Returning home and reflecting on your life can be a range of emotions, from somber, to loving, to happy. But what happens when someone takes these feelings and memories and presents them in a live recording in their hometown?
You're listening to Off the Record with Stephen Philip Harvey, where we sit down and talk to a variety of musicians on today's music scene. Today we're sitting down with Dimitri Nassar. He's a pianist, composer, and educator located in the DMV. On his new album, Dear Cleveland, Nassar brings us back to his hometown area for music, rooted in his personal history.
Yes. This is just something I always wanted to do. I always wanted to go home. You know, where… I love the area here. This is where the area that grew me professionally. But this is not the area where I'm from. I am from an area that has its own unique style and I just wanted to pay homage to the things that put me on the path that I am. Just a lot of respect tow here I've started from each track on there almost. Every track on there almost have a connection back to the hometown.
Songwriting inspiration can come from anywhere. For Nassar, the music is inspired by family and family memories.
I guess part of my inspiration is coming from my children. I love being a music educator. I love being a musician, but I also love and cherish most being a dad. “Elijah's Dance” - That tune is an original tune based on my son Elijah, who's becoming a budding musician himself.
He's only, what, 12 years old? He's already played in jam session. Wants to be a jazz musician, like his old man. He said he wants to play in Blues Alley and things like that. And my wife is like, “Why did you make my children so weird?”
“Tree in Lesoto” was a tune I wrote for my daughter who lives in Atlanta. Then, she was going to go to the peace Corps and she was going to go to Lesoto, South Africa.
This was going to be her big thing. She really wanted to connect with people. Because of COVID, the Peace Corps was either shut down or they just stopped. So, she never got the opportunity to do that. So this piece was, kind of like, a shout out to her.
Live recordings are staple in jazz discography. Putting together a live recording is an undertaking and lesson in a single-take, one-chance environment. During our talk, Nassar gave his views on the live recording experience.
But it just seemed a lot more efficient to just have, if you have that live concert, everybody's right there at that one time. So there's no schedules to coordinate. And also I feel, for me personally, I feel I, I perform a lot better in front of a crowd as opposed to the sterile environments of a studio where you can't even look at the guys, ‘cause everybody's in different corners. That's not a natural way, that's not how we fell in love with the music, you know?
This was Off the Record, hosted by me, Stephen Philip Harvey, a Delmarva Public Media production. Thanks for listening to our interview with Dmitri Nassar. To hear more Off the Record interviews or to listen to other original segments like this, visit delmarvapublicmedia.org.
