Jason Yates with David Wilder, Oliver Charles, Mark Lightcap, C.C. White, Marc Ford, Jason Karaban and Gary Mallaber. Produced by Jason Yates with Shane Smith and Manny Nieto.
“Ever wake up from a dream so good you’re just dyin’ to fall back to sleep…”
Jason Yates
It might be the rich experience with other artists, it might be personal influences, or it might be an old soul, but in combination, they have led to a new collection of songs from Jason Yates that truly represent his artistic voice, a voice that is reflective, vulnerable and earnest.
With his self-titled record to be released by Vapor Records on October 6, Jason Yates has recorded the album he’s always heard in his head.
“When I decided to start this record, I had a real specific way I wanted to do it. I wanted to make sure everything we did was natural. Where we recorded, the players on the sessions and also the songs we were doing. We needed to be having fun doing it, no matter what,” says Jason.
Though he started as a groove-heavy guitar player as a teenager, Jason developed into a go-to keyboard player for an impressive and diverse groups of artists that surely helped shape this approach. In the early ‘90s with Momma Stud, he fashioned a burning mix of rock and funk that found them a solid national following. When Macy Gray started the band that would eventually lead to her record deal and multi-platinum success, Yates was there. When Natalie Merchant chose her band for her first solo tour for the Tigerlily album, Yates was there. When Ben Harper put together his seminal Innocent Criminals line-up, Yates was there time and again. Jason spent five years with Ben Harper, and was an integral part of the band with Harper that recorded the Five Blind Boys Grammy Award-winning album There Will Be A Light, a revered musical testament that melded gospel and rock, a milestone recording that earned an award from the NAACP. Yates has also recorded with G. Love & Special Sauce, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Citizen Cope (the Gary Louris-Mark Olsen band), Mazzy Star, Taj Mahal, Toots & the Maytals, Acetone and many others.
All these musical involvements gave him insight into how other players work, but even more importantly, it gave Jason the knowledge and ability to know exactly what he wanted when it was time to make the album that would bear his name: shorter daily recording session, live playing (“That’s the way this music needed to be done.”) and very few overdubs (“Hardly any, which is why it sounds so free and natural. This is just us playing.”).
The sound of the songs on Jason Yates has elements of the best soul music from the ‘60s and early ‘70s – easy and fluid - but with the clarity and smooth edges of modern production. Yates’ Hammond organ has a timeless sound, full of the swells and fills that make the instrument so distinctive.
For the recording sessions, Yates knew it needed to be done at Manuel Nieto’s Estudio in East Los Angeles. The music needed a certain down home place to be created, and once that place was found, it was like the last piece of the puzzle. “That room has the exact feel I wanted. Very open and down to earth,” he says. For the musicians, he also knew who he needed, and called on the nucleus of Mark Lightcap, Oliver Charles and Gary Mallaber to play on the sessions, with C.C. Nite on guest vocals and Marc Ford on guitar.
From songs like “My Way Out” and “To Chance” that recall the songwriting effervescence of Van Morrison and Warren Zevon to the rich Gospel feel of “Nobody So Far,” to the emotional honesty of “Paper Tents” and “Teardrops,” Jason Yates is a deep album that sounds like someone just returning from a fantastic journey, and starting over back home. It captures the soul of a man like only the best music can, and for that, Yates and his listeners can be very thankful. “When we finished, and all listened back, we knew we’d done what we set out to do, Yates says proudly. “I spent a long time thinking about this and trying to find a way to do what I wanted. And I finally did.”
“…it never picks up just where it should, but you’re tryin’ anyways.”
(you’ll try it anyways?)
Hi Jason, So glad I finally found you. You're quite an accomplished keyboardist and one can tell when you're on stage you own those keys! Can't wait to see you again on the road. Take Care, Judy
