I’m a huge fan of anime soundtracks and anime in general. He was part of the beginnings of GRP Recordings.
He’s a pianist, along with being a composer, who worked on a lot of different things, movies, stuff like that. He’s dope as hell, and this is a real spaced out track.ĭave Grusin is an older artist that I started listening to. There’s a track by this young cat, Henry Solomon, named “Little Punk.” He put out an album this year. There are these moments that are genuinely golden in Frank Zappa’s music, that you can’t think up, and I think in the beginning of “What’s New in Baltimore,” one of those moments happens. It’s one of those albums that’s very well-composed, it’s very whimsical. I spent a second listening to Mothers of Prevention. I was just going through Zappa’s stuff, and sometimes you look over, there’s just so much stuff to listen to in the fulcrum. He’s never been one to play games with sound, trying to tiptoe lightly around ideas, especially as a trumpet player.įrank Zappa is always going to be in there. I remember sitting with this album and thinking, “Man, it feels like a genuine snapshot.” I know Ambrose pretty closely, and I feel like he really showed his teeth on his album. I feel like that was when stuff hit a certain place-you could feel the turning point of the year in that album. It’s one of the best albums of the year, and the second track, “Yessss,” became one of my favorite songs. And his year is ending on a high note- It Is What It Is is nominated for a Grammy.Īmbrose Akinmusire released an album this year called on the tender spot of every calloused moment. He indulged his serious love of anime (lately he’s rewatching Attack on Titan to prep for the new season). To make the best of a bad year, Bruner made some life changes and tried to practice self-care. It was like Clockwork Orange-it was a bit of a mindfuck.” This hasn't happened since we weren't allowed to stay out past the street lights. “I remember the first gig that we played around L.A., when we would play at the Laker games, or play at Catalina Bar and Grill.
“We were going back and forth with it, because we've been playing all our lives, and he expressed this sentiment where he was just like, ‘Man, I have not done anything like this since we were children,’ ” said Bruner. He and childhood friend Kamasi Washington spoke, trying to make sense of the downtime. For the first time since he was 14, he wouldn’t be on the road playing music.
The tour surrounding his new album, It Is What It Is, a jazz-pop masterclass written in the wake of his friend Mac Miller’s untimely passing, was canceled. In the pits of quarantine, Stephen Bruner, the madcap maestro bassist known as Thundercat, thought he was going to spend a whole year on the couch.