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Jesse Fischer Looks Ahead
Many musicians struggle with pushing boundaries and looking ahead while honoring the past. But for electric pianist Jesse Fischer and his project Soul Cycle, that has never been an issue. In fact, it’s a challenge that this Brooklyn-based group has been up for since the very beginning. With the group’s 2007 independent release Urban Organics, there’s a blend of soulful covers like The Isley Brothers’ “Footsteps in the Dark” with funk-jazz grooves and almost otherworldly sounds you can’t quite peg—and wouldn’t want to.
On Retro Future, the group’s debut release on the ObliqSound label, Fischer balances past and present influences with more futuristic sounds that are heard less on his earlier efforts. DownBeat sat down with Fischer to discuss his journey with Soul Cycle, the newer direction he takes on Retro Future, and how this album mirrors much of his own personal and professional transitions.
When did you first form your group Soul Cycle?
It’s been about 10 years, but it’s gone through a lot of changes. It actually grew out of a band that played at a weekly breakdance event—b-boys and b-girls. We played a lot of Latin songs, breakbeats and 1970s instrumental jazz. It was so much fun playing that kind of music because I always loved those records [from] Head Hunters, Weather Report and Donald Byrd & the Blackbyrds. It was like the perfect combination of rhythm, melody, cool harmonies and sounds. I took that band [from the] weekly party and started writing my own music in that style but more for a concert setting. So that’s how Soul Cycle started. It’s gone through so many different phases because we’ve gone through different members [and] different periods where I’ve been focusing on different types of music. Each record that comes out has a slightly different bend to it. What’s been consistent over the years is that there’s always some type of collective improvisation and a focus on melody.
I have an amazing band, [and] I’m always honored to be playing with these guys. There’s drummer Gabe Wallace, Solomon Dorsey on bass, David Linaburg on guitar, Shawn Banks on percussion, Brian Hogans, who’s an alto [sax] and flute player, trumpeter Jean Caze, Corey King on trombone and then a few different featured vocalists like Rachel Eckroth and Chris Turner, who aren’t that well known yet but are going to be. They’re all are doing different things. Rachel is getting ready to put out a record, Chris Turner sings with Bilal, Gabe Wallace is now touring with this huge Korean pop group called 2NE1 and Solomon Dorsey tours with an Italian pop singer [Pino Daniele]. They all are very open to what I’m trying to do and they’re just open to music in general. I love being on the road with them because I find out so much about different music from them and we all share ideas. We’re all just very nonjudgmental when it comes to combining different ideas or creating new sounds. They’re all monsters on their instruments but they’re also just thinking about the group. Nobody in the band is trying to make themselves look good; everybody’s trying to make the group look good. That’s really the key thing for me. With a band that big, you need to have people that are willing to sacrifice for the group.
How did your latest release Retro Future come about?
Before this album, I had done five albums with Soul Cycle. The last album, Homebrew (Soul Cycle Music, 2011) was the first album that I was actually happy with and I could actually listen to it for pleasure. That was what I had been trying to achieve. I’ve been getting better at writing and playing. I thought that was going to be my last Soul Cycle record. And then suddenly, Michele [Locatelli] from ObliqSound, who I had really never met before, offered me the opportunity to do this record for his label. I’ve always wanted to do something—not necessarily with a big label but with someone that understands music, gets what I’m trying to do and will really support it, which he does completely. But at the same time, I was creatively in a place where I didn’t know what to do with Soul Cycle because I had planned out this whole electronic record where it was going to be no musicians—just totally electronic. I was going to program it and it was going to have this spacy, psychedelic, almost ambient thing to it. So what happened was I ended up doing a record that in my mind was satisfying my own plan for the next record but at the same time, it was going to be a record that Michele was interested in pushing because he had loved Homebrew so much and I could see that that was something that people are just starting to get to know. Even though I have done five records, most people had only heard one. Retro Future was a chance to do something that was a little bit more electronic but at the same time have this live energy of the band. Everything that I do has that energy of people playing music together as a social activity, not being locked in a recording booth or a studio. With two sides to this record, it’s kind of like the two sides of my brain—the very calculated side and the very free and spontaneous side. It’s not like “side A” or “side B.” When you listen to it, you can kind of see how those two strands are woven through the record.
You’ve always worn different hats—keyboardist, composer, arranger—and now your last two albums list you as the group’s leader. What has that added role been like for you?
I’m such a shy person. It was hard for me to realize that I have to put my name on the record and be in the front. When it comes down to it, it’s my music. Part of the reason that I love composing is [because] I want to write something that’s fun to play. But I often joke that for a Soul Cycle record, I would be happy to hire a keyboard player. It’s more about me composing and me hearing the music that I’ve imagined in my head hearing it played by these guys. I’m approaching it as a composer, as an orchestrator, as a producer and as an engineer, too. This is the third project where I’ve engineered and produced the whole thing myself. I’m very much approaching it from all these different angles. It’s hard to separate the engineering from the composing and playing because it’s all sort of together in my mind. When I conceive of the piece, I’m already thinking about how it’s going to sound and the actual textures of the sound, which is part of what instruments I’m using but it’s also part of what mics I’m using and how I’m mixing it. It’s this cool feeling of being able to write, being able to play what I’ve written and then being able to engineer and mix it. It really takes me to another level, so I like that.
Since all of your previous efforts have been independently released. What’s it like to now work with a label like ObliqSound?
I’ve always been very “do-it-yourself” in every aspect of my life. If you come to my home, you’ll see that my bookshelves are all handmade. Everything is like that with me. I would rather learn how to do something because it’s educational, and that’s what I really enjoy. I taught myself how to do video editing, graphic design, even music. Being my own label, I had to learn how to do publicity, booking and all these other administrative tasks that aren’t exactly music but are still very creative. It was tough but I actually love that part of the business. And now that I’m fortunate to be with ObliqSound, DL Media and a radio promoter, it helps me understand where they’re coming from. It’s also been very challenging because I’m not used to making decisions with someone else.
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