Jazz music artist, Juewett Bostick!
What inspired you to get into music? San Francisco, CA.
What inspired you to get into music? My interest in music began with Motown launching their classic artist in the early 60’s. Things continued with the British invasion then the tipping point came with this left-handed guitarist from Seattle dropping the album, Band of Gypsys. From there I was encouraged to learn to read and write and formally learn music theory. Early 70’s saw me relocate to Los Angeles and begin a professional career, which included studio work work, live performances and tours. Later record production with jazz artists Norman Connors, Norman Brown and the smooth jazz era begins. I released my first project IT’S NOT SO EASY in the early 2000’s. That project was a marriage or interactive multimedia and a music CD. It was a CD and CD-ROM bundle. The CD-ROM was the album liner notes on steroids for the 21 st century.
Where do you record? Currently Los Angeles is the home for our music
recording and creative production activities.
What is a studio session like for you? The session will depend on the song in production. Songs that are programmed which use drum machine and synths will have most of the production done out of the studio. Pre-production will involve choosing drum and synth sounds. Everything is charted in advance. Once drum and synth sounds are selected we have our keyboardist play all parts into the sequencer. We prefer to have the track played in real time to capture the live musicians human feel. A demo will be provided to the vocalist to learn the song and arrange background parts. Once all parts are entered the
track is dumped in the studio. If it’s a vocal track, a reference lead vocal is recorded and the actual
backgrounds are recorded. From this point the additional live instruments are overdubbed as
needed; real bass, guitar, horns etc…In recent years we have elected to produce our projects with all live musicians playing in real time. This production process begins with the song being charted, and oddly enough we use a drum machine as a guide for temp and ‘feel’. For some productions, we lay the drum machine track in the studio in advance of the live session. This serves as a click track and guide for the live musicians. For the live session electric bass and keyboards (synths etc.) are recorded direct. Live drums recorded with bass and keys. Guitar is added in an overdub session with an amp, never direct. Once basic tracks have been recorded overdubs, additional synths and other live instruments added. A reference lead vocal is added to arrange the background vocals. Once backgrounds are
recorded the final lead vocal, overdubs and additional solos are added.
What inspires you to create? It’s a critical part of our DNA. Something we do naturally. So we’re always monitoring the flow of life and how people are living and what they are doing. Taking all this into consideration we ask if we can make a worthwhile and innovative contribution to the body of music in the market. If that answer is no, we keep watch and look at the direction things are headed. Once we see a trend and clear direction we look to make our voice heard. We take action to create something great because we have something to offer!
What is your local jazz music scene like? The World Stage, Catalina’s, The Jazz Bakery and
other clubs are still here but the culture is changing and a new generation is expressing their creative
voice and expressing their ideas. Different parts of the city have begin to emerge with their night clubs
hosting live music.
Do you collaborate with other artists? Yes, in varying degrees and for specific phases of the production. Once again, it begins with the song and what the song needs. It’s important to be honest with how the production is progressing and add strength where weakness exists. So, we frequently bring in a vocal consultant to arrange parts and make sure vocal performances will be competitive in the market. This holds true for instrumental songs as well. Does the production meet the pre-production criteria and will our production be a leader or just another piece of generic music tossed into the market. We always look to lead the creative charge!
Before Covid19, did you perform live often? Live performances were in the works, but there was
not the live opportunity we wanted or felt would be the best fit for how we envisioned presenting
our music and products live. We were working to develop a live opportunity that filled a unique niche in downtown Los Angeles’ live entertainment scene. We’re planning to revisit in the coming months.
Tell us about your latest project. Shades OF Blu Urban Chic is the creative extension to SHADES OF BLU. We tweaked three tracks from SHADES OF BLU, unlocking what we call their ‘urban chic’ origins to provide a ‘hip’ musical experience. As with all our creative offerings, we honor our passion for creating art in the form of soulful music. And now we make our contribution to fashion. Our SHADS OF BLU Urban Chic EP and T-Shirt.
What can we expect from you in the future? As 2020 draws to a close we’re looking at 2021 and
what creative voice we can share that holds true to our artistic integrity and continues our legacy quality and innovation. It’s going to be new music and we’ll dig deeper into our fashion and merchandising product ideas. Once we feel social distancing is being relaxed, we’ll move forward with our live performance plans.