AJames Francies: When I play I think of my energy because notes are energy. Sound is energy. Everything's a wave, in a way. Like, you look at light as a wave and you make a sound. That's a wave. You know, it's just a burst of energy.
Crystal Palace (live from the 2018 NEA Jazz Masters Tribute Concert) under and up on a solo
So for me, I like to incorporate that way of thinking and being aware of what's actually going on on a scientific level to understand how we transfer, not only the music, but energy to who's listening. That's why I always think that bands sound a lot better when they're playing in front of an audience or it's live, because there's energy being transferred between the listener and the performer.
Crystal Palace up again, under…
Adam Kampe: YOU’RE LISTENING TO PIANIST JAMES FRANCIES, PLAYING AT THE 2018 NEA JAZZ MASTERS TRIBUTE CONCERT AT THE KENNEDY CENTER BACK IN APRIL. AT 22-YEARS-OLD, HE IS RECOGNIZED AS ONE OF THE BEST UP-AND-COMING PIANISTS OUT THERE. FRANCIES HAS ALREADY WORKED WITH ALL SORTS OF HEAVY HITTERS FROM NEA JAZZ MASTERS JOANNE BRACKEEN AND PAT METHENY TO JOSE JAMES, THE ROOTS, AND LAURYN HILL. A HOUSTON NATIVE, FRANCIES FELL HARD FOR THE PIANO AT THE RIPE OLD AGE OF FOUR. LIKE MOST PRODIGIES, HE HAS PERFECT PITCH AND CAN PLAY BY EAR.
James Francies: I could hear things. My dad would be playing a record and I could play it back, you know? So I have this thing that kind of, pushing me towards the realm of music. That’s what jump-started the whole thing.
LATER, FRANCIES ATTENDED THE ACCLAIMED HOUSTON HIGH SCHOOL FOR THE PERFORMING AND VISUAL ARTS. A SCHOOL THAT IS MORE OR LESS A PROFESSIONAL MUSICIAN FACTORY, SHAPING THE RAW TALENT OF PEOPLE LIKE: JASON MORAN, ROBERT GLASPER, HELEN SUNG, ERIC HARLAND, AND CHRIS DAVE TO NAME A FEW. OH, AND BEYONCE. HER, TOO.
AFTER GRADUATION, francies JOINED THE PRESTIGIOUS next generation jazz orchestrA, a supergroup of the best HIGH SCHOOL JAZZ MUSICIANS IN THE COUNTRY. THEY GATHER early in the summer TO REHEARSE BEFORE HITTING THE ROAD ON A DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL TOUR. THE TOUR ENDS WITH A MAIN STAGE PERFORMANCE AT THE MONTEREY JAZZ FESTIVAL. IT WAS HERE WHERE HE MET LEGENDARY PRODUCER AND THE PRESIDENT OF BLUE NOTE RECORDS, DON WAS.
James Francies: We were playing and Joe Lovano was the special guest, and so Don's out there listening. I said, "Oh, yeah, that's Don Was.” I’m a pretty shy person, especially back then.
Don, he approached me, and he started asking about me who I was and he was saying he's a fan. I guess I stood out. Then, he was like, "Yeah, send me stuff. It'd be cool for you to put out a record with us. It would be cool to sign you." I sent him some tunes and he really liked it, and he was, like, "Yeah, let's keep in contact, and I really want you to be on the label." And I was 18 and I hadn't even got to New York yet. Then, that following year was when we officially did the signing and that's when the whole process started. But I remember it was right before my 20th birthday when my manager, she FaceTime'd me like, "Yeah, it's official. You are a Blue Note Recording Artist."
African Aztec under
SO JAMES FRANCIES IS IN NEW YORK CITY STUDYING AT THE NEW SCHOOL WITH THE WOMAN THAT WOULD BECOME HIS FUTURE MENTOR—SINGULAR PIANIST AND 2018 NEA JAZZ MASTER, JOANNE BRACKEEN.
James Francies: Joanne Brackeen, she's like an unsung hero to me. Because you listen to her play, and her sound, you can hear it. It's just, it's Joanne.
