♪ ♪ Artworks is made possible in part by... And by... ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ NICHOLAS: So, my name is Nicholas Moreland.

I'm a photographer.

In regards to this series, I curate all the bands.

So, every band that has played in the Hemmingway Room, in our jazz series, here in Baltimore, I book the bands.

♪ ♪ And basically, I created a jazz venue with my Uncle and I booked all my friends to come play that just happen to be some of the, the baddest musicians in the area.

ED: My name's Ed Baldi.

I have, uh, lived here in Baltimore for 16 years and, uh, this is very much my home, here and, uh, in this, this, this venue too, Little Havana is very much part of the community.

I live half a block up the street with my family, my wife, and two boys.

This is about building community and, what little bit can I do to make the city, the place where we live, you know, our community and our home?

And, you know, lending my, my production skills, my background in, uh, performance and in promoting and producing, to help create this jazz series.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Some people work on cars, I like to work on a Rhodes.

(rattling).

NICHOLAS: It's smooth jazz.

This, this show, like I was surprised, this show was not what he's known for.

ED: I forget who we had playing with drums that night with him but, man, this kid on drums... NICHOLAS: Oh, he killed it.

The bass player is... ED: I often say this is not jazz brunch, right?

Nothing against jazz brunch, I love jazz brunch.

But I think, um, a place where young musicians who are expressing themself in today's voice of jazz music or music in general, right, um, trying to create that, a place where there's just a free expression.

They can come here and feel at home, to be in front of an audience and create their music as they want.

So, it's about making that little space and someone stumbles into and goes, "Oh wait, like, where did this come from?"

NICHOLAS: So I think in, you know, having this program and having this jazz series here in Baltimore, it's helped me to establish relationships with some of the local musicians who have heard about what we're doing by word of mouth and who have led me to book the people that they think best represent the jazz scene in Baltimore.

You know, you find a root, like, you find a root of the scene, and you dig deep into that, and then that leads you, you know, into the branches, into the fruits, you know?

So, I think, uh, like getting tapped into people like Clarence Ward III, like Lionel Lyles, uh, like Quincy Phillips, uh, Brandon Woody.

When you invest in them and you see the, the genius of what they're doing and you respect it and you want to, you know, present it, uh, in a room where people want to come and listen, I feel like they'll, they'll lead you to where you need to go next.

ED: This is a musician's space.

It's not about how many people you can bring or what your draw is.

We operate on a, it's a guaranteed fee for you as an artist to come in here and, and perform for this audience.

So, it's trying to create a space that is by artists for artists.

I don't want to say the audience doesn't matter, I kind of sometimes say, "Ah, the audience doesn't..." The audience pays for tickets, so yes, it help, we couldn't do it without an audience.

But the more that the artists feel like they're in their living room and, and being paid for their art, the audience is privileged to kind of peer into this world.

That's the philosophy behind, uh, you know, why we operate in this, in this way.

We thank Little Havana for helping to make that happen.

I think that's the beautiful thing, we're, to have the privilege of been given this room to say, "Do what you want in it."

You know, they are the, the rock stars, or jazz stars in this case, right?

I want to give that, that feeling.

Nick and I want them to walk in and feel like, and have the experience of, "Hey, we're catered to.

We're gonna take care of you like the artist that you are no matter what size following you have."

BRANDON: You know, people always ask me like, "Yo, you always, you know, you always playing, you always traveling and stuff.

Do you have a manager?"

And, and it's, I mean, I guess I can say, yes and it's myself.

EPHRAIM: Our mother is pretty much responsible for every single opportunity that we have ever gotten.

And our mother would be our first, you know, our supporter, our manager.

She'll walk up to people like Kenny Garrett being like, "Hey, these are my babies, you need to, you need to check these guys out."

(laughter).

BERNADINE: Every day have conversations about every aspect of what anything I think they may come up against and having a good heart and good energy is real important.

'Cause everybody's not nice, the world isn't like that.

Before they play, I want people when they meet them to feel their goodness as opposed, you know, before they even hit the stage.

