RH First Look: Jose James
This is a somewhat special First Look for RubyHornet. The column, which has run on Mondays since our inception, usually highlights very, how do you say, up and coming artists. Many of them have been without a proper debut record, ones we've seen on blogs and websites, those that who's buzz has been building on the e-streets and/or the streets of Chicago. Today's First Look is different not only that is it our first one featuring a Jazz musician, but also in that Jose James, while perhaps new to our audience, is on his third release, a recently dropped album entitled For All We Know on Impulse Records. That LP follows up the re-release of Blackmagic, a fantastic LP that caught our attention and thus propelled this First Look. While the title may conjure up images of brewing pots, gypsy spells, and vodoo dolls, the title means something different to James who told us, "I literally mean the magic of Black people and the power of music and culture."
Coming to music at a late age, James was inspired by the works on Blue Note, his recording home Impulse, A Tribe Quest and De La Soul. For James, being a performer is a dream come true, one from which he does not hope to awaken anytime soon. "I listen really obsessively to whatever I'm working on," he said. "There are so many steps - writing, recording, editing, mixing, mastering. After all that you make it live, which is completely different - you are living your own material and performing it night after night. When it's so internalized, you don't need to listen anymore, because it is you."
Keep reading to learn more about Jose James and his music in this new RH First Look.
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