The following are examples of music-related shows I created and/or produced.
This is the pilot episode of a concert series I created while working at Fuse. The idea was to shoot a band in a small venue, from the audience’s perspective. We wanted to capture the feeling when you see a great band for the first time and they are so close you could reach out and touch them. My ideal band for the pilot was the Grammy-nominated Hiatus Kaiyote. Amazingly they agreed! I entrusted my vision to the incredibly talented Jose Antonio Danner, who directed a team of the best camera operators in town during an intimate concert at the Del Monte Speakeasy in Venice, California. I hope you enjoy the show as much as we did in making it. Truly a labor of love!
Talking Music was a counterpart idea to Live Alive. The new guard of Jazz luminaries and the members of a genre-blending band together in conversation about where the grew up and how it influenced their music and their paths to this place in time.
That was the idea. The reality was that Kamasi, Terrace and Robert Glasper were fresh off Kendrick Lamar’s award winning album, To Pimp A Butterfly. Jazz and Hip Hop were reunited again!
Concurrently, Hiatus Kaiyote were mashing up Dilla beats, Jazz chords and monster vocals on their Grammy-nominated album, Choose Your Weapon.
Why did I care about this moment in music?
I came up a child of Jazz and Pop/Rock. A student of Sting’s first solo albums which combined Pop music with amazing Jazz musicians like Brandford Marsalis, Kenny Kirkland and the great Omar Hakim!!! I was always drawn to the temporary alliance of mainstream music and Jazz. Going even further back to Miles Davis on Bitches Brew or later with Quincy Jones, when they paired Jazz legends with the leaders of early Hip Hop on the album, Back on the Block.
This a teaser video for the pilot episode of Invite Only.
This was a very progressive and somewhat complicated idea I had for series centered on a multi-platform, multi-camera interview and performance show.
The idea: Throw a party with a curated guest list of Influencers, Artists, Celebrities and the leading minds of today. Our host greats them at the door and walks them into the party, introducing them to the other guests until a new guest arrives. The host greats the new arrival and the process repeats. Once everyone is there you let the guests mingle while you follow them with multiple cameras. The audience has the choice of watching the “live show” on camera 1, which stays with the host. Or they can go online and select other cameras and conversations from the website.
A little before my time was a show called Playboy’s Penthouse, later renamed Playboy After Dark with Hugh Hefner as its’ host. This show is really the closest template for my idea.
What if you went to a party with Little Dragon, Frank Ocean, Sza, Diplo, Lil Yachty, Serena Williams, Lebron James, Ryan Gosling, Scarlett Johansson, Michael B Jordan and Elon Musk. Imagine wandering around those conversations. Imagine the spontaneous Jam when Little Dragon starts playing a set with everyone as guest singers on their favorite covers or songs from the radio. Who wouldn’t want to be a fly on that wall!