So, that was important.

All three of us, we're still learning as we go but every gig isn't a good gig to take and sometimes you can tell by the conversation with people.

So, they don't accept every opportunity given to them, 'cause they've learned how to navigate and what feels right or doesn't feel right.

ED: You know, and the business side he's entering, you know, as, as a musician, trying to find gigs or, or venues to play in, so often it's, you know, "How many people can you draw?"

Or pay to play situation, "Here are some tickets, you sell them and you can play here."

Last thing I want to do is be that kind of space.

BRANDON: I've been, you know, handling all of the business, all of the contracts, you know, hitting venues up.

Advocating for the group, making sure that we're protected, paid on time.

You know, the most important thing to me, uh, everybody in my band, including myself, feels respected, feels comfortable, and feels, you know, like this is a like everything that we're doing is, is, is a worthwhile and, a worthwhile experience.

EBBAN: Something I wanna, you know, highlight is that as musicians we are storytellers and, you know, we've been going to watch performances for years.

And, you know, from hearing set lists, from standards to originals, like you kind of understand like there's like a art and an intention to what song comes at right after the other, and also like an intention of who solos on what, and like how that will musically build.

And so, yeah, I mean before the show, we sat down and we looked at all the songs we had and we sat here and really thought about like, "Okay, we're going to do this and I think this would sound good after."

And so, it's definitely an intention behind like the order and...

I mean it's also like, it's fine 'cause it's, it's also like great music so it's going to be good whatever.

But, you know, we definitely put a lot of thought into, um, building a story and it's cohesive and like, not necessarily easy to understand but it's enjoyable for the listener as well.

EPHRAIM: When I'm writing, I'm also influenced by a lot of other things.

I don't just think in the tradition of the music that we play, you know, like jazz and stuff like that.

My brother and I, uh, Ebban too, we're, we're big gaming nerds, so not only do we just play video games, we listen to a lot of the soundtracks, um.

How sometimes, you know, a boss fight would, you know, transition to a different scene where they're showing some crazy scenery, and the score for that kind of captured all those events perfectly.

EBBAN: Mm-hmm.

EPHRAIM: So, when I'm in my writing process and I'm thinking about things I want to write about, I'm thinking about that same sort of process when it comes to storytelling.

It's not just like, "Oh, we're gonna play this section and then this section, and then just repeat that."

It's always like, sort of like a story that's kind of flowing into each other.

There's a lot of sections that go to the next part like puzzle pieces.

The process is very sporadic like it, it changes every time I write a, a new song.

It's just, I come across stuff, um, in different forms.

I wrote this a little bit over a year ago.

This was paying, um, homage to, um, a musician who was a really good figure for us, um, in terms of, you know, getting me on the tenor saxophone, but always looking out for us musically, making sure that, um, there were no bad people, or spirits, or energy around us.

He was like our big Uncle to us, uh, we lost him to Covid.

His name was Howard KingFish.

And I used that, those emotions and that spirit to write this song.

It's got a lot of parts to it, um, each section is basically, you know, an expression of different emotions that I felt through that process, and the ultimate theme or lesson that I wanted to get out of writing this is to pay respects, um, to the people that you love and care about while they're here.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪♪ BRANDON: This one.

It's good, man.

I just feel like us trying to rely on this one would enjoy this... ED: Yeah, I should probably be vocalized.

Let, let me know when we're back down here.

BRANDON: Okay.

And then I was, I would still want like these coming out of these monitors too.

ED: Okay.

MAN: Yeah, we good.

MAN 2: After you do that, we good.

EBBAN: Man, we've known Brandon for a long time.

Like when we first got into Peabody Prep, we were probably like nine or ten or something.

So, we saw him in the improv class before we got into the older group and it was just like, he was one of the best.

And so, for us, we just looked up to him and, you know, he was coming every Saturday like, just...

I don't know, he was just amazing.

So, he was like a big brother for us, for sure.

And we always played on the same concerts because it was like the young group first and then the older group.

So, it was just, we've, we've known him for a long time.

Long time.

