Klearlight Studio.
[d-embed][/d-embed]
Klearlight is a cozy studio with a collection of old and rare synths so awesome that the address is kept secret. New Fumes brought Dan Deacon and Tobacco to the studio. The Flaming Lips’ infamous collaboration with Erykah Badu took place there. Ariel Pink recorded there, as well as Neon Indian, before it was called Neon Indian. RC & the Gritz spend Monday nights recording in this keyboard player’s paradise.
The band’s first album, Pay Your Tab, was released almost three years ago. Badu made an appearance, as well as Snoop Dogg and Raheem DeVaughn. The group started working on a second album by picking up songs that did not make it on the first. But that abruptly changed when Sarah Jaffe visited Klearlight to hear a synth pop track made with her in mind.
“What she wrote was perfect,” Williams says. “I was astonished. That night was really inspiring.”
Indeed, Jaffe’s lyrics have an increasingly sophisticated pop sensibility, using the simplest terms. On “Good Day To You Sir” she effortlessly conveys emotion and attitude to spare with a remarkable economy of words. The song has a cinematic quality reminiscent of “Sign Off,” a recent standout track from the Dividends, Jaffe’s project with producer S1.
“I think RC & the Gritz are the epitome of playing what feels good,” Jaffe says. “That’s easy to write for.”
Sam Lao, who released what may be Dallas’ best hip-hop album of 2016, also appears on “Good Day To You Sir” and “Anxiety,” with a focus on singing as much as rapping.
From there, three songs recorded earlier were scrapped, and the album became a collaborative effort with a dazzling array of local talent that includes several Grammy winners. RC & the Gritz had different artists coming to Klearlight every week, making analog recordings, for months. The gems from these jam sessions were used to make an essential album for any fan of Dallas music.
“When I started working with local artists the creativity went out the roof,” Williams says. “Every song has a different feel.”
And many have a different drummer. Williams had his six favorite Texas drummers appear on the album. In addition to the Gritz’s own Cleon Edwards, drummers from Dallas include Mike Mitchell, who has worked with jazz giants like Herbie Hancock and Stanley Clarke, and Robert “Sput” Searight from Snarky Puppy. From Houston, he brought in pioneer Chris Dave, who played jazz with Kenny Garrett and won a Grammy with Adele.
“This new record is like The Chronic, with RC quarterbacking all these artists to create a hip-hop jazz masterpiece.”
By most accounts, Bobby Sessions’ LOA was the best hip-hop album out of North Texas in 2015. The Feel blasts off with its title track, featuring Sessions rapping to jazz fusion in the unusual time signature of 7/4. Originally meant as an instrumental intro, Sessions was fascinated with the strange tempo.
“That was the hardest verse I’ve written in my life,” Sessions says. “But I heard the song and had an impulse. This new record is like The Chronic, with RC quarterbacking all these artists to create a hip-hop jazz masterpiece.”
Now playing keyboards in Dallas, Bernard Wright was part of Jamaica, Queens’ R&B/funk scene in the ’70s and ’80s. As a teenager, he recorded music that would be widely sampled by artists like LL Cool J and Dr. Dre. Wright worked Shelly Carroll on flute, Jamil Byrom on drums, and Evan Weiss from The Funky Knuckles on trumpet. Together they created “Never Enough,” a fresh take on those classic sounds.
Topic blew everyone away with his quick response to a reverse beat being tossed around while Williams played a jazz chorus on piano. “Jazz And Reverse,” if not in reverse, is a perfect way to describe the sound Topic lays lyrics to. It was one of the first things out of his mouth, and he uses it for the chorus. Spontaneity created a perfect combination of synthesizers, jazz, and hip-hop.
“It came together organically,” Topic says. “That was something I was free styling in the studio. We had fun with it. It was like, This feels right. It didn’t have the constraints of an overly produced song.”
That may be the greatest strength of RC & the Gritz, a group of absolute professionals who still know that a jam is supposed to be fun.
“Many times you’ll have these top shelf musicians that just get locked in music theory land,” Jaffe says. “RC & the Gritz are top-shelf musicians, but they play with all heart.”
RC & The Gritz perform Nov. 23 at the Prophet Bar to celebrate the release of The Feel and mark the 11th anniversary of the jam sessions at the bar.
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