“i love muuuusic” the mighty O’Jays.

i grew up in a home where music was played, a lot. my dad loved music and it was a theme throughout my childhood.

my favorite group (outside of the Jackson’s) are the O’Jays. their introduction, from my dad. he played any and everything from the Stylistics to Pete Belasco.

i remember moving back to california from atlanta in late 1993 and all i wanted to listen to was “jazz”. the local station was KBLX and i loved it.

now, i’m a b-girl, Hip-Hop lover through and through, HOWEVER, “jazz” was something spiritual to and for me. back then, i didn’t have the words to describe it. it was otherworldly.

i also remember my sister telling me, “you’re old listening to that music” 🤣 she was only 13 at the time. 

it’s in my blood; my maternal grandfather was a saxophone player. it’s been said, he and Miles Davis played together as teenagers. baba would be in the kitchen, smoking his cigars, and vibing out to his “music”. i also remember sitting in the front seat of his car with him and how he would move his hand when the music moved him.

when i moved back to St. Louis in 1996, i saw how entranced he would be. anytime my mom and grandmother would leave the house, baba would put in one of his vhs tapes and watch the greats play. i could hear him tapping his foot and laughing, just having a grand ole time. it was him and “jazz” going on an adventure. 

i did the same thing in my house. friday nights when i was home, it was me, candles and my “jazz”. i loved the genre so much, my basement was called, “the jazz room”. i had posters of Coltrane, Davis and Rollins. i even framed liner notes of Davis and Coltrane and i had black and silver figurines that were a trumpet and sax player.

after my 40th new year i wrote out what i intended to experience that year, one of the things was to have my writings published, have my own radio show and be on tv. exactly a month later, i was asked to write for iRockJazz, an online webzine and i was the first to interview live for their live sessions. it was a dream come true. oh, and, i did have my own radio show on blogtalk radio. 

fast forward to 2017, i stumbled across a musician and his record “afro – caribbean mixtape”. oh my word. i was in LOVE. i didn’t look at the artist’s name until probably a week or two of listening to the album on repeat.

his name – Nicholas Payton. i played that album for at least 2 months straight. about 4 years later, i began “following” him on IG and within a couple of weeks, we’d be conversing via inbox and later became “besties”. i finally met him in person in january of this year. talk about full circle experience. 

NP as i call him, gave me the pleasure of “inner-viewing” him for the conversation peace. get ready to see a side of him you’ve never seen before.