EPHRAIM: Yeah, and it's, it's very beautiful to see the type of musician he's grown to today.

EBBAN: Yeah.

EPHRAIM: Um, and the person that he's, um, you know, sort of evolved into, um.

He's a great person to be around and he's been representing Baltimore really well.

EBBAN: Yeah.

EPHRAIM: Um, and again, we've been looking up to him ever since we've, you know, kind of started our musical process and he's always, he's never looked down on anybody.

He's been, you know, a great, um, a great peer, and in some cases he's been a great mentor for us.

EBBAN: Mm-hmm.

EPHRAIM: You know, teaching us, um... Just growing along with him.

It was, it was such an honor to be able to share that stage with him 'cause we've never done something like that in all the years that we've known each other so... EBBAN: Yeah.

EPHRAIM: To get that opportunity to do that with him was, was amazing.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (trumpet) (trumpet) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪♪ NICHOLAS: So, when the bands come here, full meals for the band, drink tab from the band, but also, uh, a very professional mixed-down live recording from my Uncle, and then professional photography by me.

Which includes, you know, live band performance shots and then kind of studio band portraits.

It's a pretty sweet deal like I don't know any other, uh, kind of venue that includes all those things.

And myself and my Uncle like love this so much that we really want the musicians to feel at home and to, to feel like they're, they're being respected and that we, uh, appreciate what they do.

And it's, it's our way of, of giving back to the scene of bringing artist skill to the table, on the house, you know?

ED: It's creating a safe space for those artists to, be free, perform, take chances, be themselves, try things.

Like I, I can't tell you how fulfilling it is to be able to create a space where artists can come in and this can happen, and audiences can experience this.

Just being a fly on the wall and just going, "Oh, look, how did this happen?"

That, that's the biggest joy.

There, there's a quote that, uh, Nick and I read during, when we were dreaming this up, uh, and I think it's a, the late neurologist Oliver Sacks, and it was, "Music can lift us from depression or move us to tears.

It's a tonic, an elixir, orange juice for the ears."

EBBAN: Um, when it comes to like concerts and things like that, I'm always trying to heal the audience with what I'm doing.

So, it's definitely like, jazz is the art form to do that.

BRANDON: I'm trying to bring different people, different groups of people together with this music.

I'm, I'm, I'm trying to make poignant experiences.

I'm trying to connect to my audience members.

I'm trying to...

When I write the when I sit down at the piano, and when I write these songs, and when me and Troy sit down and write these songs...

It's to heal ourselves, you know, from the experiences that we've experienced growing up, from the things that we're still dealing with to this day.

Sometimes it's to celebrate that we got through those things.

Knowing that this music was initially made to heal myself and the folks in this band, I know that it has that healing power and can be used to heal folks outside of us.

You might've just heard me 'cause I was playing outside, you might be two blocks down but you just heard the trumpet, or you just heard, heard the song and that might've affected you.

I've, I've had folks tell me after concerts, "Brandon, I needed this to continue."

And I don't know what that means 100%, I don't know what they were continuing, if that means they needed this to move on or, or, or, or, or to go, go do their next thing today, or gave, gave them the energy to go to work, or, or what that necessarily meant.

But, but to hear that, it put a battery in my back, it's like, "Man, like, now that I've not only seen the effect that this music has had on myself, my family, now I get to see the effect that it has on strangers, on, on folks out in the world."

And I'm, and I'm, I'm, I'm sure of it, you know?

I'm, I'm...

I'm sure of, of what it is and it and it is undeniable.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (cheering).

BRANDON: Please give it up for Ebban Dorsey on alto.

(cheering).

BRANDON: Ephraim Dorsey on tenor.

(cheering).

BRANDON: Troy Long on keys.

(cheering).

BRANDON: Quincy Phillips on drums.

(cheering).

BRANDON: Mike Saunders on bass.

MAN: Mike!

MAN 2: Mike!

BRANDON: My name is Brandon Woody and thank y'all so much.

We are UPENDO.

♪ ♪ Artworks is made possible in part by... And by...