The Black Nile — a duo composed of Inglewood brothers Lawrence and Aaron Shaw — are about to play their biggest hometown show yet when they open for Erykah Badu at the Hollywood Bowl on Tuesday. The brothers were connected with Badu through L.A. artist Lauren Halsey. It was a fitting introduction because the convergence of visual art and music was all around the band as they recorded their most recent album, “Indigo Garden,” inspired by a residency they did at Mass MoCA in Massachusetts.
“The long legacy and history of visual arts with music, they are hand in hand because in some ways they elevate each other,” Lawrence says. “The experience is elevated when you attach visuals to music and audio to visuals and being surrounded, in that environment where it’s nothing but creatives, it really brought us back, in a lot of ways, to childhood because that’s how we grew up in a lot of jazz camps and a lot of art camps.”
“That was an important residency for us to have. It rejuvenated me,” Aaron adds. “And then seeing James Terrell exhibit was probably the most prolific exhibition that I got a chance to see and was really inspirational to me because that whole year I had been getting more of an understanding of how important lighting is for being able to uplift the story and support the music in live performances, in very intimate performances.”
At the Bowl, they will be part of the musical collective that will be the backing band for 82-year-old artist Charles Gaines. They share a kinship with Gaines, who not only mentored Halsey, but designed the artwork for “Indigo Garden.” According to the duo’s label head at Mass MoCA Records, Harlan Steinberger, who joined in the interview, “There’s a whole bunch of stuff circling around that I think led to this gig,” he said. “Their prior relationship with Lauren, it’s just more of a coincidence.”
As you talk to the brothers, though, you realize there is nothing coincidental about them getting this opportunity.
“When Lauren started coming around to us, she not only liked our song ‘Second Serving,’ but she had just developed the first Sister Dreamer architectural design in South Los Angeles that we basically did an activation for. And then she had gotten another beautiful opportunity to open up another activation of Sister Dreamer at the new location on Western that we did another activation at. So, we’ve just been harmoniously in sync,” Aaron explains.
The Shaw brothers remain tapped in with L.A.’s art community and the city’s storied jazz history. And while they are very conscious of what they consider a post-COVID jazz resurgence in L.A., they want everyone to know jazz in L.A. is hardly new. And despite its inherent coolness, the music and culture is a very studious art form.
“I know we have the Hollywood thing that gives all these tropes about how jazz in L.A. is laid back. The cool side of jazz, all that bull—…. There’s very serious jazz here in Los Angeles, in Jefferson High School, Central Avenue Jazz, the Dunbar Hotel, all the bars in that strip that got torn down from the 110. We know a lot of that history,” Aaron says.
They know that history, but, to them, the key to their rising success is being able to translate immense history for younger fans and bring generations together.
“The old guard was based on the community that preceded us. So, when we were coming up and out of high school where we were building our own, we really had to adapt,” Lawrence says. “There were so many changes that happened in the 2010s right after we got out where Kamasi [Washington] and the West Coast started being on top because of Kendrick Lamar introducing the world to jazz through ‘Untitled’…. ‘To Pimp a Butterfly’ was, to me, like the unicorn horn. That was the silver lining of jazz in the 2010s.
“Once COVID hit, when the world is going crazy people always resort to real music, real music is always at its peak and always at its strongest during these crazy moments in the world,” Lawrence continues. “So, that’s what happened … Jiji’s Jazz Club, all these communities. This is a resurgence of jazz in a way.”
“Dare I say TikTok is saving jazz,” Aaron adds as they both laugh.
Strange times indeed, and Black Nile knows how to speak the language.
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