African Aztec up
Someone had told me she had been teaching at the Berklee College of Music for so many years and how amazing she was as a teacher and just as someone that really knows how to pull whatever music is inside of you, like, pull that out. Even at The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, I had heard amazing things about her. I walk in and she's this very quiet person, too, but when she talks, it's always something really special what she says. And yeah, I just remember meeting her for the first time, and she heard me play and she was so just nurturing and so endearing, and from there on, we just connected. And she had brought in a piece of hers, then she played it and I was, like, "Wow. Where have you been my whole life <laughs> you know?" But it was good to connect with her there, and she's been supportive ever since.
IN FACT, BRACKEEN CHOSE FRANCIES TO PERFORM IN HER HONOR AT THIS YEAR’S NEA JAZZ MASTERS TRIBUTE CONCERT. HE PLAYED TWO OF HER COMPOSITIONS WITH VETERAN BASSIST CHRISTIAN MCBRIDE AND DRUMMER TERRI LYNE CARRINGTON.
James Francies: She was like, "I want you to play these two songs." And one of them, it's just so much music, and within two pages, you know, it sounds like Stravinsky, but then, there's a part that sounds like a choral piece.
Crystal Palace under
One song is called "Crystal Palace." The other is called "Fi-fi Goes to Heaven." "Crystal Palace" is again, it's like one of the pieces that just sounds super 20th-century harmony, but then you can hear even some of today's contemporary I guess, quote/unquote "modern Jazz." It has some of that in there, but I don't know, the fact that it's coming from someone like her, who's played with Art Blakey to Stan Getz to Joe Henderson. I think she just turned 80, or she might be turning 80 in July. The way she plays she sounds like she's in her 30's or something, just in terms of energy, her command and facility of the instrument is pretty remarkable.
She's a risk-taker. She plays what she wants to play. It's totally, unapologetically her and that's something I've always taken away from her because I try to embody the same mindset of just trusting in your playing and believe what you play, you know. I've never heard her play a wrong note, because she's made everything sound like it was intended to be played, and not many people can do that.
Calling Carl up and under
Her sense of harmony is out of this world.
ARMED WITH TALENT AND A TOP SHELF JAZZ EDUCATION, JAMES FRANCIES’S CAREER IS TAKING OFF. HIS DEBUT BLUE NOTE RECORD DROPS IN SEPTEMBER.
I wanted to graduate first before I finished my record, and plus, I wanted to still grow. I was still working on my ideas and trying different people out. I waited another year before I wanted to record, to get everything together, and here we are.
FITTINGLY, THE ALBUM IS CALLED FLIGHT.
THAT WAS PIANIST JAMES FRANCIES ON HIS MENTOR, NEA JAZZ MASTER JOANNE BRACKEEN. YOU CAN WATCH HIM PERFORM brackeen’s compositions AT THE 2018 NEA JAZZ MASTERS TRIBUTE CONCERT ONLINE. SEARCH FOR IT ON ARTS.GOV OR VISIT THE nea’s YOUTUBE CHANNEL, neaarts. YOU CAN ALSO check out other performances and REMARKABLE SPEECHES BY ALL FOUR MEMBERS OF THE 2018 nea jazz master class CLASS—TODD BARKAN, PAT METHENY, DIANNE REEVES, AND, OF COURSE, JOANNE BRACKEEN. TOMORROW, july 11, WE ANNOUNCE THE 2019 HONOREES! stay tuned and spread the word!
Special thanks and a very happy birthday to James Francies. Also, thanks to his manager, Karen Kennedy, Blue Note Records, joanne brackeen, and the concord music group. For the National Endowment for the Arts, I’m Adam Kampe.
Music Credits
excerpts of “cyrstal palace” and “fifi goes to heaven” composed by joanne brackeen and performed live at the 2018 nea jazz masters tribute concert by james francies with christian mcbride and terri lyne carrington, used by permission of new true illusion, bmi.
EXCERPTs OF “AFRICAN AZTEC” AND “CALLING CARL” COMPOSED AND PERFORMED BY JOANNE BRACKEEN, FROM THE ALBUM, LIVE AT MAYBECK RECITAL HALL, VOLUME 1, USED COURTESY OF CONCORD RECORDS AND BY PERMISSION OF NEW TRUE ILLUSION, BMI.
