Jun 3, 2025 11:25 AM
In Memoriam: Al Foster, 1943–2025
Al Foster, a drummer regarded for his fluency across the bebop, post-bop and funk/fusion lineages of jazz, died May 28…
Composer, keyboardist and singer Kandace Springs enlists trumpeter Roy Hargrove to play on her latest album, Indigo.
(Photo: Jeff Forney)Riggins, in turn, appreciated the creative space she gave him when they started collaborating. “That’s what I love about Kandace,” he says. “She left the responsibility on me to just do what I do. I hear where she’s going: She’s pushing the envelope, doing innovative music. There were no boundaries. We didn’t put Indigo in a box.”
Casting musicians wasn’t too difficult; each agreed that Krall’s guitarist Anthony Wilson and bassist Bob Hurst would fit right in, with Kandace on piano and Riggins playing or programming drums. Then they began considering the best ways to arrange the songs they had selected. For Kandace, this was an exhilarating opportunity, a freedom she hadn’t allowed herself while intentionally staying “inside the box” on her first album.
“We did Soul Eyes almost completely live,” she points out. “We were all in a circle, looking at each other as we tracked. We cut two or three songs a day for a week straight that way—before [doing any] editing and overdubs. That’s how I wanted it. Indigo goes to a lot more places. I was thinking about Nina Simone as we worked because she played everything—a Beatles song, a classical piece, some jazz stuff. That’s who I am. That’s what I wanted to show this time.”
Her vision is fulfilled on Indigo. Only one of its tracks—“Unsophisticated,” featuring trumpeter Roy Hargrove—might have been appropriate to include on Soul Eyes. It’s a slow-burn ballad, the most jazz-influenced song in the program. Significantly, she wrote it years ago with Rogers and Sturken, who also produced it for Indigo.
“Unsophisticated” is just one flower in a varied bouquet. A strong hip-hop sensibility emerges elsewhere, particularly on “Fix Me” and “Piece Of Me,” where Riggins lays down a steady-eighths beat and silences it out at strategic points for a few bars. “The first group I ever heard doing those kinds of drops was A Tribe Called Quest,” he says. “They were an amazing influence in giving me a different approach to dynamics, where Kandace’s voice and what she’s saying need to take you on a ride.”
Again unlike Soul Eyes, parts of Indigo are left open for the leader to stretch out with wordless vocal improvisation, particularly on “Six Eight” and “Piece Of Me.”
“To me, that’s like painting a picture, kind of like Erykah Badu does, when she purposefully goes slightly flat and slows down her vibrato like a Rhodes electric piano,” Kandace says. “Music with no words is an open road, so you can sing completely from your heart.”
No track on Indigo is more personal than the closer. Kandace and Scat wrote “Simple Things” years ago for an album they recorded, but never released. A stroke sidelined her father early in 2017; as his slow but steady recovery continues, he has had to put his career on hold. By retrieving his vocals from the original recording and adding new vocals and keyboard accompaniment, his daughter honors Scat’s dream of someday making a guest appearance on one of her albums.
Assessing the emotional and artistic terrain reflected by Indigo, Kandace comments, “I’m just growing. That’s just natural as time goes on. Every time I feel like, ‘Man, this is hard,’ I’ve got to correct myself. Because this is what I’ve been waiting to do. Not everybody gets this opportunity, to go around the world and do these things.”
So, has she ever thought about doing a tour in a classic convertible that she has customized, its top down and the breeze in her hair? Kandace laughs before concluding, “I’m not mad at that.” DB
Foster was truly a drummer to the stars, including Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins and Joe Henderson.
Jun 3, 2025 11:25 AM
Al Foster, a drummer regarded for his fluency across the bebop, post-bop and funk/fusion lineages of jazz, died May 28…
Benny Benack III and his quartet took the Midwest Jazz Collective’s route for a test run this spring.
Jun 3, 2025 10:31 AM
The time and labor required to tour is, for many musicians, daunting at best and prohibitive at worst. It’s hardly…
To record Dream Manifest (Dom Recs), Croker convened artists from his current and recent past ensembles, plus special guests.
Jun 10, 2025 4:13 PM
Partway through his early set at Smoke Jazz Club, Theo Croker blinks the room back into focus. He leans over the piano.…
“There’s nothing quite like it,” Springs says of working with an orchestra. “It’s 60 people working in harmony in the moment. Singing with them is kind of empowering but also humbling at the same time.”
Jun 17, 2025 11:12 AM
When it came time to pose for the cover of her new album, Lady In Satin — a tribute to Billie Holiday’s 1958…
James Brandon Lewis earned honors for Artist of the Year and Tenor Saxophonist of the Year. Three of his recordings placed in the Albums of the Year category.
Jul 17, 2025 12:44 PM
You see before you what we believe is the largest and most comprehensive Critics Poll in the history of jazz. DownBeat…
